(ANS – Freetown) – In preparation of the Anniversary Year 2015, the Salesian Community in Freetown, has presented a new outreach programme: the new Don Bosco Come&See bus adds to the socio-pastoral range of services of Don Bosco Fambul for the coming years.

The new minibus – which joins the big bus “Don Bosco Mobil” which began at the end of 2010 – will not only transport the animators but also the partition screens, leaflets and other materials needed for the educational campaigns in all areas of Sierra Leone/West Africa.

The artist Angelo from Togo has painted the bus with clear pedagogical images. Shown are locations of pastoral-pedagogic activity, like the family, school, the playground and the chapel, which, due to the socio-religious local situation, is also accompanied by a mosque. This school year the programme focuses on Don Bosco’s pedagogy. Salesians, members of staff and past pupils talk in schools and in parishes in the whole country.

The fact that corporal punishment is still an integral part of the educational system in Sierra Leone at schools and in families, shows the utter necessity of an education based on love. This is why, the debate focuses on the Preventive System versus the repressive system. Don Bosco Fambul expects exciting and challenging discussions.

Don Bosco Fambul is a local non-governmental organization and is currently employing over 100 members of staff, mostly social workers. Apart from a mobile street social work with a bus, the Institution maintains a 10-month shelter as a rehabilitation measure for street children, a family tracing department for counselling, two youth centres, Group Homes, a 24-hr shelter for girls who have experienced violence, a skill-training centre and a countrywide phone-counselling line.

Published 31/10/2012