Mission News

In the slums of Vadodara, India, children are a precious commodity. Sent out by their parents to beg for money, toil on brick farms, or even commit petty theft, they bring in desperately-needed cash to help support their families. But they pay a big price: significant loss of hours in school, where...

In the poverty-ravaged neighborhoods of Sihanoukville, Cambodia, living conditions are atrocious, drug and alcohol abuse rampant, and domestic abuse “normal.” Here, children are especially vulnerable -- to hunger, illness, violence, and despair. And it gets worse. During the last decade alone,...

Did you know that the last time you ate a piece of chocolate – it was probably made from ingredients harvested by an exploited child laborer? In fact, the rapidly growing cocoa industry exploits an estimated 300,000 girls and boys each year. Children, forced to harvest the beans with chainsaws...

In rural communities around the world, workers seek to make a living to support their families but face many challenges including insufficient wages and low productivity. In order to begin addressing these issues on a local level, Salesian missionaries in Paraguay have launched a new project to...

They are everywhere -- so many of them, in fact, that society no longer sees them: the millions of girls and boys living on the streets of India. Alone, they struggle with deplorable conditions, the dangers of exploitation and abuse, and the sinking feeling that there may be nothing to eat that...

In Montevideo, Uruguay, where city streets are riddled with senseless violence, Salesian missionaries have vowed to remain among their people -- despite great risks to their own lives.The Marconi quarter of this capital city -- called the “Red Zone” by locals -- is a place so prevalent with...

Lima, Peru is a city of contrasts: river valleys sweeping into majestic mountain plains. The sea’s serenity punctuated by the urban markets’ colorful beat. Summer transitioning to winter and back again, with no seasons in between. But perhaps its most striking contrast is the one between the...