Mission News
Before little Veronica ever stepped foot inside the Hogar María Auxiliadora in Bolivia, Salesian volunteer Eden Gordon was determined the child would learn one thing if nothing else: exactly what it felt like to be loved. And there’s no doubt Veronica got the message! Eden is a returned Salesian Lay Missioner who lived and worked…
It’s Our Diamond Jubilee!
January 13, 2022
Photo credit: Florian Kopp/Salesian Missions Beginning this month, we joyfully celebrate the 75th anniversary of Salesian Missions—a significant milestone in our long and fruitful partnership with generous friends like you. Together, we have helped more than three million children around the world turn their lives around. Ever since Father James O’Loughlen first established the Salesian…
Better Nutrition Leads to Brighter Outcomes
January 13, 2022
Placide’s family is desperately poor. So poor, in fact, that he often wonders whether there will be enough food to eat on any given day. Many times, there isn’t. It is the sad reality of living in Burundi, a country where more than 90 percent of the population relies on subsistence agriculture, and where competition…
Addressing Hunger Around the World
November 9, 2021
Despite positive economic growth and recent improvements to quality of life, food insecurity and malnutrition remain stubborn adversaries in the fight against poverty and hunger in Rwanda—where more than 60 percent of the population still lives on less than $1.25 per day. For our Salesian missionaries who serve there, school-based feeding programs are critical in…
A Thriving New Plan for Women in India
November 9, 2021
During the height of the global pandemic last year, missionaries at Don Bosco Tech in Katihar, India wondered how they could best support area families who lost their jobs and their only source of income. Today, thanks to an agriculturally inspired idea, women’s incomes are flourishing—as well as their confidence. “As an organization, we knew…
Growing Sustainable Futures from the Ground Up
November 9, 2021
Agriculture is the economic mainstay of Sagamu, Nigeria—yet many of the region’s disadvantaged residents are excluded from the opportunities it provides. A new Salesian-run training program at St. Joseph’s Farm aims to change that, one student at a time. Salesian missionaries established St. Joseph’s Farm in 2014, when they first arrived in Sagamu and noticed…
Changing Lives, One Safe Water Source at a Time
October 19, 2021
The Evuna stream is brown, dirty and often completely dried up due to the lack of rain and a prolonged dry season. Yet thousands of people in rural Nkerefi, Nigeria depend on this unreliable water source for their survival. Or, at least they used to; that is, until friends of Salesian Missions stepped in to…
Making a Difference in Refugee Communities
October 19, 2021
Education is one of the most effective tools young refugees can use to rebuild their futures. And yet, around the world, millions of them remain deprived of the opportunity to obtain an education. Undaunted by statistics, Salesian missionaries at the Palabek Refugee Resettlement Camp in northwest Uganda focus on the individuals behind these numbers—a strategy…
Saving a Precious Resource … and Providing for the Future
October 19, 2021
In the Philippines, where hundreds of thousands of residents depend upon the “blue economy” to improve their job prospects, livelihoods and contributions to a sustainable ecosystem, Salesian missionaries are leading an innovative new program to save one of our planet’s most precious resources. The blue economy is defined by the many opportunities that the ocean…
Salesian Graduate “Pays it Forward”
September 17, 2021
Deepu was alarmed. Throughout his home state of Chennai, India, children were dropping out of school due to pandemic-related restrictions and their inability to learn from home. And then a lightbulb went off—one that promises to illuminate the path forward for dozens of disadvantaged students. “A taxi driver who parks his vehicle outside our apartment…