Manzini Youth Care operates two vocational training centers for older youth, residential care for former street children and a drop-in school for street children when they first come in off the streets. Manzini Youth Care also serves the communities surrounding the city of Manzini to help residents improve their living standards, sanitation and food security.

Manzini Youth Care was established in the 1970s and provides services to marginalized youth. Services include free primary school for children who have dropped out of school due to poverty, two vocational training centers for older youth, residential care for former street children and a drop-in school for street children when they first come in off the streets. Manzini Youth Care also serves the communities surrounding the city of Manzini to help residents improve their living standards, sanitation and food security.

Young girls in Eswatini are among those most at risk for dropping out of school and becoming victims of sexual exploitation and prostitution. Salesian missionaries in the country provide education and social development programs to help youth, particularly girls, have access to the shelter, healthcare and nutrition they need to complete their education.

The Salesian Zekhele Shelter in the city of Manzini cares for 14 girls between the ages of 8 and 21. The Shelter provides safe living accommodations as well as education. Girls in the program are able to focus on their studies, break the cycle of poverty and live a healthy, productive life.

More than 2,300 people had access to better nutrition thanks to a partnership between Salesian Missions and Feed My Starving Children, a nonprofit Christian organization committed to “feeding God’s children hungry in body and spirit.” The food shipment was shared with several Salesian programs and communities.

The recipients included Manzini Youth Care residential care homes, Bosco Youth Agricultural Center, Ticancweni Care Point, Skom Care Point, Hosea’s Heart (a girls’ home), Elwandle Community Primary School and five rural communities. The rice-meals helped people who are marginalized, unemployed and living in informal settlements, and from rural communities who are unable to meet their needs.

Manzini Youth Care was established in the 1970s and provides services to marginalized youth. Services include free primary school for children who have dropped out of school due to poverty, two vocational training centers for older youth, residential care for former street children and a drop-in school for street children when they first come in off the streets. Manzini Youth Care also serves the communities surrounding Manzini to help residents improve their living standards, sanitation and food security.

More than 1,400 youth participating in three Salesian programs in Eswatini are benefiting from furniture thanks to a donation secured by Salesian Missions. The furniture was provided by Furniture Reuse Solutions, which has a commitment to sustainability and societal benefit. The company provides charities and nonprofits with gifts-in-kind donations that aid in their humanitarian missions. The furniture was provided to the Salesian-run Manzini Youth Care and distributed to Bosco Study Center, Bosco Youth Agricultural Center, and the Enjabulweni Residential Care Home.

Salesian Missions sent new shoes to youth in the Salesian-run Manzini Youth Care Center thanks to an annual shoe drive held at the Academy of St. James in Totowa, N.J.

Salesian Missions has supported this shoe drive since its launch in 2015. Roberto Callegari, who was a third-grade student at the Academy of St. James back in 2015, came up with the idea to send shoes to Africa. With the support of his father Orlando Callegari and the Academy of St. James School, he was able to launch this program, now in its fourth year.

In 2018, 79 pairs of new shoes from the shoe drive were sent to the Manzini Youth Care Center. The shipment to Eswatini also contained 20 pallets of rice-soy meals from Rise Against Hunger, more than 75 pairs of second-hand shoes donated by Swazi Legacy, liturgical items, PediaSure®, fabric, soccer balls, school supplies and second-hand soccer cleats and clothing.