Because the best way to combat poverty is through education and skills training, Salesian missionaries are working to provide education and social development services that would otherwise not be available in Mozambique. This is especially critical with more than 45 percent of Mozambique’s population younger than 15 years old. Through education, youth not only break the cycle of poverty for themselves and their families, but also create far-reaching positive effects for the entire country.

At the Don Bosco Higher Institute at Maputo, Salesian missionaries operate the only professional teacher training program in the country. Partially funded by the Spanish Cooperation, it is the only teacher training center in Mozambique recognized by the Ministry of Education for the training of teachers of professional schools. The teacher training program was developed in the 2006-2007 academic year at Don Bosco Higher Institute and was made possible through a collaboration between the Salesians, the Spanish foreign ministry, the government of Mozambique and the Youth of the Third World organization.

Salesian missionaries operate several vocational training centers in Mozambique. Vocational training helps youth living in poverty gain the skills needed to find and retain long-term stable employment.

In Inharrime, north of the capital city of Maputo, Salesian missionaries have a vocational training center that educates 300 students a year in four different course programs. More than 30 boys who attend the school stay in Salesian housing on campus because they live too far from the school. Across the street from this center, Salesian sisters with the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians educate 2,300 students in primary and secondary school and pre-university classes. A boarding house is home to 120 girls, including 50 orphans, who live there while attending school. Students who attend Salesian education and vocational training programs often find jobs fairly quickly after graduation.

In the southern town of Namaacha, Salesian missionaries have operated a college for both men and women for decades.

When the country gained independence in 1975 and was run by a communist totalitarian regime, Salesian missionaries were forced to leave and abandon their work at the college. Only one Salesian missionary was allowed to remain. Brother António Pedrosa, now 85 years old, was accepted by the regime because he was not a priest.

Bro. Pedrosa had to wait nearly 20 years before he could once again be joined by his fellow Salesian missionaries. They were allowed to return in the early 1990s, which marked the end of the regime and the civil war in Mozambique. Missionaries still operate the college today along with other vocational training programs.

Salesian missionaries responded to the call for emergency aid after Cyclone Idai, a Category 4 storm, brought weeks of rain, floods and high winds to parts of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi in March 2019. Mozambique was hit especially hard with the storm making landfall in the country with sustained winds of 120 mph. The Atlantic is reporting that more than 750 deaths have been attributed to Cyclone Idai so far while thousands remain stranded in remote rural areas. The United Nations World Food Program reported that more than 600,000 people have been displaced.

Salesian missionaries living and working in the region did not suffer direct damage and were active in helping with relief operations. Missionaries worked with other religious groups in the region to raise funds for Caritas and other nonprofit organizations like Doctors Without Borders to help support immediate relief and first aid operations. Missionaries within Salesian educational centers also collected basic necessities such as food, medicines and clean drinking water for those in the affected sites.

Thanks to a collaboration between the Salesian Institute in Rome, Italy and Schneider Electric Foundation, five international projects run by Salesian technical and professional schools aimed at sustainable human and social development are being funded with a total donation of 2 million euro. Schneider Electric Foundation is the charitable arm of Schneider Electric, a European multinational corporation that specializes in electricity distribution, automation management and the production of installation components for energy management. In Maputo, funding will allow the purchase of new equipment and materials for students, and an energy update program will be set up for teachers and students.

The Salesian community in the Luís Cabral neighborhood of Maputo was able to dig a new borewell to increase water access thanks to funding from Salesian Missions “Clean Water Initiative.” With this first round of funding, Salesian missionaries have been able to complete several activities including identifying a suitable water source, demarcation of the area, drilling and opening of a borewell, and water pressure tests.

The Salesian community is home to the Salesian coordination house, which is the headquarters of the Salesians of Don Bosco for the entire country of Mozambique. The coordination team works and lives there. The community is also home to a Salesian college, which trains 600 students. The college is dedicated to training for teachers who will educate in professional, technical and vocational schools.

More than 2,000 people in the Salesian São João Baptista de Moatize Mission, located in Ntsungo, have clean water access thanks to funding from the Salesian Missions “Clean Water Initiative.” With the funding, Salesians were able to drill a borewell, install solar powered pumps and create a water system with three plastic tanks with a capacity of 5,000 liters each. Water is channeled to the communities and to the primary school. Water fountains were also set up in the communities so that people could access the water.