Project part of Salesian Missions ‘Clean Water Initiative’.

NEW ROCHELLE, NY (July 9, 2025) Youth at Don Bosco Youth Center in Mandalay, Myanmar*, have a new building for bathrooms and showers thanks to donor funding from Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. The project is part of the Salesian Missions “Clean Water Initiative.” Sixty boys were impacted by this donation.

The boys at Don Bosco Youth Center live on the street and do not have one or both parents. Mandalay is hot, and hygienic facilities are essential for the health and well-being of the boys. The new building is helping the youth maintain cleanliness.

Father Ken Lian James, provincial economer, wrote in a letter to Salesian Missions, “Thanks to your kindness, we are now able to provide our boys with a safer, healthier environment, which also promotes ecological care and overall well-being. Your generous contribution has greatly uplifted the standard of our center and has been a true blessing for our brothers in need.”

In Myanmar, the military takeover of the democratically elected National League For Democracy Government has unleashed an unprecedented political, socioeconomic and humanitarian crisis on top of the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, sending the country into a dangerous spiral of conflict and poverty, according to the United Nations.

More than 3 million people are internally displaced, and there has been significant human suffering, asset depletion, rising food insecurity and reversal of many of the development gains made in recent years. Nearly 50% of the population is estimated to be living in poverty.

Salesian missionaries are responding to the needs of children, youth and their families who are in crisis. Not only do programs address desperate poverty, but they also serve people whose lives have recently been impacted by natural disasters and a refugee emergency. Most recently, Salesians have been responding to the need of those impacted by the devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck Mandalay on March 28, 2025.

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Contact: media@salesianmissions.org