These people arrive with all the hardships that a migrant can suffer along the way: lack of food, hygiene and security, which can cause a clear deterioration of their health, both physical and mental. That is why comprehensive care, particularly of the health of people on the move, has become an urgent cry and an extreme necessity.
With the sensitivity of pastoral charity that characterises the Salesian mission, and following the logic and passion that govern and modulate the steps of Salesian pastoral work on this frontier, the Proyecto Salesiano Tijuana A.C. (PST) – the body that coordinates the social activities of the Salesians in the city – has strengthened its network work by signing a collaboration agreement with the United Nations agency, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
Both the PST and the IOM intend to affirm the right to health of the most vulnerable and least favoured, and also seek to offer a complete service – with various psychological, recreational, legal, social benefits – to adult migrants, and even more so to migrant children, teenagers and young people who are increasingly to be found among the migratory movement in the city and in particular in areas served by the Salesian Family in Tijuana.
And they intend to do all this by making alternatives available for their human, social and spiritual development and through the most complete assistance possible thanks to the Salesian oratory dedicated to Mary Help of Christians. “The Tijuana Salesian Project aims to guarantee educational and pastoral assistance, a Salesian presence that, like our Father Don Bosco teaches, encourages us to look tenderly at the suffering situation of the most needy, and to offer ourselves creatively to be a leaven of fraternity in Tijuana society” said the Director General of the PST, Fr Agustín Novoa Leyva, SDB.
“The emerging reality in which we live" the Salesian concludes "involves many challenges. But trusting also in Providence's help, which is much needed in these times, we will continue to assist all migrants and vulnerable people who approach our works, with quality and human warmth, and with clear responses to their needs.
