The Salesian Studentate was also seriously damaged by the abundant rains that fell on the city on the night of 7 September and the mud that formed immediately after. The affected area includes the Youth Ministry Office, the Social Communication Office, the Chinese section of the seminary library and the new wing, which houses our Lady-s House. A third of the books were lost, while the elevator and the recreation room were filled with muddy debris. In offices, rain caused considerable damage, especially to computers and servers. In one night, the electronic data and paper copies of the documents were wiped out.

Three days after the violent weather phenomenon, when the weather stabilised, the cleaning work began. Salesian Youth Movement leaders and the young Salesians in formation have come to remove broken furniture, shovel the mud and drain the sewers. Out of love and belonging to this place where they prayed and spent numerous moments of joy, the young people worked from morning to night, often with their bare hands, demonstrating how this is really their second home.

The most serious damage was recorded in the library. Here, for anyone who loves books, the situation can be described as heartbreaking. Even just to enter, in fact, it was necessary to step on books and manuals. Past Pupils, volunteers, but also many young people and children were organised to clean up the entire area, also helped by a group of volunteers from the Government Department of Educational Services.

"The cleaning took two weeks of work to complete," write the Salesians in Hong Kong in a statement. It was moving to see how everyone, especially our Salesian Youth Movement leaders, were involved. It is also appropriate to express here our heartfelt gratitude for the generous assistance of the past pupils, parishioners and members of the Salesian Family. All of them have expressed the family spirit in concrete actions."

An intensive clean-up will now take place in the affected area and the offices will be moved to temporary premises. The activity room, the retreat centre and the Province website are temporarily suspended and, for the time being, all news and updates will be published on the "Salesian Family" Facebook page and via Whatsapp. In the meantime, the Salesians continue to assure their prayers for the prompt recovery of the damaged buildings, especially for the Youth Ministry Office and the Seminary library, so that we can soon return to normality and begin to serve the good of young people and the entire Salesian Congregation.

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