The Salesians in Venezuela clearly know that education is the first resource for the country's moral revival. In the last school year, the Maduro Government broke all negative records, leaving schools without teachers, without students and without resources, to the point that the teaching profession is so degraded that the teacher training and pedagogical faculties languish for lack of students and teachers who have abandon the school.
But the educational charism commits the Salesians not to abandon in their turn young people, schools or the centers of vocational training in which they work. The concrete contribution of Salesians in Venezuela is given by 18 educational centers in total, whose service is aimed primarily at poor children and young people.
Before this emergency, the Church is seeking solutions and for some time the Salesians and other congregations have been concerned to respond to this reality by making food and books available to students and teachers. The Salesian Family, with all its members and from different parts of the world, is actively participating by supplying resources, together with Caritas and the Red Cross.
The Venezuelan people also receive the support of the Salesian Congregation and, in particular, of the Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, who has repeatedly stated: "You are not alone. From the different parts of the Salesian world we are attentive to what you experience and we are aware of everything that happens."
For his part, Msgr. Jhonny Reyes, Salesian and apostolic vicar of Puerto Ayacucho, points out that in many rural schools in the Venezuelan Amazon “teachers are authentic heroes. With the difficulties that exist, they refuse the job offers and salaries that come to them from the other side of the border, from Colombia, and decide to continue to take care of children and young people."
"That's why," he concludes, "we must continue to help them and do our part for the future generations of the country."
Source: Misiones Salesianas
