One of the great initiatives launched several years ago is the Don Bosco House Network in Peru, currently made up of 8 houses in various regions of the country: Arequipa, Ayacucho, Cusco, Huancayo and Lima. A network committed to welcoming and accompanying teenagers and young people at social risk and in conditions of extreme poverty, coming from unfavorable social and family contexts.
Engaged in the human and Christian proposal, the educators and leaders of the Don Bosco Houses receive ongoing formation to strengthen and enhance their skills and abilities.
This year, in Magdalena del Mar, in the city of Lima, hosted by the Casa Don Bosco for young Venezuelan migrants, the “XIII Meeting of the Assistance Teams for adolescents and young people in situations with high social risk” was held. More than 40 educators attended the event, accompanied and guided by several Salesians, such as Fr Martín Cipriano, SDB, and Fr Raúl Acuña, SDB.
Fr José Valdivia, SDB, head of the Don Bosco House Network, emphasized that the meeting's purpose is to train professional teams to work in the Network.
In the morning, as part of the activities, the participants worked in groups to strengthen their "soft skills" through workshops held by the Continuing Education Team of the "Antonio Ruiz de Montoya" University. In the afternoon, reports were scheduled to strengthen their knowledge of the Preventive System and to learn how to apply it in the contexts of each Salesian house. Both the workshops and the reports were able to combine the intellectual dimension with the moral and spiritual dimension.
"This meeting allowed us to get to know each other and integrate us as a Network, in a Salesian atmosphere," commented Josué del Valle Horna, psychologist at the Breña Hospital in Lima.
Emilyn Condor, a social worker of the "Don Bosco House" in Huancayo, underlined the diversity of learning in this meeting: "From the personal to the spiritual part, which is the soul of our homes. From planning to adequate accompaniment from a Salesian perspective."
These meetings are held every year to improve the mission more and more as a Network that welcomes, educates and evangelizes. This year it was decided to gather only the management teams of each work, while in the previous years the boys from the houses also attended.
The Salesians work with great confidence in missionary work in every region of Peru, and the Houses of Don Bosco are an excellent example of this.
