Kinshasa, DR Congo – March 2024 – From 20 to 22 March the Salesians of Don Bosco organised a round table on the challenges of Technical and Vocational Training in the Country. Numerous participants came from different Salesian works in the Central Africa Province (AFC) and the Africa Congo Congo Vice-Province (ACC). Participants discussed digital skills, sharing successful best practices in the field of Vocational Training in order to contribute to the development and professional integration of young Congolese.

South Sudan – March 2024 – The young people at Don Bosco Mission Tonj and Don Bosco Gumbo, as part of their Lenten activities, visited a prison and an orphanage respectively to share their Easter joy with the people there. Young people at Don Bosco Mission Tonj, during their visit to the prison, participated in the celebration of the Eucharist together with the inmates and at the end of the Mass they distributed the foodstuffs that they managed to buy with their Lenten savings. The young people from  Don Bosco Gumbo visited the orphanage in Juba, sharing a moment of joy with the children. In addition to sharing the Word of God, the young people conducted games for children and distributed food and basic necessities that they purchased with their Lenten collections.

Rome, Italy - March 2024 – The Minister of Labor, Marina Elvira Calderone, immersed herself in the educational activity of the Salesian world on 25 March 2024  that is carried out through Vocational Training and working with youth problems at Borgo Ragazzi Don Bosco in Rome. This work involves both a Vocational Training Centre and a Reception Centre. A valuable morning of discussion and exchange, first with those responsible for the Centre and then with the national directorate of the"CNOS FAP" (Centro Nazionale Opere Salesiane – Formazione e Aggiornamento Professionale) Federation. Welcomed by Fr Daniele Merlini, Director of the work, while visiting the various environments the Minister spent time with several boys and girls in the workshops to learn about their experiences and encourage them in what they had undertaken, appreciating their work and describing the paths of Education and Vocational Training as the keystone for the Italian System. In an atmosphere of cordiality, a discussion was then held with Fr Giuliano Giacomazzi, General Director of the CNOS FAP, and with Paola Vacchina, president of "FORMA", an association that brings together the main Italian Training Bodies. The Minister expressed her strong appreciation for the entire world of Vocational Training, calling it the answer to the confusion of young people, a useful tool for their insertion into the world of work and life.

Moldova – March 2024 – On March 23 and 24, Fr Alfred Maravilla, General Councillor for the Missions, carried out a missionary animation visit to Chişinău. Upon his arrival he was able to greet the leaders who were holding a formation meeting and also met the youngsters from the family home. On Palm Sunday he concelebrated the Eucharist in the parish of Cretoaia, entrusted to the Salesians, and learned about the history of the Salesian presence in that country. After the establishment of Soviet power, pressures on Catholics escalated to forced collectivisation and mass deportations to Siberia. Almost all places of worship were destroyed or confiscated. The only parish officially recognised by the Soviet state was the "Divine Providence" parish of Chişinău. Here Salesian Father Bronislaw Chadanionek from the Province of Warsaw, was the only priest for the whole of Moldova for 24 years (1949-1973). Thanks to his work and hidden sacrifice, the faith and the Catholic Church in this nation were saved. Today the remains of Fr Chadanionek rest in the cemetery in Chişinău. The Salesians of the North-East Italy Province (INE), who had already been in neighbouring Romania since 1996, arrived in Moldova in 2005. Some years earlier the Salesians of the ICP had already begun to organise summer experiences for young people in some Moldovan diocesan parishes. Today the Salesian community, comprising six confreres, runs an oratory, an after-school, a family home, a small training centre and two small parishes.

Burgos, Spain – March 2024 – "For a better world" was the motto of the second edition of the Intermediate Vocational Training Competition, held on 20 March at the Salesian Padre Aramburu Work in Burgos. The jury, composed mainly of entrepreneurs from Burgos, highlighted the quality of the projects and presentations. Fifty participants, including young people, teachers and entrepreneurs, shared a morning of intense work to present the projects carried out by the boys and girls of the Salesian centres of Saint James the Greater Province (SSM). The "Water Use" installation created by the students of the first middle grade of the electricians course of the Salesians of Pamplona won the competition, followed by the "Bomba-Mecate" project of the Ciudad de los Muchachos in Madrid. The other projects presented were "Electronics with style" and "Electrical panels" by "P. Aramburu", "QR Bracciali" Pamplona; and "Smart Chair" by the Salesians in Aranjuez. Isabel Alonso of the Federation of Business Associations (FAE, in Spanish) of Burgos said that "participating in this competition is a source of pride because at FAE we promote Vocational Training and believe it is necessary for the business community. We like that boys and girls in Vocational Training see the applicability of their qualifications in the world of work. And these research and development ideas are fantastic!"
To learn more about the competition projects, visit the website: https://www.salesianos.es/certamenfpgm/

Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo – March 2024 - A retreat for Salesians in the Africa Congo Congo (ACC) Vice-Province took place in the Poor Clares Monastery in Ndjirirom from 17 to 23 March. Twenty-five Salesians from different communities and locations in the ACC Vice-province responded to the invitation, taking part in the reflections on the theme: "Fidelity to God, fidelity to the Salesian charism". Leading the retreat, Fr Joachim Tshibangu offered the participants intense moments of introspection, communion with the Lord, meditation and renewal for an ever-increasing momentum in the experience of their charismatic identity. The retreat ended in typical Salesian joy and fraternity with the concluding Eucharist, presided over by Fr Aurelien Mwanangoy Mukangwa, Superior of ACC.