His missionary experience began in Turin where he went to learn a trade. "From a carpenter that I wanted to become, I became a mechanic, instead," he says. At the end of his studies, he felt the religious vocation grow in him; during his novitiate, he also felt summoned to the missions: "In 1972 I sent an official request to the Rector Major, and I then had three days to think and decide if I ought to leave for Bhutan. So I departed ... and stayed there until 1982, when the Salesians had to leave the country. From the Himalayas, I went to Sri Lanka and now I am still here after 35 years."
Sri Lanka is "a country recently emerging from a thirty-year ethnic war that has left a moral -and material - devastation on the ground. Children and teenagers have paid, and are still paying, too high a price," the Salesian explains.
Among the various activities initiated by the Salesians in the country, he cites two: "In 1992, in Negombo, we opened a Rehabilitation Center for abused children; that's how our fight against pedophilia and the prostitution of poor and vulnerable children and teens began, two of this country's dramas."
"And then there's the Don Bosco College of Technology, Sri Lanka's first Salesian school, which offers 17 specialized courses and hosts 750 children to whom the center provides economic support and is a solution to the lives of so many children and teenagers at risk of social exclusion."
After many years of service, Br Garniga reveals what his missionary recipe is: "I have always followed Don Bosco's example; thus, I have learned to love people, especially young people. To trust Providence. To work for the poor and to endure hard work."
Further information available on the "Don Bosco Missions" website.
