One of the recipient schools, Don Bosco Buterere, provides a youth center, a technical and vocational training center, a secondary school, a parish, and a shrine. More than 600 youth attend programs at the oratory each day. Salesians offer sports, games and cultural programs. The school has roughly 700 students and the parish is one of the most popular in the area.
After youth received the meals, Salesians noticed a positive change. A Salesian said, “We have witnessed the large number of youth attending organized programs with interest and commitment. We are pleased to see the enthusiasm in the community for these activities and hope to encourage continued involvement from the children and their families.”
Gad Lamec Mbonyumugenzi, age 13, was one of the recipients. He has been at the Don Bosco school for one year. Mbonyumugenzi boards at the school, and he has developed friendships with his classmates and housemates. Before coming to Don Bosco Buterere, he was living with his father. When his dad was away working, he stayed with his grandmother, which caused some instability in his life. Mbonyumugenzi is glad to now have stability at Don Bosco Buterere and to be living with the same people throughout the school year.
A Salesian said, “As with many young men his age, he enjoys three meals a day, playing soccer and other games. When they don’t eat the Rise Against Hunger meals, they eat cassava bread or cassava maize. When he considers his life at home and the life at Don Bosco, he will always say, ‘I feel at home here.’”
Burundi has seen more than a decade of violence and conflict, contributing to widespread, poverty according to UNICEF. Children are some of the most severely affected by the country’s rampant poverty. Fifty-three percent of children under the age of 5 suffer from growth stunting caused by inadequate food, low-quality diet, poor infant feeding practices, poor household management of childhood diseases and the general decline of the country’s health system.
Source: Salesian Missions
