At nine o'clock in the morning, the Don Bosco center's operators, Don Giovanni Vanni and several children already residing in center, went to Pier 29 of Naples harbor where the ship, “Vos Prudence”, was moored carrying 1449 migrants arriving from sub-Saharan Africa and from North Africa. After giving a hand during the first landing operations, the Salesians were entrusted with the 14 minors. The boys are Ghanaian, Eritrean, Guinean and Gambian.
The “Il Ponte” reception community for unaccompanied minors is structured as a true family where the children share the ambience, prepare meals together and carry out various recreational and cultural activities.
Assigned by the Offices for Minors of the City of Naples, the community's minors are given the opportunity to study Italian, get training and prepare to enter the job market as well as being offered moments of recreation and socializing. The educational team has outlined and drafted regulations for the community based on mutual respect, trust and personal responsibility.
The welcoming of 14 more foreign students is a clear sign of the renewed commitment of collaboration between Salesians and the City of Naples towards what is a new class of poverty.