Actions when working with the poorest among us

37.  A fundamental characteristic of the Salesian charism is that of being present in the situations in which the young people, especially those of the working classes, have difficulty in expressing the best in themselves.  The phenomenon of progressive impoverishment of entire populations has pushed the educating communities to place themselves at the side of the poorest, in particular that of children, adolescents and women.  From the Province Chapters there emerges in a preponderant manner the need to live the closeness to our neighbor witnessed to of Jesus and to allow ourselves to be evangelized by the poor.  The data brings out the many initiatives already in act to respond to the various forms of poverty and the urgency of ultimately expanding these actions.

Networking

38.  The responses bring out a fundamental conviction: working together constitutes a school of communion that allows us to overcome the temptation of isolation and self-referencing.  During recent years, networking has been reinforced among the members of the Salesian Family, ecclesial groups, government and civil institutions, NGOs and all those who are interested in education and work to collaborate in the building up of a new society.

On the frontiers of education

39.  Experiences indicate a significant collaboration in the field of human promotion and education, in the processes of planning, realization, monitoring and appreciation of projects oriented toward qualifying the professional formation offerings.  We give a critical and constructive contribution in the places where youth policies are developed, in the defense of human rights with actions turned toward restoring dignity to the poorest among us.  In some particular times, campaigns have been carried out in defense of life and against every type of exploitation and to offer concrete help in emergency situations.  In many realities there is collaboration in the sector of social communications for an alternative, propositive information.

In favor or women

40.  We have empowered  the quality of educational work with women and increased their involvement recognizing their specific capacity of welcome, relationships, of caring for life, of presence and of leadership on the ecclesial and social levels. In the conviction that if we educate a woman, we educate a people, the educating communities have geared the programs of formal and informal education to the reawakening of conscience for the recuperation of feminine dignity, holding that the reciprocity between man and woman is the journey for the humanizing in a culture. We work with educators and volunteers who place their gifts at the service of others to guarantee the integral development of other women in need of help (natives, single mothers, unwed mothers, immigrants, and the illiterate).  The specific formation sectors are: health care, literacy programs, professional formation, the promotion of the capacity for expressing one’s self in public, biblical, theological and catechetical formation.

Other initiatives regard the drawing up of development projects, support for self-help groups, the promotion of feminine associations, participation in public manifestations to empower social conscience, the pronouncement and denunciation of abuses against the dignity of women.

In favor of children, adolescents, young people

41.  The provinces carry out different activities with the objective of giving children, and young people the means to develop their capacities, to reinforce identity, motivations and awareness concerning the meaning of life, and to help them to insert themselves in a meaningful way into the social fabric.

The communities assure access to educational services, the continuity and quality of formation.  They share the daily struggle of the people to improve life conditions, they respond to the poverty of the territory seeking evangelical solutions to problems in collaboration with other associations that carry out health education services and are committed in the sector of formal and informal education.

The educational action reaches orphans, children of the streets, child workers those employed in domestic service, children in difficult family situations, those in conflict with the law, drug addicts, children of immigrants, children in rural zones and those of different ethnic backgrounds and cultures.

In favor of immigrants and minorities

42.  From the responses there emerge a few references to immigrants and minorities, but the voices are representative of the different continents and reflect the present phenomenon of human mobility.  The educating communities are sensitive and-where possible-welcome immigrants, refugees, displaced persons and natives respecting and appreciating their cultural roots.  Through the oratory, after-school care, literacy instruction and the seeking for housing, the greater part of these promote the social  insertion  of the immigrants.  The inserted communities are particularly attentive to assuming an attitude of welcome and appreciation for the local cultures.

Economic solidarity

43. We have perceived the need to educate ourselves to economic solidarity, to seriousness, to a critical conscience in confrontation with the impoverishment of the planet in order to assume a new vision of poverty and its concrete implications; to struggle against the logic of consumerism and that of exclusion; to support the movements that promote the transparency of public power and the respect for basic human rights.

Honesty in the administration of goods on all levels and the equitable distribution of resources (persons, means, money) are signs of evangelical citizenship.  Other experiences brought out are: opening of offices to develop and implement projects, the creation of funds to support education and social work, the organization and administration of province resources for a greater circulation of goods.