Raising awareness about South Sudan in the heart of Europe

On 27th September, Bro. Giacomo Comino, Salesian missionary working in the Salesian Mission Office in Juba, South Sudan, arrived in Brussels to explain to several stakeholders the emergency situation that thousands of south Sudanese people are facing and the work being done by the Salesians in the country, as a joint effort of the AFE Province and Don Bosco International.

This busy day started with a working breakfast hosted by COMECE (the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community) and supported by Aid to the Church in Need. Bro. Comino spoke in detail about the work being done by the Salesians in the field since this emergency started. He shared their most urgent needs in order that other NGOs might find ways to help all the people they are catering for. Bishop Luc Van Looy SDB, of Ghent, who worked with Bro. Giacomo Comino during their time together as missionaries in Korea, introduced him to the audience.

After some interviews with Catholic Media, he and the staff of the “Don Bosco International” met the European Commission officials in charge of emergency aid in South Sudan, the Directorate General of ECHO (European Commission Humanitarian Aid & Civil Protection), in order to understand better the mechanisms of European Aid and to look for more possibilities of helping all the people hosted in the places where we are working.

Early in the afternoon, they were able to meet MEP Luigi Morgano who is very close to the Salesians and very supportive of Don Bosco International in various fields, T-VET, youth employment, Erasmus+ and now humanitarian emergencies.

This very full day concluded with institutional activity with the colleagues of Via Don Bosco, the Development NGO in Belgium, in order to channel more Salesian support in Belgium for the actions done at local level and a short meeting with the Salesian Community in the Flemish province.

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