A video from a VET school from the DBOC network – Partner of DBWAVE project from BelgiumThe peer learning activity was led by Szalézi Intézmény Fenntartó (‘Salesian Education Board’) – Hungary
The “Don Bosco” school in Sint-Pieters-Woluwe, in the Brussels-Capital region, is a model of Salesian education in the heart of Europe. The institute is located in a large complex that also houses the headquarters of the “St. John Berchmans” Province of Northern Belgium and Holland (BEN). It also offers vocational training to disadvantaged young people. Recently, the local Episcopal Conference, via film director Leo De Bock, produced an interesting documentary entitled “The Story of the 30 drawers” – in Dutch, with English subtitles – which illustrates the daily reality of this educational outpost, a true Salesian mission among the “existential peripheries” that exist even in the heart of the most advanced countries.
The 48-minute film outlines the problems of many young people in the multicultural capital of Belgium, who are cared for and guided in this Salesian vocational school. The school is completely in the hands of lay people with great competence and who share the Salesian mission, and who want to offer – in the footsteps of Don Bosco – a future to young people with fewer opportunities.
From the community of the provincial headquarters, some Salesians are regularly present – and in recent months with all the anti-contagion precautions – who are dedicated to listening to young people and encouraging the laity. “I warmly invite you to take a moment to look at this astounding image of the young people of our capital,” is the exhortation Fr Wilfried Wambeke, BEN Provincial, addresses to everyone.
The Dutch-language documentary is accessible here in the version with English subtitles here.
