austraLasia 1631
All roads lead to Cambodia for EAO
PHNOM PENH: 20th August 2006 -- Sunday 20th has turned out to be an historic occasion for the East Asia-Oceania region. Some 70 confreres are travelling, or have already arrived, in Cambodia's capital city Phnom Penh and in a country which for the first time since the infamous 'Killing Fields' has begun to show signs of economic boom and a more stable society. Serving the 11 million population are three Salesian communities (since 1991) and 12 confreres involved mainly in social and technical education of Khmer youth.
The venue for the EAO Brothers' Assembly, to take place from 21-25 August, is the first of the three technical schools opened in Cambodia since 1991. It is located near the most important Buddhist pagoda in the city - Wat Samrong Daet. The melodic chanting of Buddhist monks at 4.30 am will offer the visitors a real taste of local culture and religion...and will continue throughout the day. DB Tech faces the Wat which is but a few hundred metres away. Lodgings for participants in the Assembly is in two hotels located in Phnom Penh city centre, about 20 minutes from the Tech.
Other than those from Cambodia itself, some participants are arriving overland from Bangkok (FIS, THA) or from Ho Chi Minh City (VIE, KOR, FIN), some by air from 13 countries around the region (Mongolia, PNG, China, Korea, Japan, Samoa, Australia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Timor Leste, Indonesia. About 43 Brothers, including a handful in temporary vows, will take part, along with all EAO formation delegates, nine province vocation promoters, and four provincials (FIN, FIS, ITM, THA) and the vice provincial from Vietnam (VIE). Others taking part include formators involved in the Brothers' vocation in a particular way, especially some from Paranaque in Manila where a special formation course for Brothers has been set up.
Each day of the Assembly will follow a similar dynamic: challenges, identity, formation, vocation promotion tackled through life experience and reflection from keynote speakers. Fr Cereda is unable to be present due to GC26 preparation commitments and an extraordinary visitation he has to carry out in Italy. But three other speakers will be present: Fr Joseph Phuoc VIE, Fr Chrys Saldanha RMG and Bro. Joseph Das INM. These reflections will be followed by workshops and sharing, first in mixed groups and then according to provinces.
Amongst participants we find 'veterans' of the four previous EAO (or the then Australasia region) going back to 1986 in Batulao (FIN). The majority of participants however are participating for the first time, especially those from Vietnam who are in fact part of the largest delegation of taking part, 13 of them. Vietnam, with 46 Brothers, is the strongest single presence of Brothers in a province in the region. The total number of Brothers in the region is 203.
Two Brothers who would have been expected to be present are struggling with cancer at the moment, one a 'veteran' of the earlier meetings, Bro Peter Swain, now 86 years of age and living in Sydney, Australia, and the other a very young postnovice, Bro. Julio Pereira from Baucau, Timor Leste. Participants are praying for these two stalwarts.
Connection and travel details permitting, readers should be able to follow proceedings online day by day or at least every second day on www.bosconet.aust.comThere is a link on the home page to the Brothers Assembly, where key talks are already posted and a letter from the Rector Major to all participants.
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AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com Try out BoscoWiki to be interactive. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm A separate service entirely is called F'OSSERVATORE to help us keep abreast of trends in the digital world.
All roads lead to Cambodia for EAO
PHNOM PENH: 20th August 2006 -- Sunday 20th has turned out to be an historic occasion for the East Asia-Oceania region. Some 70 confreres are travelling, or have already arrived, in Cambodia's capital city Phnom Penh and in a country which for the first time since the infamous 'Killing Fields' has begun to show signs of economic boom and a more stable society. Serving the 11 million population are three Salesian communities (since 1991) and 12 confreres involved mainly in social and technical education of Khmer youth.
The venue for the EAO Brothers' Assembly, to take place from 21-25 August, is the first of the three technical schools opened in Cambodia since 1991. It is located near the most important Buddhist pagoda in the city - Wat Samrong Daet. The melodic chanting of Buddhist monks at 4.30 am will offer the visitors a real taste of local culture and religion...and will continue throughout the day. DB Tech faces the Wat which is but a few hundred metres away. Lodgings for participants in the Assembly is in two hotels located in Phnom Penh city centre, about 20 minutes from the Tech.
Other than those from Cambodia itself, some participants are arriving overland from Bangkok (FIS, THA) or from Ho Chi Minh City (VIE, KOR, FIN), some by air from 13 countries around the region (Mongolia, PNG, China, Korea, Japan, Samoa, Australia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Timor Leste, Indonesia. About 43 Brothers, including a handful in temporary vows, will take part, along with all EAO formation delegates, nine province vocation promoters, and four provincials (FIN, FIS, ITM, THA) and the vice provincial from Vietnam (VIE). Others taking part include formators involved in the Brothers' vocation in a particular way, especially some from Paranaque in Manila where a special formation course for Brothers has been set up.
Each day of the Assembly will follow a similar dynamic: challenges, identity, formation, vocation promotion tackled through life experience and reflection from keynote speakers. Fr Cereda is unable to be present due to GC26 preparation commitments and an extraordinary visitation he has to carry out in Italy. But three other speakers will be present: Fr Joseph Phuoc VIE, Fr Chrys Saldanha RMG and Bro. Joseph Das INM. These reflections will be followed by workshops and sharing, first in mixed groups and then according to provinces.
Amongst participants we find 'veterans' of the four previous EAO (or the then Australasia region) going back to 1986 in Batulao (FIN). The majority of participants however are participating for the first time, especially those from Vietnam who are in fact part of the largest delegation of taking part, 13 of them. Vietnam, with 46 Brothers, is the strongest single presence of Brothers in a province in the region. The total number of Brothers in the region is 203.
Two Brothers who would have been expected to be present are struggling with cancer at the moment, one a 'veteran' of the earlier meetings, Bro Peter Swain, now 86 years of age and living in Sydney, Australia, and the other a very young postnovice, Bro. Julio Pereira from Baucau, Timor Leste. Participants are praying for these two stalwarts.
Connection and travel details permitting, readers should be able to follow proceedings online day by day or at least every second day on www.bosconet.aust.comThere is a link on the home page to the Brothers Assembly, where key talks are already posted and a letter from the Rector Major to all participants.
___________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com Try out BoscoWiki to be interactive. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm A separate service entirely is called F'OSSERVATORE to help us keep abreast of trends in the digital world.
