By Fr. Albeiro Rodas, SDB
Kep City, Cambodia, May 25 - Fr. Gianluca Tavola, PIME missionary and Kampot Parish-priest, was the president of the Solemnity of Mary Help of Youth at the Don Bosco Birth's Monument in Kep City, while Mgr. Oliviere Schmitthaeusler, Apostolic Bishop of Phnom Penh, accompanied the Salesian community of Sihanoukville this year that marks the Bicentenary of the Institution of the Marian Solemnity by Pope Pius VII on May 24, 1815, the same year of the birth of Saint Jonh Bosco.
The celebration in Kep included the Women's Day as a sign to present Virgin Mary as a model of a virtuous woman needed in our modern societies. The International Women's Day is celebrated on March 8 and it is a sensible event for a country like Cambodia, where women still suffering high rates of illiteracy, gender-based violence and lack of economic opportunities to break their circle of poverty.
Linking the Women's Day to the Feast of Mary that in Kep has been called for four years already the "Help of Youth" is very much important, because the Technical School has included in its policies the empowerment of young women, giving the same opportunities of technical formation as their male companions. The 7 technical sections include both genders.
The program took place this Monday, May 25, starting with the female football match won by the girls of social communication. At 5PM there was the recognition for the best female students per section and all the female personnel of the school.
The celebration of the Solemn Mass was at the Don Bosco Birth's House Monument, a small scale model of the house of Colle Don Bosco inside the Don Bosco Hatrans campus. In the Mass three priests: the parish-priest Fr. Gianluca Tavola, Fr. Fernando and Fr. Samnang or Albeiro, the Salesian leader of the Kep community. The Mass was followed by the procession with candles around the campus, the blessing of Mary Help of Youth and the offering of the youth's letters.
The end of the Mary's day was with a cultural program including music, dancing and stories about the Virgin of Don Bosco.
