Don Bosco Child Labour Mission
(DBCLM) – A Project of the Salesians of
Don Bosco
Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) is a worldwide organization founded by St. John Bosco to work for the poor and abandoned youth. With the strength of 16,175 members and 2,073 branches in 126 countries, the Salesian Society is the third largest Catholic religious order in the world!
Who is St. John Bosco?
St. John Bosco (also known as Don Bosco, meaning, father Bosco in Italian), was born on August 16, 1815,in a small town not too far from Turin, Italy. His father died when he was two years old. He was raised with tender love, yet firm discipline, by his mother, Margaret. He was ordained priest in 1841 and was in Turin, where the industrial revolution was attracting waves of young people to the city. The misery and abandonment of these youngsters moved John Bosco deeply. He dedicated his life for them and began oratories (youth clubs) for them. He then started hostels and boarding schools, where he taught them trades.
In 1854 Don Bosco founded the Salesian Society incorporating into his mission for the poor youth a group of committed helpers who were with him. The society spread far and wide, experiencing tremendous growth during the past 150 years and becoming a world wide movement of priests, brothers, sisters, co-operators, past pupils and volunteers who share Don Bosco’s educative method popularly called “the Preventive System”. In fact, far from being a system, it is a lifestyle, an educational approach, a pastoral method and a spiritual heritage.
To be a friend was Don Bosco’s mission – a friend to the youth who were poor, abandoned, at risk – and, in so doing, to be a friend to Jesus Christ. He left a legacy of love that is as strong today as it was over 115 years ago when he said, “It is enough that you are young for me to love you very much!”
Don Bosco died on January 31, 1888, leaving behind the great task of being “signs and bearers of God’s love” to the young.
Today the Salesians worldwide perpetuate its founder’s charism in many different initiatives on behalf of young people: schools, colleges, oratories, youth centers, technical and professional training centers, parishes, pastoral work, activities in the realm of mass media and social communications, human development, and every field concerning the young at risk.
DBCLM (Don Bosco Child Labour Mission) Karnataka started in 1994, one of the projects of the Salesians of Don Bosco, tries to translate Don Bosco’s legacy of love into action on behalf of the child labourers by “restoring their lost childhood”.
