Pilgrims with Indigenous Cambodian young people

Anchored in Hope beyond the frontiers of the Salesian Mission

Every year, Fr. Samnang Albeiro Rodas pays a visit to the northern hill provinces of Cambodia to promote the Don Bosco projects, including the technical school and the Don Bosco Brother Sun Scholarship program among rural and Indigenous children and youth. This year, inspired by the Strenna 2025, Anchored in Hope, Pilgrims with Young People and the Jubilee Pilgrims of Hope of Pope Francis, a small representation of Don Bosco Kep travels 1,500 km around Cambodia to visit Indigenous villages, where the Brother Sun Program supports the studies and well being of 270 children in different provinces.

The child members of the Don Bosco Brother Sun Program received between November and December 2024 their academic kits and uniforms to start the new academic year, thanks to the good heart of the benefactors of Sawasdee Foundation. The purpose of the journey was to assess the impact of the action to guarantee that 270 Cambodian children from rural and Indigenous villages stay at school and open the ways for a more holistic formation, including the care for the environment and for the ancestral traditions.

Fr. Samnang, together with teacher Ngil Vy and three Indigenous students of Don Bosco Kep, two Jarai and a Kuy, visited the provinces of Mondulkiri, Ratanakiri, Preah Vihear, Oddar Meanchey and Kampong Thom, where they met representatives of the Catholic Church, other Christian denominations, the Salesian Family, families of children and young people and a high school. They could witness the situation of many Cambodian rural families, thriving in the middle of a fragile economy, the problem of Internet addiction in many male teenagers, increasing the problem of school abandonment and the degradation of the environment. At the same time, the hopes of communities for a better life, especially supporting their own children, dreaming of a better future through education and the care for the ancient traditions and spiritualities of their communities.

With this journey, following the example of Saint John Bosco and Mother Mazarello, inspired by the Salesian Preventive System, we mark the commitment to be pilgrims with the young, especially the Cambodian rural and Indigenous children, youth, their families and communities, while anchored in Hope.

Mondulkiri

The small Don Bosco Kep delegation arrived at Kaev Sela in the south of Mondulkiri Province on 7th January to visit Fr. Juan Solorzano, member of the Yarumal Missionaries from Colombia, an association of priests serving churches with few clerics in many countries. Fr. Juan has been linked to the Bonun people for nearly 30 years, learning their languages, traditions and spiritualities. The Catholic Church in Mondulkiri belongs to the Kampong Cham Prefecture led by the Cambodian Mgr. Pierre Suon Hangly, including all the provinces of the northeast of Cambodia. Currently, there is the construction of a new church in the Kaev Sela Commune under the patronage of Saint Joseph.

Fr. Juan explained his apostolate in the region in union with the priests and religious sisters of the Prefecture. The Church is always open to the attention and service of the Indigenous peoples, providing attention such as assistance for health, some education initiatives and the accompaniment in the Faith. The Bunong People are very active in their community dynamics, protecting their own language and traditions.

We spent the night at the house of Fr. Juan in Kaev Sela, using our hammocks and tents in a hilly area that was not too cold after all, but with a wonderful night of stars. In a humble bonfire, we talked about our hopes as teachers, pastors and young people, especially committed to protect the traditions and to contribute to a better world. After the great hospitality of Fr. Juan and his team in Kaev Sela, we left early in the morning to Sen Monorom, the provincial capital of Mondulkiri, where we visited the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, FMA, Sister Dory Helena Ramirez and Sr. Liza, and other members of the Salesian Family. Fr. Samnang Albeiro Rodas celebrated the Holy Mass at the house of the sisters in a beautiful hilly zone of Sen Monorom, with the intentions of a missionary initiative of the Salesian sisters among the Bunong People. Currently, the sisters are taking care of some local children with lessons and care. “Let us ask the Most High to open the ways for the Salesian mission for the good of our dear children and youth of this region, especially the Indigenous communities,” said Fr. Samnang during the homily at the humble chapel of the sisters. He also reminded that more than 40% of Catholic faithful in the world are Indigenous peoples, while 70% of Asian Catholics are made of Indigenous faithful.

Ratanakiri

After the Holy Mass in Sen Monorom with the FMA and other members of the Salesian Family, the Don Bosco Kep mission continues its journey to the north, crossing the stunning hill views of Mondulkiri. So much beauty has been also affected by evident spots of deforestation and indiscriminate forest fires. This is our hope that humanity can get to that point of full awareness that the destruction of Mother Earth for the gain of ambitions, means also the destruction of the same humanity. As Pope Francis says in Laudato Si’, the poor suffer most when the Earth is abused.

In the last kilometers between Som Monorom and Bokeo District in Ratanakiri, our White Horse, the car, was overheating. Fortunately, thanks to the skill and commitment of teacher Gnil Vy, the car could be fully recovered and our journey continued. We arrived in Bokeo on 8th January, where we met with Fr. Ivan Campana, an Ecuadorian priest belonging also to the Yarumal Association and the parish priest of the extensive parish of Ratanakiri. He is supported by Korean priest Fr. Kim Joon of the Korean Missionary Society (KMS) and two Cambodian sisters: Sr. Tharin and Sr. Lai of the Sisters of the Holy Cross. In this district, we have sponsored many Jarai Indigenous children at the Churung Village since 2016. Providentially, Fr. Ivan chose this same village to create a kindergarten to the service of the Jarai families. The village was visited in 2024 by members of Sawasdee Foundation of Netherlands and also Mrs. Uti Bauernfeind from Germany, supporting our campaign to support Indigenous children to stop school abandonment. Many Jarai youth from Ratanakiri and other Indigenous groups such as Tampuong, Kreng and others, have joined the Don Bosco Kep Technical School since 2011. One of the members of our group is from this village, Mr. Rochom Lvan, student of media communication in Don Bosco Kep, Jarai youth, who came as camera operator. He joined the Don Bosco Brother Sun program as a little boy years ago and now he is near to get his associate degree in social communication. We visited also the family of our late past pupil of agriculture, Mr. Then Vith, who passed away on 22th December 2024, left a widow and a child.

We went to the Som Kaninh Jarai village in O’Yadao District to visit the family of our IT student Mr. Sev Dom, who came also on our journey. The mission was to pass the night in a Jarai traditional long house with his big family, following the Jarai traditions. It was a very beautiful moment of welcome to our delegation from Kep Province and also to Fr. Ivan Campana, who is learning Tampung and Jarai language, to Fr. Kim Yoom and sisters Tharin and Lay. The night fell down over Som Kaninh, very near the Vietnamese border. In 2013 Fr. John Visser, Br. Roberto Panetto and Fr. Samnang Albeiro Rodas came to this area to see the offering of a potential donor intending to provide Don Bosco Foundation with 10 hectares of land for the construction of a technical school to the service of Indigenous youth. However, even if the agreement was almost done, there was some opposition from some individuals, who never understood the good that a technical centre could do to the young people. From that moment, Fr. Samnang, supported by Fr. John Visser, decided that even if it was not yet the time for Don Bosco to settle in Ratanakiri Province, we could campaign to bring Indigenous youth to our Don Bosco schools, opening ways to guarantee their coming and promoting them to go back to their original region to work for the betterment of their communities. Since then, many Ratanakiri youth have come to the different Don Bosco schools and now we have many Indigenous past pupils, many of them working in their province. It was very interesting that we spent a night near the place they offered in 2013. We also visited some of the families of the students and we included some children who are at risk of school abandonment.

The following morning, on 9th January, we visited the Saom Thom high school of O’Yadao District, near the Som Kaninh village. Thanks to the school director, we could meet with all the students of the 12th grade, more than 100 youth from Jarai and Tampung Indigenous Peoples. They were very attentive to the presentation of the Don Bosco Technical School as an opportunity for their own future, after the conclusion of the 12th grade. Even if Kep is 700 km far away from Ratanakiri, we are ready to provide support to make them willing to pursue a career. The well behaved students listened the exposition of their senior Mr. Sev Dom, Jarai youth and also Mr. Sath Lay, Kuy Indigenous student, both from the IT Department. This is the opening journey to the annual Don Bosco Technical Schools Promotion, where we visit schools in different provinces of Cambodia. Finally, we visited the family of late Mr. Brak Khoy, Tampuong grandfather of Ben Yalaom, who passed away on 29th November 2024, he was 73 years old. Tha Brak Khoy participated in our Don Bosco Voices of Indigenous Peoples in January 2024 in Kep, leaving a good memory of wisdom and compromise for the formation of the new generations.

Preah Vihear and Oddar Meanchey

On 9th January we began our long journey from Banlung City, Ratanakiri Province, to Chou Chey Village, Chey Saen District in Preah Vihear Province. It is 200 km from the east to the west, crossing the Stung Treng Province and the Mekong River, very near to the Lao border. Our destination was the village of Mr. Seth Lay, our student of IT and also a member of the Brother Sun Program, belonging to the Khuy Indigenous Peoples. His father is a Thai Khmer Sareng. A full history of hope, pursuing his dream to study, among the hardships of poverty, he was supported by Enfants du Mekong organization when he was a little boy. He went to Don Bosco Poipet first, willing to study electricity, but as he did not finish 12th grade, Teacher Veasna of Poipet sent him to Don Bosco Kep. He relates how he traveled alone from Poipet to Kep, without knowing anything, until he arrived at the gates of the school. Then we visited his village for the first time, getting a first glance of the poverty of a rural area with so many hardships. His grandfather, 80 years old, is a spiritual leader of his community. They explained to us how children have to walk kilometers to school and many stop to study to work in plantations. We could also see the sad impact of deforestation and forest fires along the way.

We continued another 200 km more to the west, crossing into Oddar Meanchey Province, in the Trapeang Prasat District, where we are sponsoring some local children. The situation is not so different from the ones of Preah Vihear. But in this place, there is a special young man, who was a teacher of IT in Don Bosco Kep years before and who is a past pupil of the Saint Paul Institute of the Cambodian Catholic Church. Mr. Van Bophai created a computer centre to teach to local children, but it became a special place for the children to integrate their education at the school and to learn computers, English or simply to be assisted in topics like mathematics, Khmer and others. It also includes Khuy Indigenous children, whose parents live from a very fragile economy or working in plantations. Many of the children requested for bicycles to be able to attend the school and we are going to work on that need. We spent the night in Trapean Prasat, where there is also a beautiful Angkorean Temple and we traveled on 10th January to Siem Reap to stay one day of rest. Our three students visited Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom and it was the first time for them to see the archaeological wonder of their own country.

On 11th January we left Siem Reap to Kampong Thom, where we visited the house of Teacher Sean Chea, the former director of the Kampong Thom Aspeca orphanage. He has been a wonderful Cambodian man, with an incredible history of overcoming difficulties and supporting orphan children. He has sent many students to the Don Bosco Technical Schools since old times and even if he is retired and sick at his home, he continues following the cases of children to support them. It was a beautiful experience to visit the house of a good friend of Don Bosco, with his great faith in Providence and his charity in his heart. He even donated some rice for the Don Bosco Kep kitchen and we received it with a great honor, knowing it comes from a beautiful heart, of him and his wife. Along the journey, some of the humble families of the villages, also rice and fruits for the school. For us, those donations are holy, full of love and tenderness. The hope of the journey with our young people, our Indigenous and rural young people in Cambodia.

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