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The Society of John Bosco starting with a group of fellow students when we met up 54 years ago at the Colegio Sao Joaquim, located in Lorena, from the state of Sao Paulo. Lorena is located half way between the cities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. This is the midpoint where this Roman Catholic educational order created by Dom Bosco from Turin, Italy in the 19th century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bosco
Paul Yih is one of these many students who had managed to have all the many school mates engaged during this long period of absence. Yih had also attended the Salesian Institute in Macau before his family had migrated to Brazil. The collective exposure of the educational system of Don Bosco had the many of these once youngsters impressed, not only by the good and sound educational many of them have received, but the idea and the method and the pedagogy of Dom Bosco should be maintained and to foster into the future of a world where the many misguided and disoriented youth can be exposed. The unique features of the Dom Bosco teaching were based on the very affectionate method – His belief in the creation of space and to allow the youngsters to explore their time and space was one of the most advance system where his teaching had eventually spread around the world – Yes, under the Roman Catholic system and yet, his educational system is very universal that were never limited to the Roman Catholic faith.
But the further exploration with Paul and Yih and his fellow students from both Brazil and from HK, Macao. The development team had decided to create such society and to be named John Bosco Society.
Their belief of this educational system that can be applied above and beyond the realm of the religious as they have decided to try to foster this rich philosophy of Dom Bosco and to provide the much-needed continuity to the needy youth today in and around the world.
The society members have made the vow that this newly formed Society will not be limited by gender, faith, race nor creed. But to stay focus and to generate the sort of education to the poor and to the needy.
Yih holds a master’s degree from the system university of the state of Wisconsin (Platteville) under the educational psychology in the discipline of “guidance and counseling” and over these past 45 years since his masters – Yih had continued on and conducting his personal research in a global arena he once started with the Multicultural education where he had been fostering his own idea of cross-cultural psychology and by conducting himself as a cross-cultural psychologist with the emphasis in cultural Anthropology.
Yih credits his exposure with the Latin and Romance language very much influenced by the Salesian education and subsequently, this Latin/Roman based platform had granted Yih’s fluency in the four basic Latin languages along with his own command of Chinese and the comprehension and use of four extra dialect beside his native tongue of Cantonese.
The combination of the languages, the awareness of the multicultural environment and onto the current world cross-cultural crisscross of values had given Yih the up to date fluency with this interaction of cultures.
Yih also formulated two major systems of communications.
The full development of a most suitable communication system so called CD/CS – CD for Communication Dynamics and CS for Cultural Sphere. All were created by his enormous exposure into a cross cultural world with people, geography, cultures, languages and the interaction of all of the many world values and traditions with such a rich diversity – Thus, the creation of CD/CS is one very basic communication system, within the realm of both psychology and cultural anthropology – a system of communication that will not require the writing, but a very basic oral form of communication that is focused to the basic human interaction and the issues of conflicts with resolutions.
The educational elites must try to be humbling down to make their learnings to be reformulated and to simplified that all people of all cultural strata can comprehend and to use these sets of communications with ease.
Yih credit his major influential people in our recent history that had profoundly affected this development.
Second, it is the teaching of Conscentization of Paulo Freire of Brazil where Yih had also initiated the new method by naming it Consciencecology. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulo_Freire
From the learning of Conscience inspired by Paulo Freire which had led Yih to the next phase of the development of Consciencecology with the added rich resources from Wang Yangming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Yangming
The confluences of these educators along with all the other influential writes such as: Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Cervantes, Dumas, along with the philosophical values of Plato, Socrates, Confucius, Laozi and Buddha. All can be summarized with the confluence of “values” of the pragmatic teachings and values of Dom Bosco and his most dedicated mission to be of value to the youth then as we can be fostering those similar values today to the youth of today.
Besides the creation of the SJB – Society of John Bosco, at this very same time the creation of CCI – Cross Cultural Institute will also be created here in Williams Bay, Wisconsin to compliment more human endeavors globally.
The Gathering
This is the very first gathering of our fellow students as we will be starting back in Lorena, as the mid-section of the entire valley known as Vale de Paraiba, one of the earliest and it is still one of the best link of the three major Brazilian provinces of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais. The Society of John Bosco will be formed most pragmatically starting with our old school of Colegio Sao Joaquim – CSJ and present day, in the same facility is where UNISAL, University of Salesians is located.
We will begin with the ex-students dating back from the early 60s to the year of 1970, when the school was closed. We will be enrolling one by one of these many alumni/alumnus as will be forming gradually the clusters of our society members one city at a time going to the three directions, northeast to Rio, north west to Minas Gerais and going south/south west to the state of Sao Paulo.
Our immediate goals are just to follow the very basic principles of the idea of John Bosco with his work with the city poor youngsters and with the operation called “oratorio”, where these many youngsters can come to the gathering. Yes, there is the Roman Catholic mass on Sundays, but the rest of the time and day is to provide these many youngsters with recreations and some relax moments and to “play” like all youngsters.
The SJB will continue to support the Salesians Youth program in each city – or the Oratorio, but instead, we will be more proactively to move our work and mission into the poor areas, including the “favelas”, and to provide as much as we can with the local youth. One of the focus will be to give support to all the youngsters and with their aspiration and engagement with sports – Where soccer, or football is the major focus. We will try our best to establish the “funding” or fund raising programs which will be done and to be conducted by the latest world technologies, be that of the use of computers and Internet, and beyond the basic technologies, we will deploy the use of the incoming technology, emerging with DT and IT, Data Technologies with information technologies. With the latest technologies to rally donation, to generate financial support with the minimum demand of time of people and or contributors.
CASA J BOSCO
We will begin our SJB with the creation of a CJB in each city or communities in the immediate area surrounding the VDP – Vale de Paraiba with a CJB Center – Casa J Bosco Center. However small and humble that will be a starting point and to rally all the members who share our ideas and ideals with the teaching of John Bosco.
It is also a mission to do our best to alleviate poverty, or to be of value to support the needy or the poor by our capacity to rally fund and “fun” for the youth and the youth of all genders.
Gratitude
I guess to summarize it all – whatsoever had us motivated to create SJB – Society of John Bosco, the CCI –Cross Cultural Institute and all the many more works in philanthropy all came via the sense of gratitude.
I am forever grateful for the sort of people and cultural exposure I have received in Brazil, and for the most part, those short two years at the CSJ in Lorena had shaped me into a huge area that had impacted my life.
From that little school with a bunch of boys – Unbeknown to me, where I was coached and trained by a fellow student – Durval Cesar Bicudo, had turned me into the Sao Paulo State swimming record broker in 1964.
Never in my life had dreamt about becoming the sort of athlete I have become in the following sports: Basketball, football (soccer) Futebol de Salao (present day Fusal), volley… I played drums for the schools marching band, I have learned to type, to have served Latin mass, where my use of the tonal expression had improved my linguistic skills into later Spanish and Italian. Never had I imagined that I was recruited by major clubs for basketball in 1965. My training of swimming and with my Sao Paulo record had given me the entry into the university here in America. Much more than that, I have spent those two precious years, being myself, pursuing my studies and sport without any interference, the friendships I have with all these many fellow students had lasted until today and more. There was no sense of envy, jealousy, but the “togetherness” and the well wishes to all. This collective experience had shaped and formed the level of self-worth and self confidence that now I am rally this effort and by the creation of this society in trying our best to foster the sort of continuity that we have cherished.
Gone are the limitations of our own religious group, today, the society is to gather all the many more “facilitators” , more the giver of time and the giver of our Dom Bosco spirit and to provide what we can today, or what we can afford to generate another generation of the Salesians (As we are known), no longer needed to be religious, but with lay people and people to share what we have without any difference of creed, faith, color and race.
We have heard before about ecumenical gathering – But today, we are beyond any religion and faith. But to gather all good people and to share our burden – our collective burden, to alleviate the best we can about poverty and to try our best to be of value toward those who have less than we do, and to provide that much more “generosity” where we have received from the members of the Salesians, the receivers of the generosity of a good man – Dom Bosco.
We do our best to emulate the work of a good teacher, a good thinker, a good man whose heart and work had always dedicated to those “needy” then and now. It is our time to do our utmost to foster the rise of good people – and by way of SJB.
I am a product of this great education system.
Finally, I would also like to put forth this quote or saying by Padre Antonio Lages, our Portuguese teacher, a write, poet and a good soul.
I have gone back to CSJ – Colegio Sao Joaquim just about twenty years ago. Where Fr. Lages and I have met. Like old times, we walked and paced the entire football field after we shared a light lunch.
I have lifted my head from the path and saw the bust of our founder John Bosco and the garden surrounding such bust where we have played many times over with many sports.
I asked Father Lages: “What can I contribute back to school? What are the needs you think the school may want from us?”
Father looked up and said this to me in the gentlest manner:
Look, young man, I thank you for your concern and caring. I am in my late 80s now. I am grateful that I have a place to stay and to rest. I teach sometimes and as always, I enjoy my gathering with all the many youth. like I did enjoy our time when you were here. You and I have shared much with both the languages of Portuguese and English…”
As you well known, we have almost everything that is being well provided for “. “There is no such need of anything that we old priest needed or wanted”
“Let me remind you of the spirit of our John Bosco, it is not necessary that you need to give back to us. Our mission is about youth. If you want to make retribution of your education with us here and appreciating it . what I would like to ask of you is this. Take our school CSJ as a human basket – if you think you have gotten something out of this basket – put something back and that is nice. but this basket need not to be a “Salesian basket”, but a basket to all humanity and our mission is for the youth and their development, both educationally and spiritually… Do you not see any needy young people in your town, your city? Put something back there – and so something with those youth – Put something back to our “human basket”.
Upon my return, my wife and I have since been contributed to our local YMCA for these past 25 years.
This is the spirit of our Salesians – and to give to the “human basket”.
I have learned much from these many generous teachers, clergy and pals –
Gratitude is a good thing. Gratitude is always a good thing.
Yes, Father Lages, you were still teaching me after all these many years.
This section of Archives will be use both as a storage area for the older documents when we can have them retired into this area. All future postings in all segmentes will be dated. Our partners and participants are all welcome to use this area to gather ideas and to handle their rewriting of any text for their own region.
