Facilities consist of good quality cement buildings including: a two-storey
building comprising an office and classroom, a newly built concrete general
workshop, a temporary auto-mechanics workshop, and a temporary carpentry
workshop. We also have one helper's residence and a farm boys' residence.
Our staff residence has six bedrooms and a communal bathroom and kitchen.
Also on the premises, we have 12 water tanks, two deep wells. Vehicles include
two pick-up trucks, one two-ton truck, a service car, a 30 HP OBM, and a
boat - all in good working condition.
At present, we pay half of our expenses from school fees. Don Bosco International
and Don Bosco Japan pay the remaining costs. We hope to be self sufficient
in three years' time.
The Institute at Henderson constitutes the first phase of our project, phases
two and three have been submitted for approval to the European Union in
Brussels and, if approved, will begin in 2003 and end in December 2005 with
the total capacity of 280 students. Don Bosco is setting up a second centre
at Tetere in North East Guadalcanal, and intends to found centres in all
major Islands within 20 years' time.
Don
Bosco Technical Institute Rural Training Centre
Guadalcanal Province
Our aim is to help Solomon Islanders who have dropped
out of the formal education system after completing standard six, or form
three leavers residing in town become engaged in useful activities, shape
them into good Christians and honest citizens, able to contribute to development
in the country. We nurture a special type of relationship between educator
and students, a spirit of family unity, in an atmosphere of joy and happiness.
With five full-time and three part-time staff members, we can accommodate
80 students. We have no boarding facilities. We welcome young men who are
technically rather than academically inclined, and who come from difficult
domestic circumstances. Young women will be accepted soon, with the arrival
of the Don Bosco Sisters.
In our teaching and training, we focus on production and direct sales of
students' projects. Animal husbandry includes a piggery, a poultry pen;
as well as a small stable with four goats and two cows, and 10 beehives.
We also have a vegetable garden, producing lettuce and cabbage. Students
manage a small amount of funds by buying fodder, then selling produce (eggs,
chickens, piglets) and goods (barbecue plates, ovens constructed out of
oil drums, and beehives) in Honiara. Apart from vocational training, students
engage in a range of club activities for cultural, religious, recreational,
and intellectual development (Biking Entertainment, Library, Religion etc).
