2nd Don Bosco Center Opens in Damascus

Second Don Bosco Center Inaugurated in Damascus

(ANS – Jaramana, Syria – September 19, 2025) – A new chapter began for the Salesian mission in Syria on Tuesday, September 16.  In Jaramana, a multicultural neighborhood of Damascus, the 2nd Don Bosco Center in the Syrian capital was inaugurated, a concrete sign of hope and educational commitment to serving young people.

The opening ceremony was attended by numerous young people, families, and friends of the Salesian community. Fr. Simon Zakarian, the Provincial, and Fr. Edwar Gibran, director of the community, welcomed the guests and emphasized the importance of this new center as “a new light for the youths of the area.”

The inauguration featured a moment of prayer and blessing with holy water, followed by a presentation of the facility by the project coordinators. The educational vision of the center and the future objectives that will animate its activities were then illustrated.

The new Don Bosco Center in Jaramana has a variety of spaces designed for the different ages and needs of young people:

–     A ’study area’ dedicated to university students, a peaceful and stimulating environment that encourages study, academic preparation and sharing, making young people active protagonists of their own growth.

–     Rooms dedicated to children, animated by the ‘After School’ program, which integrates education and leisure, promoting the development of academic skills and human values.

–     Classrooms equipped for vocational training, the heart of the “Savio Project,” with courses in English, accounting, and electricity: concrete tools to open up new job prospects and offer young people skills that are useful in the current socio-economic context.

“With so many young people in Jaramana, this center is not simply a building, but a concrete response to the daily needs of young people and families,” the Salesians reiterated. “Our Salesian mission remains to serve young people through educational, pastoral and formative paths that sow hope and build the future.”

The Don Bosco Center also opens itself with confidence to the initiatives of the local Church and community collaborations, with the aim of being a welcoming home for all young people, without distinction, in the full Salesian spirit.

The shared hope is that this new center will soon become a beating heart of life, dreams, and faith, where every boy and girl can find support, trust, and opportunities to grow as “good Christians and honest citizens,” according to the dream of St. John Bosco.

In a context marked by the tensions and difficulties of the Middle East, and Syria particularly, the opening of this Don Bosco Center in Jaramana represents much more than an inauguration: it is a prophetic and concrete sign of God’s love, a response to the many challenges that Salesians and lay people are called to face every day.

For many young people, often tested by the uncertainties of the present, this Salesian house aims to be a place where they can experience closeness, hope, and first-hand care, and rediscover that they are not alone on their journey toward the future.