Salesians Equip Youths in Multiple African Countries with Mobile Journalism Skills to Participate in Evangelization

Nairobi, 05 November, 2024 / 9:20 PM

Members of the Religious Institute of the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) have completed the training of 18 youths in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), adding to the numerous youths the Italian-founded Missionary Congregation has equipped with Mobile Journalism (MoJo) skills to evangelize in the current digital spaces.

In a note shared with the information service of Propaganda Fide, Agenzia Fides, Fr. Maciej Makuła of the SDB’s Social Communication Department notes that the 18 participants learned a series of techniques and received tools to create professional content using Android phones or iPhones, “so that they can better respond to the main challenges of evangelization today.”

In the Monday, November 5 Agenzia Fides report, Fr. Makula is quoted as saying that the trainees also acquired in-depth knowledge of digital editing and mastered specific applications on their mobile phones and PCs, which will increasingly be part of daily professional practice in their communities.

“Most of the four-hour work sessions were devoted to practical work,” Fr.  Makuła said, adding that the participants also practiced creating content to disseminate, receiving critical comments and suggestions to improve their work and apostolate.

The training that was realized at St. Francis de Sales Imar Salesian community in Lubumbashi brought on board 15 young journalists from Radio Don Bosco Lubumbashi, SDB Novice, and two members of the "La Colombe" multimedia center. 

In the November 5 report, Agenzia Fides notes that there are numerous French-speaking Salesians in the Province of Central Africa, who are active as missionaries in digital media.

In the English-speaking African countries, SDB members have already facilitated the training of digital media professionals in Zambia, Malawi, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Madagascar.

In his note to Agenzia Fides, Fr. Makuła stressed that Salesians and the SDB Province of Central Africa in particular “will have no future without digital technology.”

He explained that the Church and the Salesian family are called to adopt an integrated approach to social media and urged everyone to do their utmost to create new digital missionaries. 

The multi-year Synod on Synodality that concluded on October 27 called for for the formation of “digital missionaries.” The assembly’s synthesis report following the October 2023 session provided guidelines for engagement with the digital space, which “can surely boost the building of a more just and fraternal world.”

On digital missionaries, the October 2023 synthesis report says, “We cannot evangelize digital culture without first understanding it. Young people, and among them, seminarians, young priests, and young consecrated men and women, who often have profound and direct experience of it, are best suited to carry out the Church's mission in the digital environment, as well as to accompany the rest of the community, including pastors, in becoming more familiar with its dynamics.”

Sabrina Amboka contributed to the writing of this story.