VISION BEAMS enters the multimedia scene to harness its powers to educate and evangelize.
MISSION STATEMENT Empowering Media to be at the Service of Education, Evangelization and Development.
REFLECTIONS ON OUR INVOLVEMENT IN SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS IN AFE
The Salesians in Eastern Africa have made tremendous impact in the field of Technical education in the region in the last twenty three years of our existence. We are also being recognized for our creative involvement with the youth and are being called upon to direct offices and counsel agencies to improve the challenging world of the young. Other areas of impact in varying degrees are, frontier missions, catechesis, secondary education and the children in streets.
The Provincial Chapter 2 in drawing up the pastoral plan gave a fillip to our efforts in the field of Mass Media. The challenges to establish a media center, equip and train Salesians, develop formation directives for media education were decided on with the firm determination that it was TIME NOW for us Salesians to race to the front on “cyber high way”. If Don Bosco earned the acclaim to have set up the most modern printing press in his days and is currently running for the honor of being named the patron saint of the modern media, we, in this part of the world should not falter on the starting blocks.
For a fledgling enterprise the progress has been commendable. The decision to set apart the Provincial solidarity fund for the establishment of the office of Social Communications was a positive note of encouragement. By 2002, two confreres completed their training in media production. The video editing facility and the Desk Top Publishing facility at Don Bosco YES, (BEAMS) were already functioning by the end of 2004. By May 2005, an ultramodern digital audio studio christened STUDIO BOSCO began its productions. At the AMECEA plenary at Kamplala in June 2005, BEAMS received an award for excellence from SIGNIS.
In the field of the modern communications we are on the race with multinationals. This is a challenge rather than a threat as we as a congregation is bigger than these other players. We should not hesitate to take “bold strides”.