To build new school building for Don Bosco Araimiri Secondary School (DBASS)

Don Bosco Araimiri is the first Salesians‘ Mission in Papua New Guinea (PNG), established in 1980 as a Technical School. The Salesian pioneers, under the leadership of Late Fr. Valeriano Barbero were ready with little resources they could acquire. With great dreams and hopes for the young people, to put up what would be a historical place and institution for Don Bosco Congregation in the whole of PNG, as it will be the first ever institution of Don Bosco in the country.
Don Bosco Araimiri is located in the West of Kerema town, under the Kerema Catholic Diocese in the Gulf Province. It is about 400km from Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea , along the coast of Gulf Province. The Salesian Community of Don Bosco Araimiri runs an agency secondary school in partnership with the PNG Government. The school serves the people in rural areas of Gulf Province. This year, there are total of 320 students out of which are 170 boys and 150 are girls. Most of the students are from far flung remote villages and hence all of them are accommodated in the boarding facility of the school. The boys are looked after by the priests, while the girls are taken care of by the nuns.
The current condition of the existing of more than 40 years old school building is deteroriating from salt/ sea water due to the rising sea level. The classrooms lack facilities in which there are indequate space to meet the need to providing good space for quality and maximum learning. In adition, the construction of the block may not be safe for students during the rainy seasons or severe weather. For years, from the little help the school gets for maintenance from the government, it is not possible to build a new building block that is required to providing a good infrastructure facility to the young students enrolled in the school. From the small support from the government it was only possible to patch up the broken walls with copper sheets and fix the roof from leakages. All of the students enrolled in the school are from remote areas and many of them find it challenging to pay their school and boarding fees. The school and boarding fees the school charges is minimal, which is not even sufficient to manage the cost of basic needs – food, water, electricity in the boarding facility and enhance learning materials and equipment for the school. Therefore, this project proposes to relocate the school by putting up a new building for the benefit of the young people in the remotest areas of the Gulf province of Papua New Guinea, who otherwise may not have the chance to go to school or further studies as accessible to schools in the capital city is not affordable to them. It will also enhance the learning with better infrastructure conducive for quality education. The Don Bosco Aramiri has enough space – land to put up new buildings, hence this project to build a new school building away from the sea.
To construct a new school building away from the sea to shift from the old school structure to the new building to provide a safe and secure environment to learn
The new school building will consist of
Seven (7) classrooms,
One (1) sick room
One (1) staff office
One (1) Admin office

Help Philip and Marie to Go to School