OCEANIA/SOLOMON ISLANDS - Network of Catholic formation centres for 30 years at the service of education and development for rural communities

Honiara (Fides Service) - STYVADIMA is a network of Catholic Formation Centres which promotes education and development in rural communities in Solomon Islands. For over 30 years lay teachers, former Catholic school pupils, have served in the most isolated communities far from technological, cultural and civil progress and still attached to tribal traditions. The network promotes development programmes in various areas to help for example fishing and farming communities realise they are citizens of a nation and that they are an important centre of attention for the local Christian community. STYVADIMA is an acronym of the initials of the villages Stuyvenberg, Vanga Point, Divit and St. Martins where the association has provided thirty years of service to education and professional training for the benefit of the local people.
Recently Bishop Chris Cardone, the Catholic Bishop of Auki diocese where most of the STYVADIMA programmes are run, praised the network for teaching new and more productive farming methods, assuring basic schooling for many children in Islands where there are no schools. In a short message to Fides the Bishop spoke very highly of the lay association and the teachers hoping they will continue their work for the benefit of the islanders.
(PA) (Agenzia Fides 2/5/2005 righe 21 parole 223)