In 1979, the Salesians arrived in Liberia to discern the possibility of opening the mission in Monrovia requested by the Bishop of Monrovia. In August,1979, a Maltese Salesian, Fr Anthony Caruana, became Parish Priest of St Joseph’s Parish and took up residence there with Salesian Brother Paul Da Corte, who had come from the USA. During that same year another Salesian Brother William Regner, joined Brother Paul Da Corte in his work at the Arthur Barclay Technical Institute (ABTI), while also doing youth work in St Joseph’s Parish.
The ABTI had been run by an Irish NGO, called AFSO, and Salesians worked there until 1988, when it was legally handed over to the Salesians as the Don Bosco Polytechnic. From 1980 Fr Joe Brown (from United Kingdom) had been Principal of ABTI and continued in that role in the Don Bosco Polytechnic until 2001.
