Johannesburg-Bangui-Bozoum
With our latest news we left you all last
Friday, while we were still in Johannesburg, where we went to see the machinery
for bricks manufacture. After two fruitful days of work, on Saturdays I and
Enrico Massone took a tourist day! With a lovely train / light metro, we went
into town and we began visiting around with a coach. Johannesburg is a quite varied city, with a
lot of green, a very large number of trees planted to decrease the dust of gold
mining. We visit a nice park, where the zoo is located. Many families go there
for a visit or a picnic.
We go through very beautiful and
meaningful areas, as the square of Mahatma Gandhi, who here started his life as
a lawyer and his non-violent struggle. We visit the Apartheid Museum too, which
tells the sad story of this Country, but also the struggles and hopes of many
people, among them the great Mandela. In the evening we approach the airport.
Our flight, scheduled for 1:15am, is announced with a delay. Finally we leave
at 2:30am. At Nairobi airport we face the same need to afford a fast running in
order to catch the next flight. At 9.00am we are already in Bangui, after 7
hours, due to the difference in time zones.
In the afternoon we welcome Father
Davide, the secretary of the Nunciature. He came for a visit with some Italian
friends. Among them there’s Dr. Mariella Enoc, CEO of the hospital
"Bambino Gesù" in Rome, appointed by Pope Francis to help the Children's
Hospital and facilitate the homecoming of refugees. Monday morning I carry on a
few appointments. Around noon I leave Bangui, and at about 6.00pm I’m in
Bozoum, after the usual 400 km of holes on the pavement, barriers etc.
This week I deal with different issues.
I need to control the rice grown here in Bozoum, rice that the WFP (World Food
Project) intends to buy in order to distribute it in schools. But
there is a problem that bothers me: insecurity. At least are two weeks that we
are without Prefect and Vice-Prefect. On top of this the UN troops have left
the city. Often there are gunshots, and anti-Balaka (former rebels, now clearly
bandits) act as the real bosses. So on Wednesday I invite them to a meeting.
The participants are around 20 persons, including those responsible for the “Conseil
des Sages”, some young people and some antibalaka. We discuss a lot with the
goal to stop them and to build a minimum of civil coexistence for all. Let's
hope!
Thursday we have another meeting to
discuss the Agricultural Fair. Despite the insecurity, and despite the fact
that we will miss the farmers of Bocaranga, Ndim and Ngaundaye (we don’t want
to endanger them), we finally decide to go ahead with the project. So Bozoum on
February 4th and 5th is going to have the great Agricultural
Fair in its 13th Edition.
It is a bet on the future, on
development, and on the work of so many farmers!
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| Gorilla |
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| Il Re Leone... un po' stanco Le Roi Lion (un peu fatigué) |
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| Il monumento a Gandhi |
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| Minusca à Bangui |
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| Controllo dell'umidità del riso, prima della vendita Controle de l'humidité du riz, avant la vente |
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| Ginnastica per gli alunni della scuola di Alfabetizzazione |
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