16th Annual Agricultural Fair of Bozoum. Act One

16th Annual Agricultural Fair of Bozoum. Act One 

It was a good month of preparation on our part, which involved many months of work in the fields, and finally the Big Agricultural Fair of Bozoum 2020 arrived.

For 16 years, just like Caritas, we have been organizing this unique event across Central Africa, involving hundreds of agricultural cooperatives in the region. 

Two visits to various cities and villages to understand the progress of the agricultural season and take stock of the production. Various trucks that leave from different cities (Ngaoundaye, 220 km; Ndim, 180 km; Bocaranga, 125; Taley, 45, and other centres). Three Ministers (Agriculture, Humanitarian Action and Women's Rights), the staff of the Ministry of Commerce, 6 deputies, the bishop of Bouar, and some NGOs.  The parade of cooperatives, to represent the pride of those who work the land. We had 120 cooperatives present, and the whole city of Bozoum celebrating for 3 days. 

From January 24-26 2020, we had three days of work and celebration, to highlight the work of thousands of women and men who work hard to keep the land producing the gift of agricultural products, present in hundreds of bags here at the Fair: cassava, peanuts, rice, sesame, corn, millet, salad, carrots, cabbage, and dozens of seeds with the strangest colors and shapes. 

A generous land, abundant rains, and many people of good will: a country, Central Africa, which can, if it wishes, live peacefully, and reap all the good things of God.

Gli alunni del nostro liceo St Augustin al lavoro
Les élèves de notre Lycée St Augustin au travail

Lo stand del Centro orfani "Arc en Ciel"
Le stand du Centre des orphelins "Arc en Ciel"

La nostra ricchezza è il suolo, non il sottosuolo!

Tutto bio!
Tout est bio!

Slowly moving forward (yeke yeke)

Fiori di caffé
Café en fleurs

Slowly moving forward (yeke yeke) 

We ended the Christmas season with the celebration of the Baptism of Jesus. 

It was an opportunity for our parish in Bozoum to baptize four children (Marie Noëlle, Merveille, Gerard and Nathanaël), who entered the large family of the Church. 

On Monday it was time to put away the manger and decorations, and so began ordinary time (which in the presence of God is never too ordinary ...). 

In the meantime, the sisters who visited us left (Sr Rosa, Sr Graziana, Sr Chiara, Sr Fatima and Sr Rosalie). It was nice to have them back for a few days in Bozoum and Central Africa! 

The trip to accompany them to Bangui also served to welcome and bring some friends to Bozoum, who like every year return to visit and help us: Enrico Massone (who immediately began to complete the construction of the church of Kpari), Paolo Silvestro and Giuseppe Occelli. 

Along the way, we had the opportunity to note that the repair work on the Bossemptele - Bozoum road has been stopped for months. The machines are rusting, part in Bozoum and part in Bossemptele, and the road continues to get worse. 

Sometimes you walk like turtles, slowly, and sometimes, unfortunately, you go backwards...

Battesimi a Bozoum
Baptèmes à Bozoum

Giuseppe

Paolo raffina il riso di Bozoum
Paolo au travail pour nettoyer le riz de Bozoum

Enrico e la chiesa di Kpari
Enrico et l'eglise de Kpari

Caffé in fiore
Fleurs de café

Macchinari della ditta che "starebbe" riparando le strade
Les machines de l'entreprise SPEEDMAT qui serait en train de réparer la route

With grace upon grace ...

sr Graziana

With grace upon grace ... 

The Gospel of John opens with a great piece on Christ, the Word of God, made flesh. It is thanks to him that "we have all received grace upon grace" (Jn 1:16). 

During these past days we have received the rest of our Christmas gifts! 

On Friday I went to Bangui for a large Caritas meeting, the purpose of which was to develop and adopt guidelines to combat abuse. 

On Friday afternoon I had the great joy of meeting Sister Rosa, Sister Graziana, Sister Rosalie and Sister Chiara, who were here in Bozoum until 2013. They are here in Central Africa, together with their Superior General, Sister Fatima, to accompany Sister Rosalie, a young Central African, who made perpetual profession on Sunday 5 January, committing herself to consecration to God and to her brothers and sisters throughout her life.

After the Profession, early early Monday morning, we left for Bozoum. 

It was great to see the joy of many people, seeing the nuns who lived here in Bozoum for years, giving love, support and example, helping especially the poor, children, the elderly, young people, adults, men, women ... Practically everyone!

On Sunday morning, waiting for Mass, a girl, Grace, approached: a beautiful story, beautiful with the gifts and mysteries of God's love and tenderness. In 2008 a father with two children, Pierre and Grace, arrived in Bozoum. He took them away from the village, where they had been threatened, accused of witchcraft, and sentenced to death! 

After a few weeks spent with the nuns (and seeing nuns of almost 70 years playing hide and seek with them, was one of the best memories!) They were welcomed by Sister Elvira to Berberati, where they were adopted by two families.

Once in a while I receive updates on them, but it was only Sunday that I was able to meet Grace, who is now 16/17 years old! It was a meeting that moved me! 

Life is a miracle!

Sr Rosalie

Courage, 2020!

Courage, 2020!

Here we are in the new year!

We started in Bozoum, the same as the rest of the world celebrating. We met in church at 5 pm to thank God for all that we received in 2019, and to entrust 2020 to him, so that it will be a time of grace and peace.

New days have been given to us, like a new notebook, to be filled, day by day, with our work, our passion, our affections and friendships, our prayer, our joys and our labors.

2019 also ended with good news, on December 31, I received a phone call, informing me that Parliament discussed the report of the commission of inquiry on the exploitation of gold in Bozoum by the Chinese companies, and ordered the immediate suspension of the work.

This order unfortunately does not necessarily mean that the work will be stopped, but it is still good to see that there are people in the country who take these problems to heart and try to do something. We'll see!

I start this new year with a big thank you to everyone who reads my blog. You are many: more than 485,000 people have visited the blog in the various editions (Italian, French, English, German, Czech, Spanish and Portuguese)!

And a huge thank you to the translators! Every week they run to help the text to be translated into the various languages. Thanks to Fr Juan and Fr Silvano for the Spanish, to Sister Nazarè for the Portuguese, to Regina for the German, to Ludmila, Terezie and Martin for the Czech, and to Natasha and Fr Raffaele for the English!

Language	Visitors
Italian	189 950
French	104 938
English	82 634
Czech	43 504
German	28 345
Spanish	29 229
Portuguese	6 535
Total	485 135