Ready? Let’s go!
Now that the Maison de la Paix have been restructured the weekly meeting of the Committee of Wise Men takes place each
Monday at 8 am in this renewed location.
At the same Maison the la Paix I met all those who in Bozoum continue to work
for peace in order to avoid tensions and violence.
As the meeting ended I went to Bouar, 250
km far from Bozoum, and there I have had some useful meetings. While there I
heard about the imminent release of Fr. Matthieu the Polish Pastor of Baboua. According
to the people voices should have been matter of hours. Until now instead
nothing happened. It is now four weeks which the Father is seized by the rebels.
Tuesday we had in Bouar a cordial meeting
with all of our missionaries Carmelites Friars. They were from Bouar (Yolé and
St. Elias), Baoro, Bozoum and Bangui. We met for an exchange of views about our
life of prayer, pastoral and vocational ministry.
Wednesday early morning at 5.30 am we were
already on the road. Fr. Federico who two days before was driving from Bangui
on the same road, have been stopped twice by the many barriers placed by anti-balaka,
who also slapped him. Our journey then appeared a little tense. But when we got
to the same area we met only one barrier ... and we did not even stop!
We have had more meetings on next day, with
some intervals making our way to the kitchen in order to prepare pizza. Some
soldiers were invited too. I did ask the doctor who had treated me just few
months ago, to be with us, but no soldiers nor te Doctor could come because
some Seleka which were kept confined for few months in 3 cabins, were back free
on the roads blocking all traffic.
Friday morning I travel with Fr. Davide
Sollami who in Arenzano works for our Missions, towards Douala in Cameroon. In
theory, we expected to take our flight for Yaounde the Capital City that
evening, but the flight have been canceled. The day after early morning we
reached the airport, but because of the fog we couldn’t take off on time. The
fog was expecting us again at Yaounde, Cameroon Capital. The landing has been
delayed of a quarter of an hour. Finally we were welcomed by our dear Friars: Brother
Jean Baptiste (Cameroon) and the Italian Fr. Dominic. They drove us to their
convent in Nkolbisson. There we met some young men in formation. Among them
also two Central Africans: Brother Christo and Brother Rodrigue. Both of them
are there in order to complete their theological studies.
The day is quickly coming to an end: a good
number of meetings and fraternal visits. In the afternoon we went to greet the
Carmelite nuns, and then again on the road toward another convent in Nkoabang. We
found ourselves in the middle of a heavy traffic due to normal everyday life
but also for a great expectation of an important soccer game: Cameroon vs
Congo.
Drive through the city like Yaounde and
Douala, and a country like Cameroon, helps us to understand how just a bit of
peace is the base of a better quality of life and an opportunity of development.
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