Work in progress

Work in progress

On Saturday, July 21, I left the Carmelite brothers in Yaoundé, Cameroon. From Yaoundé I went to Douala by Couch, and on Sunday at dawn I left by plane and at 2:00 pm I was already in Bangui. Here in Bangui, at the time of writing, in our convent on the outskirts of the capital there is a week of formation especially geared towards our younger brothers and those discerning their vocation. There are about forty among students, novices and postulants from Central Africa and Cameroon. Led by Fr. Luc Marie, from the French province of Avignon-Aquitaine, they will spend these days delving deeply into the life and message of a great Carmelite nun, Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity. It is beautiful to see so many young people, who sing, pray, play and study together. There is great hope and at the same time a great need to keep these young men in your prayers. On Monday morning I left Bangui around 8.00 am along with Maria Cottone, a teacher from Catania, who is visiting our Mission in Central Africa, a Mission she loves and knows because she has been of great help for many years, together with her family. At 1:30 pm we were in Baoro, and we went on towards Bouar, where I went to visit a novice of ours who is in undergoing treatment at Maigaro  hospital. And finally, at 7.00 pm, we are back in Bozoum. Here in Bozoum, in addition to various activities, we are doing work in the church, thanks to the hard-work and capabilities of Mario Mazzali. It involves preparing, welding and inserting a beam (12 meters long and almost 1,200 kilos) under a frame that is yielding. There’s always plenty of work to do….

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L'entrata del Monastero delle Carmelitane di Yaounde
l'entrée du Monastère des Carmélites de Yaounde

I nostri giovani carmelitani di Camerun e Centrafrica
les jeunes Carmes de Centrafrique et Caméroun

Maria Cottone & Co

Mario Mazzali al lavoro

Carmel

Pedaggio per la manutenzione delle strade
Péage pour l'entretien routier

Carmel

In the Carmel, Mary’s figure is a great important presence. When, around 1200, some crusaders retreated to Palestine on Mount Carmel to devote themselves to prayer and listening to the Word of God, it was natural for them to choose Mary as a model, mother and sister.

On Sunday we celebrated the festivity honoring Her in Bozoum. Twenty-nine people received the Scapular, which is a piece of brown cloth reminiscent of the Carmelite’s dress, a sign of consecration to Mary and of her protection.

Around noon I take the car to go to Bangui. The 400 km of road is continuously worsening. There "would be" 300 km of paved road, but they are more and more dangerous because of the many holes. But ... but every 50 km you have to pay the toll for "l'entretien routier" (road maintenance)!

On Monday, in Bangui, we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Carmel, which is the proper day. For our convent it is a great event. In the morning takes place a long procession between the palm trees and other trees belonging to the township. In the afternoon we have the solemn Mass, presided over by Don David Charters, secretary of the Nunciature. Monday and Tuesday I am involved with Caritas for a training and sharing of experiences session, attended by diocesan directors.

Unfortunately, one of us, the Abbé Firmin, of Bambari, is no longer present: he was killed by armed bands a couple of weeks ago.

Wednesday morning I leave Bangui, and by plane I’m in Cameroon. I arrive around noon in Douala, and here I can buy books for our St. Augustine’s middle school and high school. They are very expensive, but it's more important that the students can read and study seriously.

At 3.00 pm I leave with a bus towards Yaounde. I have to afford 270 km only, but it takes more than 5 and a half hours to arrive. Traffic in the city is chaotic, and the road is narrow, with detours and car accidents.

In Yaounde I meet the Carmelite confreres and Suzanne, Hyppolite's mother. Thursday morning I go with her to complete the dossier to make the Visa that will allow her to go to Italy to stay a while with her son. But the process isn’t easy! After completing the documents with those still not ready, we go to the Visa Office, but at 11.30 am is already closed, and no telephone answers to our call. We just have to fix another appointment, but it will only be next Wednesday. Let's hope!

le strade...
les routes "entretenues"...

Festa al Carmelo

Riunione Caritas

Yaounde

MOTHERS

MOTHERS

It's a week in which mothers make news!

Monday morning Suzanne Yadole, a multi-winner of the Bozoum gardens contest, and mother of Hyppolite, leaves Bozoum, to join her son in Italy. Hyppolite is a boy from Bozoum, paralyzed from the waist down, after a bad fall in the classroom. At that time we were facing severe problems: his wounds and his various health problems that were killing him. We were able to arrange a trip to Italy.

In Savona he have been welcomed and hosted with love by a small-big family; mom Emanuela, dad Fiorenzo, Alessandra and Daniele, and a couple of dogs. Hyppolite at present is enjoying a better health, but we felt the need to make him stay a while with his mom. And since he is not able for now to be back to Bozoum, it is the mother who goes to him. The journey is long: first we have to go to Cameroon in order to present the request for the visa, hoping for a yes. Then the flight to Italy.

On Wednesday I go to Bouar. With me is Sister Annita, who leaves moving Congo, for a period of rest, visiting also her family.

Thursday morning there is the meeting, the first one, of the diocesan Commission of the Media. We discuss the Diocesan Radio (whose name is Siriri, which means "peace" in sango). Radio, in Central Africa, is a great tool for information and training. With the help of the diocese of Chiavari (GE), with the positive involvement of Teleradio Pace, we hope to expand the area in which our radio waves can be received so that it reaches all 12 parishes of the diocese of Bouar.

We also have had a conversation about being present on the Internet. For several months, thanks to my friend Maurizio Urbani, there is a site of the diocese:  http://www.diocesebouar.org/.

In the afternoon, I move to the St. Michael Center for AIDS patients. Here, with the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, and the NGO SIRIRI, we are building an Ophthalmology clinic, where those with eye problems will find staff, medicines and tools to heal or at least to improve conditions.

And I conclude with another mother: in all our Carmelite communities we are preparing the great festival of Mary, Mother and Queen of Carmel, on July 16th. And I entrust you all to Her!

la partenza della mamma di Hyppolite (la prima, in piedi, a sinistra)
le départ de la maman de Hyppolite (en haut, la première à gauche)

Il centro di Oftalmologia in costruzione
le Centre Ophtalmologique en construction

Ritorno a Bozoum
en rentrant à Bozoum

Cana

Cana

Sunday, July 1^st, after celebrating the end of all the other schools of the Mission, is now the turn of the "Cana" Women's Training Center. Opened in 2004, this small school is reserved for girls and women who receive training on childcare, family economics, cooking, sewing, cutting, embroidery and knitting, for the duration of 3 years.

The "Cana" Center is supported by our friends of Prague members of the Organization SIRIR.ORG, and takes its name from the Gospel: it is at Cana that Jesus performs his first miracle, changing the water into wine, pushed and convinced by Mary, his mother. Once more Cana highlights female ability and genius.

For the end of the school year girls and women give their best. They come at Mass, offering to God and the poor part of what they have done. In the parish hall their show of their handmade by them: clothes, sweaters, sweets, embroidered sheets. In the afternoon we deliver report cards and diplomas to those who did complete the three-year training course.

Monday morning we start again! At 4.30 am I leave towards Bangui, where I arrive at 11.00 am. The roads continue to get worse, and it takes six and a half hours to travel 400 km. Even the sectors of the roads covered with asphalt get worse by the day.

On Tuesday I’m at our Carmel Bangui convent for a ceremony. It's about laying the first stone of ... a chicken coop! In 2016, after the Pope's visit to Central Africa, the Italian government was committed to helping the Country with a training project on agriculture, targeting especially young people. Carmel is a large agricultural center of 130 hectares, created by Father Anastasio twenty years ago or so, with the aim of helping people and the country, through agriculture. There is a large plantation of oil palm trees, another, just begun, of coffee, and a large nursery of tropical plants. There is also a breeding shed with about eighty cows.

The project, which involves Italy, FAO, the COOPI NGO, some Nobel prizes (Yunus and others), finally begins to take shape, and on Tuesday there was a simple ceremony to present the project and start the works. And soon, I hope, the first young people can begin the training courses on agriculture, breeding, transformation...

On Wednesday at 4.30 am departure from Bangui, and in the evening I am finally in Bozoum, after a short visit to Baoro and Bouar. Keep going!

CANA