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Sunday, April 28, 2019

Easter 2019





Easter 2019
Christus vivit! It is the word that pierces death and brings light into our lives. A few weeks ago Pope Francis published an article that has just this title, addressed to young people: "Christ lives. He is our hope and the most beautiful youth of this world. Everything that He touches becomes young, becomes new, is filled with life ... He lives and wants you alive! ".
Easter has always and everywhere been a unique strength, which overwhelms everything: life and death, spaces and time.
Even in Bozoum we experienced Easter quite intensely.  After the Holy Triduum and the celebrations of Holy Thursday and Good Friday, Holy Saturday we experienced the great Easter Vigil, which started outdoors, in front of the church, in the darkness lit by the fire, the symbol of the Risen One. We lit the Paschal Candle and entered the church, and after readings and the homily, we celebrated the Baptisms. This year there were 58 catechumens; boys, young people and adults, and 10 small children.
In ancient times all of Lent was a period of preparation for Baptism, which was normally celebrated on Easter night.
It is always nice to see the catechumens approach the baptismal font: So full of joy and deeply moved.
The Easter Vigil, which began at 6.30 pm, ended at 10 pm, and immediately the city filled with the songs of the baptized and of the Christian community, present in every neighborhood.
On Sunday we celebrated Mass at 8.30am. The church was full, and the celebration was very lively. In the end the baptized, accompanied by friends, relatives and choirs from their neighborhoods, left the church, wrapped in colored fabrics, and supported by the Christian community.
The following days were days of (relative) rest, and here too there is the Easter Monday tradition: both Monday and Tuesday we had the joy of welcoming friends and confreres from other communities, and sharing with them the table (and the now mythical Bozoum pizza).
Happy Easter!


















Luigina e Nathalie e la produzione dei tortellini







Friday, April 19, 2019

Journey to Easter




Journey to Easter
There are only a few days left until the great feast of Easter.
Friday 12 April we began the great pilgrimage of young people. Every 2 years, around Palm Sunday, we organize a large (and long!) Pilgrimage for the youth of the Parish. This year we went to Bahoyo, a small village 48 km away, on the road from Bozoum to Bouar.
We were about 300 pilgrims: children, young people, mothers, fathers. We gathered in the church, and after a short prayer we left. Fortunately the sky was overcast, and so had  better walking conditions. We did a part of the journey in prayer (Via Crucis, Rosario, songs ...) and at a good pace we arrived in the village of Bouforo around 6.15 pm, about 4 and a half hours per 24 km!
Here the pilgrims spent the night, welcomed in the various canopies, houses and under the trees, and after a quick dinner, a brief rest awaited them. I drove back to Bozoum for the night, and returned to Bouforo the next day at 5.30am. We left together, and after an hour and a half in the savannah, we took the main road again. The sky was still overcast, and the rain was approaching, it reached us at 8:30 when we were near Kounde.  We walked in the rain for 2 hours, and we were completely wet when we finally arrived, around 10.30 in Bahoyo.
Here the kitchen team was already at work, and among the schools and the chapel we were able to at least change ourselves and to put something dry on it (for those who had it available).
The afternoon, after a bit of well-deserved rest, provided a time for Confessions. And the next day, Sunday, the great Palms procession, which winded through the village.
Saturday at the end of the morning we returned to Bozoum, also to be present for the Confessions. On Sunday morning we also celebrated the Feast of Palms. Like the inhabitants of Jerusalem, we acclaimed Jesus and in procession we entered the church.
Mass was deeply felt, also because it introduced us to Holy Week.
In the afternoon, with 2 trucks, the pilgrims returned to Bozoum.
For all a great Easter journey!
"God died and we killed him: this phrase is taken almost literally from the Christian tradition and we often repeated something similar in our Viae Crucis without feeling the terrible gravity of what we were saying. We killed him, enclosing him in the stale shell of habitual thoughts, exiling him in a matter of sentences or archaeological preciousness. When the storm has passed, we will realize how little our faith was full of foolishness. And yet, oh Lord, we cannot help but shake you, God you are silent and sleep, and cry out: wake up, don't you see that we sink? Wake up, don't let the darkness of Holy Saturday last forever. Let a ray of Easter fall even on our days. Join us as we move desperately towards Emmaus, so that our hearts may light up near you ”. (Joseph Ratzinger)
Happy Easter!







camminando sotto la pioggia
en marchant sous la pluie



il ritorno
le retour


Domenica delle Palme
Dimanche des Rameaux




Il fiume, inquinato dalla ditta che estrae l'oro (15 aprile 2019)
le fleuve à Bozoum, pollué par l'entreprise qui extait l'or (15 vril 2019)

Monday, April 15, 2019

Too much wealth?



 

Too much wealth?
As is life, this week there were moments of grief and others of hope.
Last Friday Yves Woko died in Bangui, he was one of our teachers: 73 years old, a lifelong teacher (first in the ranks of the state, and for the last 20 years in our Bozoum school). A righteous man, full of faith and gratitude for everything, even though life was quite hard on him.
Saturday morning I went to the river Ouham, to try to understand if the Ministry's decision to suspend all the gold extraction activities by the Chinese company was respected or not. Arriving half a mile from the river, you could already hear the sounds of the machinery. I walked the coast of the river for more than a mile along the construction site. It was awesome! They diverted the river water with a 4 meter wide channel, and 4 bulldozers were loading all the gravel and sand from the bottom onto a machine to sift and extract the gold. No checks, no attention from the authorities. The yards are developed for at least ten kilometers. The country's resources, which could be used for its development, are stolen without shame, and leave deep scars, not only in the river bed.
I wonder (and unfortunately I already know the answer), whether the decision of the ministry is a serious act, or is it simply a facade operation.
Monday I left for Bocaranga (passing through Bouar). The Bishop asked me to go with him, Tuesday, to the Koui area, where the 3R rebels have taken up residence for 4 years. The lands are rich in water and vegetation, and for this very reason rich in pastures and livestock. Perhaps too rich: here hundreds of thousands of cows are located, and this generates tensions between cattle farmers and agricultural farmers, but also between different ethnic groups.
In recent years there have been many episodes of violence, and people have often had to flee. We found a village, Lobaye, on the road between Bouar and Bocaranga, where there are about 500 people who come from Koui.
Tuesday morning we went to Boyay Wantonou, a village about ten kilometers from Koui, for a meeting of prayer and of reconciliation. Besides the Bishop, there were also the Protestant imams and pastors (and the mayor was also present, as well as Sidiki, the rebel leader). It was a moment of intense prayer and sharing, which slowly turned into a beautiful party.
In the afternoon we had a similar experience to Koui: a village where typical buildings are mixed, with more Chadian or Sudanese ones, and with a small and beautiful mosque. Just as we prayed, the rain came as a blessing.
I am here as Caritas, to try to understand the needs and see what can be done. The needs are many, we are in a part of the country that is almost abandoned (there is only one state teacher for 20 schools. The other 42 teachers are all "maîtres-parents": young people and adults who have taken the commitment to teach something to children).



Rifugiati nel villaggio di Lobaye
Déplacés dans le village de Lobaye
 







P.Robert, ecc
P.Robert, etc


Preghiera per la pace
Prière pour la piax
Prayer for peace




Yves Woko

6 aprile 2019: un cantiere per l'oro
6 avril 2019: un des chaniters pour l'extraction de l'or

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Moving Forward!






Moving Forward!
Lent’s journey continues as we prepare the catechumens for baptism.  This will occur on Easter with the community accompanying them in prayer. Among other things is the Via Crucis: a very heartfelt journey retracing the path of the Passion of Jesus, along the 14 stations, in we will meditate on the steps of the Man of Sorrows.
Saturday and Sunday the Parish organizes a small Forum for our youth, in preparation for the next Pilgrimage, which will take place in 2 weeks (48 km on foot, up to Bahoyo).
On Monday afternoon we delivered the second term report cards to the students of our Lycée St.Augustin. It is with pleasure that I noticed that the girls are mark have gotten much better: in more classes they finally have achieved the highest marks!
Also moving forward is the work of the Chinese company that is extracting gold in the surrounding areas of Bozoum! Despite the decision of the Minister, the works have resumed, even if a little silenced (at night, or on the most distant sites). Complicity? Effrontery? Just Friday, during the Mass for the anniversary of the death of the first president of Central Africa (Barthélemy Boganda), I explained to the community the big problem of indiscriminate excavation, pollution and theft of raw materials by the Chinese company. The Prefect was present, who did not flinch. Complicity?
In these days Paolo Silvestro is completing the layout of the French version of the book "Coraggio!”
Courage!
Via Crucis


Forum dei giovani
Forum des jeunes


la consegna delle pagelle
la remise des bulltins du 2è trimestre




la copertina della versione in francese di "Coraggio"
la couverture de l'édition en français