.
Days of God, beauty and difficulty
In the coming weeks the Bishop
will come to celebrate Confirmations here in Baoro and the surrounding
villages. In order to prepare for this, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday I
went to the most distant villages, to meet the communities, celebrate
the sacraments and verify the formation work that the catechists carry
out.
Some of the villages are quite far (up to 90 km from Baoro),
but very lively places. There are areas of savannah and forest, with
both very large and smaller villages. Many people, are devoted to
agriculture and hunting, but also breeding, and mining of gold and
diamonds.
The road is a path through the trees, offering some nice surprises; horses, monkeys, flowers, and great views.
I
met the catechists, and we planned with them the work of the next few
weeks, with the preparation and verification of the catechumens for the
celebration of the sacraments.
I returned on Sunday afternoon, after 3 very intense and tiring but beautiful days.
On
Tuesday I left for Bangui, where, in the afternoon, we blessed the
future construction site for the construction of a new convent. It is a
project we have been working on for years, and we have finally arrived
at the beginning of the works.
It is a very simple, but very
fulfilling moment. Years of discussions, ideas and projects finally
coming to fruition. Many meetings with different people who have tried
their best to create a house of God, finally able to start something. We
found ourselves on the site (a nice hill, right here: 4 ° 20'44.3 "N 18
° 30'31.2" E). On the clearing where the convent and the church will
be built, the Carmelite community (with about twenty young friars in
training who study philosophy and theology) together with workers,
masons and workers of the company that will carry out the work, pray,
sing, and ask God to bless us on this important project. Fr Federico,
the superior of the Mission, led the celebration, which was also
attended by Fr Davide Sollami, the deputy procurator of the Missions,
and Giovanni Grossi Bianchi, the architect who (with a lot of patience)
helped us in conceptualizing this project.
While I was in Bangui,
I received some bad news: a missionary's car hit a mine on the road
between Niem and Yelowa. The car was destroyed, and unfortunately there
was a victim. At the helm was Father Arialdo, a missionary for 35 years
in Central Africa, who was on his way to visit one of the schools he
built and organized. He came out unscathed.
The area (northwest
of Bouar, along the border with Cameroon) has been infested by rebels
for years. In recent weeks, the intervention of Russian, Rwandan and
Central African soldiers had liberated the villages in the area, but the
rebels continue to be present.
This episode is the third, in less than a month, and it is very serious, because it affects unarmed civilians, and creates a climate of strong insecurity and fear.
Courage!
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| Igwe |
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| Sinaforo |
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| La scuola in costruzione a Yoro. Promessa elettorale da completare! L'école en construction à Yoro: une promesse electorale à achever |
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| La benedizione dei lavori per il nuovo convento a Bangui La bénédiction des travaux de construction pour le nouveau couvent à Bangui |
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| P.Federico Trinchero |
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| Convoglio sotto scorta Le convoi |
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