Battesimi a Zoungbe Baptemes à Zoungbe |
Lavori nella cappella di Pate Bonambolo les travaux dans la chapelle de Pate Bonambolo |
Scuola occupata... L'école occupée |
Scuola Guida Auto école - Baoro |
Fr. Aurelio, Italian Carmelite missionary (from Cuneo), the writer of this blog, has been in Central Africa since 1992. After 11 years in Bouar, he was parish priest for 17 years in Bozoum, where the Mission follows 40 villages and 20 schools (from kindergarten to high school), a center for 200 orphans, a dispensary, and many other development activities (wells, agriculture, etc.). Since November 2020 he has been in Baoro. On 23 February 2024 he was appointed Bishop of Bangassou, a diocese of
Battesimi a Zoungbe Baptemes à Zoungbe |
Lavori nella cappella di Pate Bonambolo les travaux dans la chapelle de Pate Bonambolo |
Scuola occupata... L'école occupée |
Scuola Guida Auto école - Baoro |
Mechanical school: last act, etc.
Friday 16 July, the feast of the Madonna del Carmine.
While
in Bangui Cardinal Nzapalainga blessed the first stone of the new
Carmelite convent, in Baoro we celebrated the end of the school year for
the fifty or so young people who attended it. They are students who
come from Bouar, Baoro, Ngaundaye, Berberati, Bangui… and who
attended courses (theory and a lot of practical work) for 2 years.
Thanks
to various friends, including the MAMO Foundation of Verona, we were
able to end the year and give the second years their "Mechanic"
certificate. The first 5 students also received a bag with tools, which
will allow them to start working.
Some of them, in the following days, also started driving school lessons, which will last until mid-August.
Sunday,
July 18th I celebrated baptisms in Barka Bongo, and on Wednesday I went
down to Bangui to follow the work of the new convent.
Thursday I
went to Batalimo, a village on the Oubangui River, in the middle of the
forest, 120 km from Bangui. Here I visited a sawmill, to choose the
timber for the doors and windows, which we will make in the Baoro
carpentry.
Friday morning I met the construction company staff,
to present the project and to have them participate in this great work
of construction.
Good job.
Ecole mécanique: les enseignants - gli insegnanti |
Ecole mécanique de Baoro |
Barka Bongo |
Bangui, Carmel |
Batalimo, il fiume Oubangui Batalimo, le fleuve Oubangui |
Battesimi a Bawi Baptèmes à Bawi |
Almost online again!
Pate Bonambolo |
Dobere |
Dayanga |
Kouisso Baguera |
Still silence
We "celebrated" a month without internet connection, throughout practically all of Central Africa.
The
"Orange", the service provider, which has been closed for a month,
slowly is starting to open again, but only for phone calls. The Internet
connection, on the other hand, is still not working. The other 2
service providers on the market, Moov and Telecel, are, if possible,
even worse. The connection they offer simply doesn't exist: they charge
for a service, but then they don't provide it. Even in the capital,
where I was last week, it was not possible to download mail or receive
messages on whatsapp. In the capital!
Courage! When Google or
Facebook are not accessible for ten minutes, it is news that goes around
the world. It makes me laugh thinking about a month without any
connection ...
Today I am able to write something, but only because I came to Bouar, 70 km from Baoro.
We hope to find a solution before Christmas!
Meanwhile, let's go ahead!
On
June 18th we finished the school year for our kindergarten students,
"Il Germoglio". The 230 children who attended gave a show, with songs
and skits, and then started their holidays.
In the meantime,
pastoral activities continued in the villages. This is a time for
baptisms, communions and weddings. For the more distant villages, the
celebrations took place on the 19th and 20th of June in Samba Bougoulou,
on the 26th and 27th of June in Bayanga Didi and Yoro, and on the 4th
of July in Bawi.
These are very strong moments for the Christian
community of each village. Preceded by a long preparation with the
catechists, by the exams with the father and the catechist, and by the
final preparations (having braids made for women and girls), the
baptismal masses are intense and very engaging.
I took advantage
of the visits to the villages, to try to understand also what the school
situation (often disastrous) was like; safety, hygiene and all that is
the life of men and women in places where there is little, and the needs
are so many.
This is how in Bayanga Didi, waiting for the
arrival of the catechumens, I repaired the well pump. A foot pump,
broken down since January. The cries of joy of women and children at
the arrival of the water filled me with joy.
Joy 2.0.