Still silence

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.