The horror of the landmines, the silence of some and the love of many

 

 

La macchina di p.Norberto, dopo l'incidente
La voiture du p.Norberto, après l'accident

The horror of the landmines, the silence of some and the love of many

Last week I wrote about schools that were to be expanded and the school openings in the villages of the savannah.

On the way repair a school in Bokpayan, a village about 60 km from Bozoum, Fr. Norberto almost lost his life due to a landmine.

On Friday I was in Bouar, where the "Femmes Chretiennes Catholiques" association organized the 13th Agricultural Fair. It was started in 2013, due to the great success of the Bozoum Fair, this year it received the support of "Friends of Betharram", of "jango Be Africa" and, above all, of ENABEL, the Belgian cooperation.

We had many cooperatives come from all over the area, and two trucks arrived from Bocaranga and Ngaundaye (160 and 240 km).

In the afternoon as I was about to return to Baoro, I received terrible news: the car of Fr Norberto Pozzi, a Carmelite missionary, was destroyed by a landmine on the road that leads to Bocaranga, just 22 km from Bozoum.

There were 6 of them in the car: Fr Norberto, Brother Igor (a young French Carmelite), 2 bricklayers, a carpenter and the head of the village schools of the Mission.

The landmine exploded as the car passed, right on the driver's side of Fr. Norberto. He was the most seriously injured: both his legs were injured, but it was far worse on his left side, where the explosion caused the most damage, tearing tissue and breaking bones.

A motorcycle transported him immediately to the hospital. But 22 km is long, especially in those conditions. Here he underwent an operation to try to clean the wound and remove the splinters from the injury.

In the meantime, a whole series of events began to try to move him to Bangui as soon as possible. The Italian ambassador of Yaounde (Cameroon),  on which Central Africa relies heavily on, managed to alert the blue helmets of MINUSCA. Unfortunately the helicopter could not travel at night, so the transport took place on Saturday morning.

Fr. Norberto spent the night at the local hospital, and around 7:15 am the helicopter airlifted off from Bozoum and headed towards Bangui.

Here we had a moment of confusion. Instead of taking him to the UN hospital, he was transported to the "Communautaire" hospital, where they were unable to do anything, and precious time was wasted.

Finally, around midday, Fr. Norberto was taken to the UN hospital, with help from the Serbian faction, where they decided to operate on him right away.

In the meantime I had left Bangui and arrived at 1:00pm, and at 3:30pm I was at the UN hospital. Br. Igor was also there, and was under observation (he was not as seriously injured as Fr. Norberto).

So a long wait began. After more than 3 hours of surgery, Fr. Norberto left the operating room. He was intubated and sedated, but it was evident that he was in excruciating pain. The surgeon (albeit a very good one) told us that they were trying to avoid amputation, and explained what he did.  He told us that the next day the plan was to move him to Uganda, to a better equipped hospital.

I returned to Carmel, and on Sunday morning I went back to the hospital. Fr Norberto was in the intensive care unit, still sedated.  He was calmer, and I managed to bless him and whisper a prayer to him and the embrace of many people who were also praying for him.

Just before 12 I saw him being moved onto a stretcher and taken to the ambulance. He left for Uganda, where he arrived a few hours later in Kampala.

Monday morning I got a call from Uganda. Someone from the hospital called me and told me that Fr. Norberto was fine, his breathing tube had been removed, and he was speaking.  He was the one who gave my phone number (even though it is an easy number to remember, it was still a sign that he was alert), and it was a good sign.

In the meantime there was a lot of work going on behind the scenes. Fr. Federico, the superior of the Central African delegation, was in Cameroon, and coordinated the movements. It was above all the Italian Embassy that co-ordinated most of the efforts to help Father.  By Monday morning the Italian ambassador from Uganda was at Fr. Norberto's bedside.  Finally we were able to see him as well: they trimmed his beard a bit, and he was smiling and this gives us hope.

In the afternoon they decided to operate on him once more.  Unfortunately the doctors found the situation had worsened, and decided to amputate the left foot, but at least his life was saved.

These past few days there has been a wave of affection and prayer. Fr Norberto has been in Central Africa since 1980, and is a well known figure in the communities. Between Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, mail, etc., it is truly a whole world effort that brings prayers and affection for him. They wrote from Italy, Central Africa, Cameroon, USA, France, Prague, India, Congo, England, Belgium, Rwanda, etc. Even radio and newspapers spoke and wrote about it.

An unknown person wrote to me from Uganda on Monday evening, and offered to assist Fr. Norberto!  On Tuesday he wrote to me again, and around 12:00pm he was in Fr. Norberto's room, and he handed the phone to him to speak to me!

It was the usual Fr. Norberto: cheerful, a little light-hearted, and I can actually see him being so positive. Despite the foot, he is in a good mood! A man of faith, of great charity, and of prayer and sacrifice.

Unfortunately, the issue of landmines is very serious. In 2023 alone, in these first few weeks, there were 14 incidences, an average of 2 per week. With heavy tolls of 7 dead and 9 injured (https://mcusercontent.com/ec65ff95b00a3e0f330508b82/files/ddf29128-7f1b-9caa-9661-f2b723f229bf/Worrying_magnitude_explosive_devices_FV.pdf ) In the areas occupied by the rebels, they put them on the streets , to prevent Russian soldiers and mercenaries from passing through, and to maintain tension and terror.

It has been a year and a half now that landmines have been used in this country. It is not easy to detect them, and it is not possible to control the roads and prevent the rebels from putting them up or moving them.

Even though there has been a huge amount of attention and prayer, along with many media outlets having talked about it, there is silence from the Central African government . No voices were raised to protest, or to announce a greater commitment of the Security Forces. Maybe they are too busy changing the constitution in order to have a third term in office…

 

Courage.

Now I am leaving for a few weeks in Italy. This will allow me with time and opportunity to meet, and to talk about Central Africa, and about what we can do and what there is still to do.

See you soon!