A week in Bozoum

A week in Bozoum

Life in Bozoum goes on with the latest showers of the rains’ season.

On Monday, we invited the districts leaders for the usual weekly meeting to try to understand better the situation, in order to decide what to do.

To our surprise, about 300 youths and adults showed up. They intend to organize themselves (10 each district) to insure safety and to stop thefts and violence. In the next few days we will meet them again in order to set them up so these “Self-defense Comities” will perform within the rules of the law and in a peaceful way, keeping at bail those antibalaka who still are threatening the population.

Last week I told you of the kidnaping of a Polish Father, Fr. Mathieu. Unfortunately, after two weeks, the situation has not changed. We try to involve many parties on his behalf and we keep hoping, but we are afraid the dealing will be long and difficult due to the fact the kidnapers’ request is the freedom of their chief, a criminal with a long criminal carrier.

Bozoum schools are open. A month since the opening we have the first results that show a good increase. The number of students is almost as the last year, despite the loss of about a thousand Muslim children and the closing of the refugees’ school  (they went back to their villages).

Keep going, keep hoping!!

Ecoles	Students beginning			Students end			Students beginning			Girls percentage
	year 2013-14			year 2013-14			year2014-15			2014-15	2013-14
	Boys	Girls	T	Boys	Girls	T	Boys	Girls	T
EPM 1 A	576	333	909	249	193	442	461	347	808	42,95%	36,63%
EPM 1 B	582	284	866	168	143	311	574	313	887	35,29%	32,79%
EPM 2	501	353	854	349	286	635	544	479	1023	46,82%	41,33%
PLATEAU	284	190	474	193	165	358	325	300	625	48,00%	40,08%
St MICHEL	239	182	421	152	124	276	269	214	483	44,31%	43,23%
MARTYRS	35	17	52	20	17	37	42	33	75	44,00%	32,69%
BAKANDJA	338	374	712	200	131	331	432	358	790	45,32%	52,53%
DEPLACES	320	250	570	320	300	620	0	0	0		43,86%
total	2875	1983	4858	1651	1359	3010	2647	2044	4691	43,57%	40,82%

Gli alunni della nostra scuola elementare durante la ricreazione
nos élèves du primaire pendant la récréation

Missionaries spread over 720 km ... and beyond!

Missionaries spread over 720 km ... and beyond!

Today is the World Mission Sunday. The Church celebrates this fundamental dimension and mission of all Christians which is to proclaim the Good News to all Nations!

It is true that every Christian, moved by the beauty and joy of his/her own Baptism, is sent to bring the good news of a New Life in Jesus. But some among the people of God carry on this mandate in a special way: these are the missionaries!

It’s a bit like soldier.  All serve the homeland ... but some do it in the front line. And if they risk a little more, they feel also a bit' more proud!

Just this week I could realize one of my usual pastoral journeys: Bozoum - Bossemptele - Baoro - Bouar - Bocaranga - Ngaundaye - Ndim - Bozoum (720 km). In doing this I could enjoy, once again, the beauty of the gospel and the joy of the Missionaries.

Wednesday, October 15 I leave early morning. I meet in Bossemptele the Carmelite Sisters and Camilliani Fathers, all of them very busy in serving the Hospital Jean Paul II, which is the only decent one within 200 km ...

In Baoro I meet Fr. Renato, Fr. Dieudonné and Fr.Lionello. They were celebrating St. Teresa of Avila which has been a great missionary herself in spirit and heart!

I reached Bouar after seeing passing by our confreres living at St. Elias (where we have the Novitiate, with 6 Central African novices and one Cameroonian). Then I travel to Yolé, where we give a warm welcome to 8 young boys at their last year of the High School. They are preparing themselves to enter the Carmel.

This is Mission too: prepare and rooting the Church in this Country, with the young Central Africans.

My visit to Bouar is saddened, however, by a very bad news: Sunday, October 12 a dozen gunmen attacked the Mission Baboua (50 km from the border with Cameroon) and have kidnapped the priest, Fr. Mathieu (Mateusz Dziedzic) a young Polish priest. The kidnappers took him in the bush. It’s now a week that he’s kept there. With him other hostages are in the hands of the bandits for almost a month now.  The gunmen are demanding the release of their leader, a certain Miskine, detained in prison in Yaounde, Cameroon, because of the crimes committed in Cameroon and the Central Africa.

On Friday I drive on what should be a normal road. I’m directed toward the North. Instead of a normal road I found mud, grass, holes ... but I could go on anyway. In the evening I arrive in Ngaundaye, where I find the Capuchins Friars (Italian and Polish) and the Sisters. Among them there is Renata Dutto, from Vinadio, a village near mine. She is here since 1967 ... And despite the difficulties, her health problems and more, she continues in hope sowing the good seed!

On Saturday morning, after meeting the hard working Parish Caritas, a blessed reality that helps the poor of the parish and anyone who is in trouble, I go to Ndim. Here I find Fr. Robert, a Capuchin Friar. With him I discuss how to help people to repair a long ago abandoned road, and how to distribute PAM food. In Ndim I could meet also the beautiful Community of the Sisters of Mercy of Savona: Congolese, Rwandans, Cameronians: all of them very active in schools, dispensary, and kindergarten. It's nice to see how the Mission reaches everybody.

In the afternoon I go to Bocaranga, where I have a coffee with Fr. Robert, a Capuchin from Poland. Fr. Valentino and Fr. Cipriano, in Central Africa since 1962 and 1960, they live here too.

Finally around 18:30 I’m back in Bozoum, without being stuck in the muddy roads, enriched instead by the many testimonies shared by happy missionaries.

Un convoglio dell'ONU
un convoi des Nations Unies

Bouar: le strade diventano fiumi
Une route de Bouar, transformée en rivière

il Convento di Sant'Elia a Bouar
Notre couvent de Saint Elie à Bouar

è la strada... spero!
C'est la route, j'espère!

Five times a centenary and yet still young!

Five times a centenary and yet still young!

It’s not my 500 years birthday but St Teresa of Avila’s, the foundress of the Discalced Carmelites!

The whole world will soon celebrate the five hundred years anniversary of her birth (1515). A great woman, her heart and love belonged to God and to His Church. A woman for God, she was able to inspire and guide a multitude of people in the gift of self-discovery and in prayer.

She lived in an age of exploration (discovery of America) as well as political, social and religious turmoil. Confronted with the problems of her time, Teresa, instead of complaining or giving advises, decided to change herself and in doing so she became a Saint and a Doctor of the Church,

 Here in Bozoum, beside the Parish Church, there are 3 Chapels. The most beautiful is dedicated to St Teresa and it is here that we celebrate the fifth centenary of her birth. Everybody is busy and involved the altar boys, the dancers and the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites.

Today I succeeded to have Robert brought to Mass. A man paralyzed for years due to a bad fall, he is a simple person full of joy despite his many difficulties.

We celebrate with so much joy but also with some worries. Few weeks ago, in this same neighborhood, we had some persons accused of witchcraft, few risked their life and one had one ear cut off. Also the whole country is unsettled. It’s since few days ago that in Bangui the fighting had started again and the fear is that it could expand.

Teresa once said “The world is on fire!” It’s true!  May she teach us to take responsibility for it, may she teach us to be faithful in our prayer and work!

Robert

Alcuni dei terziari carmelitani
Quelques uns des membres du Tiers Ordre des carmes

From September to October

From September to October

Sunday, September 28th, we celebrated St. Michael, the patron saint of our parish! On Saturday we have had a short procession, followed by the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the day after we had our Sunday Mass, presided over by Fr.Dieudonné, who came from Baoro.

On Wednesday morning a large congregation met at the church: over a thousand children, pupils of our schools, from nursery to high school. Awesome participation in the songs and dances, but we gave ourselves also time for silence and prayer. In the Mass we prayed for teachers, students, benefactors, and also for Muslim pupils who have left for Bozoum and never came back ...

During these days were with us Fr. Pavel and Ludmila Böhmová, member of Siriri Association. With them, we visited some of the constructions made ​​with their support: the city's schools, the Centre for orphans, well, etc..

Speaking of visits, Wednesday and Thursday we welcomed a large delegation of the United Nations, with the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs (Claire Bourgeois), and people of UNICEF, OCHA, UNHCR, WFP and so on. All these Meetings and visits encourage us in the work of reconstruction. On Friday came the Minister of Social Affairs (Eugénie Yarafa), with whom we went to visit the various sites of NGOs, schools (open and functioning). We had also time for a meeting with the Committee of Wise Men, trying to find a concrete answer to the various problems and tensions present in the city because of the absence of any Authorithies. Before leaving we could spend time greeting the Center for Orphans “Arc en Ciel”, that welcome more than 220 orphans every day.

And now at work during this month of October already began, the Missionary Month. Good job!

primi giorni di scuola: non sa bene se piangere o sorridere...
les premiers jours d'école: on ne sait pas trop si sourire ou pleurer...