Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Happily back home in Central Africa. I left the city of Turin on December 22^nd, and after spending the night at Paris Airport, my flight landed in Bangui the day after, December 23^rd evening. The all flight was smooth.

Saturday 24^th I left around 5.30am and just before noon I was here in Bozoum, after 400 km of dusty and battered roads, especially the last 90 km. I found the whole Mission restless due to the last Christmas preparations: crib, decorations, singers and altar boys practices. At 7.00pm we begin the “Midnight Mass”. It’s a very solemn celebration, with beautiful songs, dances and a large number of altar boys, at least 60 of them. The schedule is due to tradition and also to security reasons.

On Christmas day at 8.30am we celebrate the solemn Christmas Mass. Large crowd of faithful, and the new church is full! Many children come to Mass carrying little toys, a doll, a balloon, sign that "Baby Jesus" did pass through our houses too.

These days there is a lot of dust, which limits visibility to a hundred meters. We didn’t have white snow, but all over there is a veil of dust covering everything. Since the day I'm back many friends come to greet and chat with me. It's nice to see each other again! These days will come here our young students in formation living in Bangui. Fr. Federico will be with them. A much needed breath of hope!

 In Bozoum I had some good news too: the UN peacekeepers, who had left in November, are finally back assuring their presence. Although little is better than nothing!  We start preparing the Agricultural Fair 2017, scheduled for late January. We hope to accomplish our project. So far, despite the promises, we have not yet received any funding.

And before reaching the conclusion of this year 2016, I would like to say a word of gratitude to the group of translators: Fr. Raffaele, Regina, Ludmila, Terezie and Martin, Fr. Juan Montero and Sister Maria Nazaré. They are the people involved in translating the blog in English, German, Czech, Spanish and Portuguese. Thank you, Merci, Danke, Dekuyeme, Muchas gracias, Obrigado!

Langue	n° post	vues 2016
Italien	219	94.751
Français	191	50.274
Anglais	163	33.529
Tchèque	181	21.254
Allemand	144	14.802
Espagnol	147	13.050
Portugués	10	473
Total		228.133

And best wishes to all for the incoming New Year given to us. I wish great hope and, above all, the certainty of being always in good hands: those of God.

entrando per la Messa di Mezzanotte
l'entrée pour la Messe de Minuit

non è nebbia... è polvere
ce n'est pas de brouillard... c'est la poussière

 

Ciao Italy

Ciao Italy

Everything here is white, yesterday it snowed a lot. This is another gift that I received in Italy. On Thursday the 9^th of December I’ll go back to Bozoum, where I’ll arrive on the 24^th right on time to celebrate the Midnight Mass that, for security reasons and tradition, will take place at 07.00pm.

It’s rare for me to be in Europe just before Christmas. Living in Italy is really beautiful, there are wonderful places that are well preserved as a nice heritage for the future generations, as you can see in the cities, the churches, the roads, the fields, the vineyards, the rice fields and, last but not least, the cuisine. I met open-minded and warm people who showed so much interest and love for Bozoum and Central Africa.

I introduced Bozoum to 200 students of Cuneo University, parishes and communities receiving a lot of attention. Simple people that sometimes renounce to their necessities to share them with people in need.  Men and women full of hope that despite the difficulties still know how to trust and to love. Men and women that despite their age carry with courage and simplicity the signs of their fatigue, sometime of their suffering and often the difficulty of educating and proposing the Joy and the Faith.  

I would like to thank everybody, my religious Brothers that welcome me with joy, my family hat is close to me with their love and sometimes with pain because of my living so far away, all my friends and many unknown people that shine by sharing their love.  It’s true that during this time there are a lot of distractions and many things that take us away from the real meaning of Christmas, towards a light which is not the real one.

In a few days I’ll be in Central Africa celebrating Christmas in Bozoum which it will surely be simpler and more focused. I wish all of you a meaningful Christmas where the light is Him: God becoming flesh in order to make all of us closer to Him and better men and women.

Merry Christmas.

le grandi Marisa e Luisella del Baramò (sorella e nipote...)

Bologna