Refugees, houses and schools.

 

Refugees, houses and schools.

After the Caritas meeting in Bangui, on Saturday morning at 5.00am, I leave with the Vicar of the Diocese, Abbé Mirek. I stop at Baoro, where I meet the community and, above all, I greet Father Lionello who, in the coming days, will definitely will be back to Italy (as for now), after five years of missionary work. In the afternoon I drive toward Bouar and in the evening, after nearly 600 km, I reach Bozoum.

Sunday is the great feast of Pentecost, in which we remember the gift of the Holy Spirit, who conquered soul and heart of the Apostles and threw them on the ways of the whole world to proclaim Christ.

Monday morning I’m again on the road driving towards Bouar, to meet the communities of St.Elie and Yolé, to analyze with them the training work with our youth.

These days, news about Central Africa continues to be worrying. Yesterday afternoon an armed group broke into Ndim (170 km from Bozoum), and stole a hundred cows, including those of the nuns community. I just received an official report from HCR (Haut Commissariat des Réfugies) which says that by May 31, are 484,028 displaced persons (technically "internally refugees") and 503,600 refugees abroad. They make a total of 987,628 people, on a population of about 4 million, a quarter of the entire Nation.

And finally, here is a couple of good news.

This week there was the BC exam (which takes place after the second year of High School), and the guys at our Lycée St.Augustin have had a great result: among 25 candidates, 24 are promoted to the next grade. Our students occupy the top 22 positions as the best results for the test.

We also finished a first group of 14 houses for the poor, built with the help of Cordaid, Caritas of Holland. Other 16/18 houses will follow, which will allow elderlies, widows and victims of Seleka and antibalaka to have a decent home.

p.Lionello