Una Gita in Scozia
Posted: May 6th, 2008 under life.
Posted: May 6th, 2008 under life.
Zambia. Sole, verde e i ragazzi di Mthunzi che si preparano all’ inizio del secondo trimestre scolastico. Ci sono venuto domenica mattina, dopo aver partecipato sabato scorso a Nairobi alla giornata dei giovani dedicata alla pace che vi avevo preannunciato. Anche sabato tanto sole e tanta voglia di ricominciare, come come racconta Phillip Emase, giornalista di Koinonia, nell’articolo in inglese che ho postato pochi minuti fa.
Ieri pomeriggio a Mthunzi ho informato i ragazzi che quindici di loro piu’ due educatori sono stati invitati in Scozia dal 29 luglio al 27 agosto per un giro di rappresentazioni. Tanta gioia per i prescelti, un po’ di delusione per gli esclusi. Ma quattro di loro si sono consolati confidandomi subito dopo che appena finiranno la scuola superiore, fra due o tre anni, vogliono andare in seminario… La sera stessa, tutti insieme, prescelti ed esclusi, hanno incominciato a preparare un nuovo spettacolo che combina teatro, danze, mimi, giocoleria, pagliacceria e acrobatica. Ci mancano solo qualche cavallo ed un paio di leoni e poi piu’ che un missionario con un gruppo di ex-bambini di strada potro’ dire di essere direttore di un circo.
Posted: May 6th, 2008 under life.
A Youth Open Day Forum organized by Africa Peace Point, Koinonia Community, Kutoka Network, RSCK, KCS, Comboni and Consolata Missionaries and MAFRI was held on Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 at the City Council Grounds in Dagoretti, Nairobi. This is an account of the event. By Phillip Emase
“The message we wish to send out is that the vulnerability of Kenya’s young people should not be abused easily by interested groups such as politicians,” Fr. Fred Stringer, a missionary who teaches anthropology at Nairobi’s Tangaza College, remarks after listening to a robust discussion by the youthful participants, many of whom have come from various Nairobi slums.
The date is Saturday, May 3, 2008. Fr. Stringer and the several hundred young people are attending a Youth Open Forum at Dagoretti Corner, Nairobi. Organized by various religious, civil society and grassroots organizations, the event seeks to get young Kenyans to speak out with regard to the country’s recent political crisis, where an electoral dispute fuelled ethnic bloodshed that was largely perpetrated by the country’s vulnerable youths.
The day begins early, with young men and women streaming into the venue from as early as 7 A.M. By about 10 o’clock, venue and the adjacent Dagoretti township are teeming with enthusiastic youths donning either black t-shirts with the Swahili word “Amani” (peace), or the more conspicuous white ones emblazoned with a pigeon holding an olive branch over the inscription, “It’s a new dawn”.
Hundreds of young people mill around the main podium as Africa Peace Point Director Michael Ochieng makes his opening remarks. Popular radio presenter Titi Nagwalla then chirks them up, urging them to revel in the pounding music playing from the heavy duty public address system. The youths dance to the music and watch a few select performances to set the mood for the forum’s rallying theme, “Youth United for Peace in Kenya.”
Presently, all activity shifts towards discourse. A number of thematic tents are set up, and candid discussions on various composite issues threatening peace and unity in Kenya’s kick off in earnest.
A shuttle between the various tents makes it clear that Kenya’s young people are in fact acutely aware of the root factor behind ethnic tensions in the country. They desire for lasting peace and a chance to move from the sidelines into the mainstream, which would install them into their rightful position as the guardians of the nation’s future.
The participants at the “Ethnicity Tent” are by far the boldest. They point out that political instigation is to blame for the periodical escalation of ethnic tensions, citing Kenya’s recent post-election violence as a perfect case example.
“We need to ask ourselves this question, is there a nation called Kenya?” moderator Leah Kimathi poses. Various views spring up as the audience strives to carve out the identity of the Kenyan nation. Through consensus, they agree that although Kenya has 42 ethnic communities, all the diverse identities melt into one proud “nation” under the country’s national flag.
At the “Active Non-Violence Tent”, participants are split into two groups: those who believe in total nonviolence versus those who view violence as a necessary intervention in certain situations. Each group is challenged to define and defend its standpoint, and after a spirited debate, the discussion bridges into a recognition of dialogue, justice and tolerance as fundamental ingredients for conflict resolution.
United Nations estimates indicate that over 1,500 Kenyan lives were lost and 300,000 became internal refugees during the country’s recent post election. A “Counselling Tent” at the forum seeks to confront the deep-seated human factors that may have helped fuel this unprecedented spate of violence; young men and women from various ethnic groups sit with their chairs arranged in a ringe, candidly sharing their experiences and tackling issues that local society often elects to sweep under the carpet.
The youngsters discuss derisive tribal stereotypes, ethnic discrimination and even cases of parental opposition to intertribal marriages. It emerges, from the candid exchanges, that the young people generally view ethnic profiling as a carryover burden from their parents’ cultural pasts, and that the young people’s perspectives are largely out of touch with those of their fore bearers.
Could this mean that a new generation of “detribalized” Kenyans is emerging?
“Yes, I think so,” Janet Wabwile, a 19 year old college student from Woodley says, “I believe tribalism will weaken with time given that most of us grew up with people from many other tribes.” Quite an optimistic thought, but she is from urban Nairobi. What of the vast majority of young Kenyans who live in their rural tribal homelands, will they also have this cosmopolitan outlook? Or will they be the proverbial wet blankets that will prevent intertribal harmony from becoming a reality?
Moses Moreku, a young South African studying counseling in Nairobi, points at a handful of counselors seated separately behind the main tent. Each counselor is attending to one young man or woman.
“They are counseling perpetrators and direct victims of the violence who prefer to receive personalized counseling,” he explains before darting off to continue with his role as one of the moderators in the group therapy session.
In the “Good Neighborliness Tent”, discussants seek to understand how people got to the point of persecuting neighbors and friends they have lived with for years, suddenly ruling that they are from the “wrong tribe”, burning their houses, shedding their blood and relegating them to a squalid life of uncertainty in makeshift displacement camps.
Young Kenyans in the “Youth as a pillar for Development Tent” focus their discussion on ways in which they can fight the hopelessness that so commonly afflicts the youth in Kenya, especially those from underprivileged backgrounds. A pervasive inability to meet basic human needs often breeds crime, violence and even prostitution as these vulnerable youths seek to extricate themselves from the smothering web of desperation and self hatred.
Joseph Thuo aptly defines the young people’s predicament. “It is not that we are bad people,” the young man from the Kibera slum says, “It is the harsh situation often leads us into unlawful activities, and periodically, vice becomes an integral part of our survival.”
His friend Nicholas Otieno agrees. “Our difficult harden us, our desperation makes it easy for politicians to use us for their dirty work,” Otieno adds. It is interesting to note that Thuo and Otieno are from two tribes, Kikuyu and Luo, whose rivalry was the centerpiece of Kenya’s recent post election violence. They say they are best friends, having grown up together. Watching the two young men jokingly taunt each with stereotypical depictions of their respective tribes, one question comes to mind - will these tribal stereotypes they are laughing about one day obliterate their friendship and make them to hold machetes aloft “in defense of the tribe?”
The thematic sessions wind up and once again, entertainment takes centre stage. The Eagle Dancers enthrall the crowd with their titillating gyrations; the Koinonia children’s choir sings a song admonishing tribalism and later on, the crowd gets onto its feet to dance to a ragga-flavoured rap song performed by 14-year-old Raphael Pizarro, a resident child under rehabilitation at Koinonia’s Kivuli Centre.
The KU Comedians duo from Kenyatta University- comedians duo use “mchongoano” – a common game in Kenya primary schools where boys jokingly deride each other for fun – to chastise Kenyan politicians for allowing their political disagreements to end up in violence between their supporters.
Shades Classic, Kayamba Africa and Zindua, amongst other groups, keep the crowd entertained. At one corner of the forum grounds, tens of youths are voluntarily donating blood in response to an initiative in which Hope International has mobilized blood donations for the Ministry of Health’s national blood bank.
The day’s crowning moment finally comes, and every participant is given a small piece of paper to write any action, misdeed or thought they may have committed that could qualify as a threat to peace. The whole crowd then assembles at the open field in the middle of the forum grounds, all holding hands to symbolize unity and togetherness. Two big circles are then formed, with children forming the inner circle while the older attendees make the outer circle.
Everyone is asked to fold their small piece of paper, and without disclosing the content to anyone else, throw it into a small bonfire lit at the centre of the double circle to symbolize total forgiveness of past ethnic hostilities and herald the beginning of a new dawn through healing and reconciliation.
The young people bow their heads together, still holding hands, in a prayer for peace in Kenya. The words of St Francis’ prayer sum up the message and spirit of the day:
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love….
Posted: April 30th, 2008 under life.
La violenza post-elettorale in
A
Eppure il
Finalmente la chiesa si sta muovendo e cooperando con altri per aiutare la ricostruzione. Sabato prossimo, 3 maggio, alcuni istituti missionari, la Commissione Giustizia e Pace delle Diocesi di Nairobi, hanno delegato una gruppo di giovani, fra i quali Africa Peace Point e Koinonia Community ad organizzare un Forum di giovani che sia un’ opportunita’ di riconciliazione per giovani di tutte le fedi e di tutti i popoli del Kenya. Si terra’ vicino alla Shalom House, scelta importante perche’ vicina a Kibera, che e’ stata al centro delle violenze scoppiate a
Ho chiesto ad Esther che cosa si propone questa giornata. “Mentre la visione e’ di promuovere la costruzione di un Kenya unito, l’obiettivo immediato e’ di avviare questo processo offrendo ai giovani un’opportunita’ di auto-espressione. Un momento in cui si possa esprimere il proprio dolore e rabbia per quello che e’ successo, ma con un’ apertura verso la speranza e la ricostruzione. Vorremmo parlassero soprattutto i giovani che hanno sofferto ma che hanno anche saputo reagire contro l’ onda di tremenda violenza che quasi ha travolto il nostro paese”.
Fra i prossimi passi di questo processo ci sara’ anche un pellegrinaggio a piedi, che attraversera’ le zone rurali che sono state il teatro delle violenze piu’ drammatiche, e si concludera’ a Namugongo, in Uganda, nel santuario del luogo dove sono stati uccisi i Martiri d’ Uganda.
Metto qui sotto il poster
Posted: April 29th, 2008 under life.
A journalist has asked me a question on the
Q. Do you think the
A. Certainly the international community must do its best to end once and for all the suffering of the people of northern
The present LRA delegation to the talks is completely disqualified. They do not really represent the LRA, some of the member are almost certainly an infiltration from the Ugandan government. It is easy to imagine that even if they sign an agreement it will not hold.
Kony’s military power is at its lowest level, but there are people who are reorganizing and the great danger is that when a treaty with Kony and LRA is signed, some other rebel organization will spring up. These rebels will most probably not have any visionary motivation, like Kong, but will have a no-nonsense approach, and will be more focused on the rights of the Acholi, at lest as some Acholi perceive them. This makes very important to reach an agreement soon, an agreement that will take into consideration the grievances of the Acholi, to avoid that the dissatisfaction will express itself again with an armed rebellion. Thinking that defeating the LRA military and would be the end of the story could be a dangerous delusion.
Posted: March 31st, 2008 under Sinodo Africano / African Synod.
The analysis of today’s African society cannot be disregarded if we want an incisive theology. This Synod - which bears in its title the words reconciliation, justice and peace could gift us with a shared vision of what is happening in
And yet the theological prospective for the subsequent chapters rests on and develops out of this list of facts and footnotes.
The analysis of today’s African society cannot be disregarded if we want an incisive theology, if we want to propose advocacy, if we want to develop effective pastoral programs. At least this seems to be the reason for the synod: a moment of self- comprehension, and taking stock of the moment in history we are living in order to rededicate ourselves for the future. Otherwise there is the risk, as happened with the first African Synod, to propose for consideration a document which provokes no true changes.
But a careful and even concise evaluation of the impact on the Church that the first African Synod had, and even more, a serious analysis of the present situation does not appear to be a priority for those writing this text. Perhaps they want to leave this work for the synod itself, even if the experience of the preceding synods leaves behind many doubts that a work like this could be done in the synod hall.
From generic analysis only ineffective and generic visions and proposals are able to spring forth.
The success of liberation theology in
An analysis of African society and of the problems which afflict this continent has yet to be proposed, much less shared. One of the striking issues when speaking with the southern Sudanese Christians, who just emerged from a civil war which risks rekindling, is that their social-political analysis replicates fully the position of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) or other parties, but rarely is anyone able to articulate a vision of their society which is influenced by their Christian faith other than a mere veneer with no historic efficacy. The same observation comes to mind during the crisis in
Perhaps the nexus is precisely the lack of a social analysis and a shared Christian “judgment” on present history. The same religious leaders often seem unable to see beyond their own little nook. They remain too involved in their small tribal reality, in the fact that their nephew married a relative of a certain politician; they are too attentive to an opportunity of finding a shortcut through the bureaucratic protocol; they are involved in corruption done without the exchange of money, but with the exchange of favors and with culpable silence.
Yet, if we think that a Christian intervention in the social arena is important, then it is crucial for developing an awareness of the problems, of injustices, of the powers that use
In the final pages of a wise and most recent book that has the merit of attempting to understand the reasons for African wars, the author writes:
“The second level deals with control of resources and their exploitation, which often are illegal even if carried on by governments: this economic system involves war as a constitutive element…moreover, this system modifies the entire productive structures of the interested areas for its advantage and creates new social equilibriums, which tend to perpetuate the conflicts.
“The third level deals with strategic interests of powers within the dimension of the globalized economy, beginning with the conflict over energy resources.”*
This is only an example—a debatable one—of an attempt to understand. It would be important for this synod which bears in its title the words reconciliation, justice and peace to gift us with a shared vision of what is happening in
The quote is my translation from:
Sciortino, Alberto. L’Africa in Guerra: I Conflitti Africani e la Globalizzazione. Milano: Baldini Castoldi Dalai Editore, 2008.
Posted: March 25th, 2008 under life.
Ieri mattina la maggioranza dei ragazze e ragazzi de tutti i progetti che Koinonia gestisce a
Ho fatto un breve commento al Vangelo, ed ho creduto importante raccontare di Daniel e di Martha. Man mano che procedevo nel racconto l’ attenzione si e’ fatta tesissima. Nessuno dei presenti, a parte i nostri operatori sociali, li conoscevano, ma i fatti che raccontavo erano parte della loro esperienza di vita in strada. Abbiamo insieme promesso che ci impegniamo in tutti i modi possibili perché episodi di questo tipo non si ripetano più.
Dopo il
Si chiamava Daniel Mburu, avrà avuto 16 anni, ed era un uno dei più giovani nel gruppo dei ragazzi e ragazze di strada che vivono nutrendosi dei rifiuti del Kenyatta Market. Sabato sera, Sabato Santo, mentre ci preparavamo a celebrare la Resurrezione, Daniel con altri amici era nella sua solita area. E’ incominciato a piovere forte - e’ ormai quasi una settimana che la stagione delle piogge e’ iniziata – e Daniel ha deciso di prendere un autobus che andava verso il centro di Kibera. “Ho i soldi per pagare due biglietti” ha detto agli amici, cosi Martha Ngocha, una ragazzina di forse 14 anni, e’ saltata sull ‘autobus con lui. Ma quando il bigliettaio li ha visti e li ha giudicati come gente di strada, non ha voluto sentir ragioni e li ha brutalmente spinti fuori dalla porta
Gli amici li hanno presi di peso e li hanno portati all’ ospedale, ce n’e’ uno non troppo lontano. All’ ospedale hanno detto che ormai Daniel era morto, potevano lasciare Martha che l’avrebbero ingessata. Cosi gli amici col corpo di Daniel, al buoi, evitando le auto che sfrecciavano sotto la pioggia, sono andati prima alla stazione di polizia e denunciare il fatto, e poi lo hanno portato all’ obitorio pubblico.
Bonny c’era. Non manca mai quando qualcosa di importante succede ai suoi amici del Kenyatta Market. Mi ha mandato un sms, ma ormai non c’era più niente da fare.
Stiamo solo cercando di denunciare questo fatto. Non si deve morire cosi, buttati fuori da un autobus come un sacco di spazzatura, a 16 anni. Dopo una vita di abusi e di stenti.
Ma anche questa e’ una storia di Pasqua a
Posted: March 21st, 2008 under life.
Last night I celebrated the memorial of the Last Supper of Christ in Kivuli. As usual children themselves have prepared the readings and made brief comments. Then it came my turn to talk. I asked the small Clinton (in Kivuli we got also other presidents, like Nelson Mandela, Kennedy and even Reagan… still no Bush) who was sitting next to me, and, showing him to the whole group, I pointed out that even if we had wanted to, we would never had been able to separate the body of Clinton from his soul, or his mind or his feelings.
We are one thing, and the body is a great gift that enables us to be the people we are, to communicate, to give our love to others. With our body we can work for others, we can caress and consle them. Their mother gave them their lives and carried them in her body for nine months, nourishing them with her life, being careful not to harm them. And our body comes from a long list of people who loved each other, it is a gift that we receive from our parents, from our ancestors, from God. That’s why Jesus has given us his body. In that night that seemed hopeless Jesus donated his whole self, to his friends and to his enemies, for the sake of everyone, in communion with everyone, giving his body. And here’s why to be followers of Jesus means to be very concrete, loving the others serving their needs, even the apparently more material ones, as the needs to eat, to be clean, to be healed.
All the children were looking to Clinton, shaking their heads in a sign of agreement. And they really understood, because, later the “twelve apostles” let me to wash with compuntion and concentration. They looked to the cleansing water and to to my hands as seeing them for the first time. At the end of the rite, I reminded them that that same body of Jesus, donated and than broken on the cross, it is the same body that rises from death and fills us with a new life.
I was inspired by an article by Timothy Radcliffe, former head of the Dominicans, entitled ‘The joy of giving ourselves’ published recently in The Tablet, perhaps the more intelligent monthly magazine of the Catholic English-speaking world. Radcliffe sets its reflection on the Eucharist, the gift that Jesus does if his body, to develop a Christian vision of sexuality, overcoming the soul-body dualism that has so damaged the Christian spirituality.
In my context was not the case to reach the conclusions of Radcliffe, but the immediate positive response from the boys has confirmed once more how open they are to look at life with truly Christian and truly African eyes.
Happy Easter.
Posted: March 11th, 2008 under life.
Ci avviamo verso la capanna
Al mattino grande raduno, presentazione di tutti, e visita ufficiale all’ unica cosa che il mek considera all’ altezza dei visitatori: la scuola. Con nostra meraviglia infatti troviamo una scuola elementare con quasi 400 bambini e due maestrine arabe, inviate da
Intanto vediamo quanto sia vero quello che mi avevano riportato. In conseguenza di fatti non ancora chiari avvenuti alla fine degli anni 80 – un attacco militare di cui governo e SPLA si attribuiscono reciprocamente la responsabilita’ - tutto il villaggio di Kau e’ passato dalla parte
Dove’ il piu’ vicino distributore di diesel? A Kauda. Ma a qualcuno viene in mente che c’era un mulino per macinare il mais, e’ rotto ormai da anni, ma quando funzionava aveva un motore diesel. Non ci sembra vero quando troviamo quasi cento litri di diesel in un vecchio bidone.
Il ritorno fu peggio dell’ andata. Il diesel era sporchissimo e inizialmente ogni venti kilometri poi smepre piu’ spesso.
Era il marzo
Due dei nostri maestri missionari erano a Kauda in questi giorni, per chiedere altri libri e quaderni. Ci sono arrivati dopo un viaggio di tre giorni, in parte a piedi e in parte con passaggi sui pittoreschi camion dei mercanti arabi che di tanto in tanto passano per queste strade. Come vanno le cose a Kau? “Bene, i bambini assorbono l’ insegnamento come spugne. Ogni tanto c’e’ qualche brontolio di qualche isolato fanatico musulmano contro questi maestri mandati da un bianco, ma la gente e’ buona e gentile, ed e’ contenta della nostra presenza. Se Dio vuole, aiuteremo a stabilere un buon dialogo con tutti.”.
Posted: March 10th, 2008 under life.
Sono a Loki. Era uno sperduto villaggio Turkana nel Nord del Kenya, al confine col Sudan, quando ci sono passato la prima volta nel febbraio del 1989, successivamente e’ diventato centro operativo della quella che e’ stata la piu’ lunga e costosa operazione umanitaria delle Nazioni Unite, l’ Operation Lifeline Sudan, o OLS. Sono appena uscito dopo poco piu’ di 48 ore sui Monti Nuba. Piu’ di un giorno intero diversi voli per entrarci, poco meno di un giorno per uscire. Saltando da un aereo all’ altro, l’ultimo, un grande Antonov cargo, preso letteralmente di corsa, mentre coi motori gia’ al massimo iniziava a muoversi sulla pista di Kauda. Sono entrato dal portellone posteriore a scivolo ormai pronto a chiudersi, e gli amici Nuba sono riusciti a buttarmi dentro il bagaglio prima che si chiudesse l’ultimo spiraglio.
Un viaggio segnato dalla presenza invasiva delle capre. Arrivando a Kauda su un aeroplanino con altri cinque passeggeri, il pilota ha tentato tre volte di atterrare, sempre ostacolato da un gregge di capre che non avevano nessuna intenzione di spostarsi, fino a che un pastorello e’ arrivato di corsa e le ha convinte a lasciarci via libera. Poi carne di capra a pranzo e a cena, per due giorni. Un capretto ieri sera si era pensosamente accomodato sul mio “letto”, non so quanto a lungo, ma per il tempo sufficiente da impregnarlo
Nel viaggio di andata verso i Nuba ho fatto una sosta di qualche ora a Rumbek, in Sud
Ho fatto questa escursione sui Monti Nuba per riportare con me a Nairobi un maestro bisognoso di cure mediche non disponibili sul luogo, e ne ho approfittato per rimpinguare le casse dei progetti con un po’ di fondi in contanti e visitare le sue scuole elementari e l’ istituto per la preparazione dei maestri. I progetti funzionano bene, insegnanti e alunni sono impegnati al massimo, ma la finanze vacillano. Con la pace in
E’ stata un’ opportunita’ anche per incontrare i nostri “maestri missionari”. Quasi esattamente due anni fa durante una delle mie visite ai Nuba mi ero trovato ad avere tre circostanze favorevoli: la prima era che era la stagione secca e si poteva viaggiare abbastanza discretamente, poi avevo tre giorni liberi e avevo anche a disposizione un’ auto in condizioni decenti. Decisi di tentare il viaggio da Kauda a Kau, il mitico villaggio Nuba dove la Leni Riefenstahl aveva scattato a meta’ degli anni settanta delle foto che sono diventate iconiche per chi si interessa di fotografia: i lottatori Nuba, i loro volti dipinti con disegni geometrici di incredibile bellezza fantasia, le danze delle ragazze. A Kauda due Nuba erano disposti ad accompagnarmi e uno diceva di sapere la strada. Stimavano che ci sarebbero volute delle 5 alle sei ore d’auto. Cosi una mattina alle 7 siamo pariti in cerca della mitica Kau, col il pick-up Toyota 4×4 con bidone con 60 litri di diesel, tende e qualcosa da mangiare. Cammina e cammina, attraverso paesaggi da mille e una notte, anzi guida e guida, e dopo cinque, sei, sette ore comincio a pensare che la mia guida non sappia dove siamo. Ma lui mi assicura
E’ arrivato l’ aereo. Chiudo e fra poche ore a