ierra
Leone is a land of beauty and of misfortunes. Its natural beauties and immense underground riches, and the cordiality
of its inhabitants have made it a privileged meeting place for different peoples
of West Africa and Europe. Here was
established the first West Africa University, with its capital Freetown, being
called the “Athens of West Africa.” Also,
Sierra Leoneans are known for their religious tolerance and lack of deep tribal
tensions.
Nonetheless, misfortune also has touched these people/. For more than ten years a cruel civil war has sown destruction and death. The ranks of the rebels have been filled, in great part, by young people and children snatched by force from their families and turned, through violence, drugs and false promises, against their own people.
The cause of all this are to be found in the social deterioration and corruption at all levels. More serious citizens and leaders admit the responsibility of what has happened.
“We
have watched out country, our families, our children, ourselves, suffer from the
inhumanity of war, a war that has stolen something from all of us,” declares
Mrs. Zainab Hawa Bangura, leader of the new Movement for Progress (MOP) Party.
“We know that this war was ours, that it was a war for which all of us
bear some responsibility and we have resolved to learn from its hard lessons and
rebuild our country.”
Foreign financial interests, however, cannot wash their hands for they have
control of Sierra Leone’s natural resources. The alluvial diamond fields, some of the richest in the world, were the
principal prize in the nation’s brutal civil war. The precious, but accursed, stones have come to be known as
“conflict diamonds” for they have enriched diamond multinationals and
governments, and have been used to find civil wars in Africa and terrorist
networks, even the likes of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda.
The
Xaverian Presence
The Xaverian Missionaries have been in Sierra Leone since 1950. Rich in faith and zeal, from the very beginning the missionaries have been marked by their motto “The Love of Christ Impels Us.” Fr. Augustus Azzolini, who became the first bishop of Makeni, was part of that original group, as were, among others, Frs. Rocco Serra, Camillo Olivani and Peter Calza, all of whom have worked in the US Province. The labors of these and of those who have followed them have given rise to the diocese of Makeni and life to so many other Christian communities.
Today, the Xaverian presence is being changed and renewed. The principal mover is the same, Christ’s love. It’s what has sustained them in these years of war and destruction. The physical structures have been ransacked or leveled; missionaries have been threatened, wounded, kidnapped or sent away. Local priests and religious, catechists and lay leaders have suffered the same traumas, having been scattered and even put to death.
We have watched out country, our families, our children, ourselves, suffer from the inhumanity of war, a war that has stolen something from all of us. We know that this war was ours, that it was a war for which all of us bear some responsibility and we have resolved to learn from its hard lessons and rebuild our country.
A couple of years ago, we were all dispersed. We did not know what the future held for the Church and the country. Then, we saw with surprise and joy that our Christian communities, tired in the crucible of suffering, had grown stronger. Lay people had become leaders and had assumed responsibility of the communities’ prayer groups, and of assistance to the needy. Just as in all times of persecution, while the Church made of stones may have been destroyed, the Church of living stones has emerged healthy and thriving.
Now, the nation of Sierra Leone and the international community have found the way to reach a peace agreement. More than 40,000 rebels and government soldiers have handed in their weapons in a largely successful disarmament program. The President of the Republic has toured the country and repeated in five major centers a symbolic burning and destruction of weapons.
It is great to know that peace has returned, at least in one country in this troubled world of ours. We are now quite confident for the future.
Priests and religious are returning to their parishes. Rebuilding has begun, and the Church has resumed most of its activities. For peace to last, however, we must disarm consciences. The process will be long, but we are on the right path.
The presence of the missionaries, many of whom had followed their people in the difficult times and in refugee camps, contributes much to building new relations. Before the war, Muslims, Catholics and Protestants never engaged in such intense dialogue as now. The widespread and deeply felt longing for peace is a sign that the causes of the conflict are to be sought more outside than inside Sierra Leone. Indeed foreign interests, always there, but no always explicit, condition the situation in Sierra Leone. Even the model of democracy being imposed is western-style, based on the winning of votes, while the African way is to search for consensus. This may further tax the process to a definitive stability of the country.
But we must enter into the challenge of reconciling and re-integrating into society the many people affected by the war: we must recover former child soldiers, care for the physical and moral healing of the thousands of amputees, of women and young girls physically and sexually abused; demand the admission and repentance of the violent acts committed. This is a field where the Church cannot be absent, but must assume body and soul.
We will Rise with Christ
The Sierra Leonean Church and society are now at a crossroad, and the Xaverian Missionaries are finding new forms of service to meet the present needs. More than ever, we are in a situation of help, of service, of encouragement. We must be agents of hope. The love of Ch4rist and his victory over death and its retinue champion our hope in a future of peace and our joy of being part of this Church and of this people.
Last year we could not celebrate Easter with our Christian communities. Now, with the end of war and of the atrocities, we glimpse at the future with the confidence of the exiled Jewish believers as they longed to return to Jerusalem.
The
resurrection of the Lord, contradicting death and its long list of negatives,
gives proof to my joy: this year we’ll celebrate Easter, and all that
reaffirms love and live in our communities!
(From Xaverian Mission Newsletter)