he
Rev. Victor Mosele knew he was loved by the rebels who captured him because he
still has his hands and feet.
Mosele, a member of the Xaverian Missionaries, spent 30 years in Sierra Leone,
West Africa, where he was imprisoned twice for five months and managed to
escape. He told his story and showed a documentary to a group of 80 people at
St. Stanislaus Catholic Church on Tuesday while visiting Stevens Point.
As a missionary, Mosele said his primary duty was to educate and build schools
and clinics. Building churches came second. Mosele was in charge of 33
primary schools including 6,000 children, but said many families would not send
their children to school. The missionaries would charge the children 80
cents per term to attend school, totaling $2.40 a year, and half of the families
would not pay, Mosele said.
These children whom Mosele tried to educate were among the thousands kidnapped
and forced into the rebel army during the civil war in Sierra Leone. Up to 7,000
children from ages 6 to 15 years old were drugged and trained to conduct acts of
violence.
Some
of these same soldiers later kidnapped Mosele. "I was captured by
children," Mosele said. "I was more afraid to face a child soldier
than an adult soldier." Adult soldiers were easier to reason with, where a
child soldier was more unpredictable, he said.
The second time Mosele was captured, the child soldiers help him escape.
Mosele ran for 20 miles, and was carried for 20 miles when he could no longer
walk, to reach the U.N. peacekeeping forces. "As long as the United
Nations is there in force, there is hope," he said.
Mosele is now stationed in Milwaukee, but wishes he was back in West
Africa. "If it was up to me, I wouldn't be there, I would go
back," Mosele said. "It's better that I stay out of the way for
awhile. My running away caused trouble for many rebels."
Although Mosele risked his life to help the children of Sierra Leone, he said
everyone can do their part to help.
"It's the grace of God that saves people," Mosele said. "Pray and
we will save the world."
Nancy Koch, Stevens Point, said Mosele's presentation made her think about the
problems in her own life. "You learn to appreciate and value the smaller
problems we have," she said.
"We think we have it bad, and we hear something like that," said
Sister Carlene Blavat, a pastoral minister at St. Stanislaus.
(From Stevens Point Journal)