Ave Maria!

Chad: A mission conceived four years ago…

When events coincide with what one wants to do, it’s not by chance, but it’s providence! I remember as if it were just yesterday when in the summer of 2006, we met the Combonian Bishop Michele Russo, originally from San Giovanni Rotondo. He was visiting his brothers in Benin, traveling along the strip of asphalt that joins Cotonou to Malanville, was attracted by the Shrine of Notre Dame de la Misericorde that had just been completed and by the 90m high pylon of Radio Immacule’e Conception. He couldn’t resist the temptation to enter the Marian Center in Allada and find out more about the life and the activity of the religious living there. During that time, Mons. Russo was trying to find a religious institute to entrust his diocesan radio to, as well as the pastoral care of the national Marian shrine being built in his diocese of Doba, in the south of Chad. The possibility of inviting just one Institute in order to cover this double objective seemed to him to be like a mirage in the desert. In greeting me, he exclaimed with emotion, “It’s Padre Pio that sent me here,” cultivating the hope to soon see some spiritual sons of his glorious co-citizen pray and work in his diocese. One year later, before leaving Benin, I had the possibility to have a first overview of Doba with the support of the then Nuncio of Chad, Mons. Pierre Van Tot, the former Nuncio of Benin and therefore an old friend. Month after month, day after day, ‘a lot of water flowed under the bridge’, according to an African saying, without having been able to send missionaries to that country in Central Africa. In these cases, one prays and abandons oneself to the mysterious and silent action of God, imitating a child that pretends to sleep to make its mother happy…

… and given birth to four years later…

October 26, 2010. I was on the Ethiopian Airlines flight leaving Rome heading for Addis Abbeba, then onto N’Djamena, the capital city of Chad. The airplane was surprisingly full, there were so many Chinese people on it, a witness of how, with the growing disinterest of France and the USA for Africa, the Asian giant is instead taking a greater interest in the Black Continent attracted by the riches above and below ground. I was in the company of my brother from Cameroon, fra Joseph Pierre… who with Beninese Father Clement M. Bonou were to make up part of the community of Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate in Doba. Trying to outdo the typical background noise of the airplane’s reactors with a volume of voice slightly higher than normal, I recounted to them how the Institute finally decided to open the mission in Chad towards the end of Spring in 2010. I had desperately tried to contact Mons. Russo without any results. When summer arrived, I imagined that just like other missionary Bishops, Mons. Russo would also be in Italy, asking for help. I called the General Curia of the Combonians, asking for the cell phone number in Italy of the Bishop of Doba, and miraculously, Mons, Russo answered just while he was getting off the airplane! I was afraid that the Bishop would jump so much for joy that he could have a heart attack from one moment to the next! “Truly, this is good news,” he cried and the ‘good news’ was the activity that we wanted to undertake: evangelization.

Water is life

During long flights in airplanes, it is not an illusion that one is overcome with tiredness, but rest becomes an illusion when there is a constant… interruption. “Water is life and life is water” is the phrase that made me say goodbye several times to Orpheus. Seated next to a very thirsty passenger that almost every 15 minutes, surely because of problems with rehydration, was asking to drink, I was able to admire the patience and hospitality of the Ethiopians. The inconvenience was played down by the steward, repeating ‘water is life and life is water’ with a smile on her lips. In the end this phrase became a very amusing tormentor for fra Joseph Pierre Tsobze who even a few days later was still laughing about it. Arrived in Addis Abbeba, the landing hub of the company from where we had to board once more to go to Chad, I was surprised about the development of the city, well structured and built, heir of a genius Italian builder during his brief colonial experience on the horn of Africa. Many Ethiopians speak Italian and many elderly happily remember the 1930’s and the 1940’s before the devastation of Negus that expelled all Catholic missionaries. The brothers of Cardinal Massaja went to Central Africa and from there, the Capucins went to Chad. Maybe without this persecution, evangelization would have arrived much later in this remote and impervious region in Africa. At our last airport police check, I was even more surprised to see the great respect the Ethiopians have for religious. In fact, there is a significant percentage of Christian Copts in the country, isolated, devoted people who asked me for crosses and medals with the simplicity of children. Instead, it is a shame that the Catholics are so few even if the epopee in Ethiopia of Cardinal Massaja, wrote one of the most beautiful pages of history of the evangelization of the entire African continent.

A windshield for an oven

Fra Joseph Pierre and myself, landing at the airport of N’Djamena were met by Estevania, a consecrated laywoman from Mexico. She is from Cuncan, one of the most beautiful seaside resort localities in the Atlantic, devastated a few years ago by Cyclone Wilma. She recounted to us about the frightening force of nature and how, during the cyclone, the air pressure was so strong, that even inside the house, they had to block their ears in order to avoid damaging their eardrums. Estevania belongs to a society of apostolic life and has offered five years of her life to the mission of the African church. It is the economic factotum of the diocese of Doba and has a practical sense out of the norm. Seeing that we had eight hours of travel by road from N’Djamena before we would reach Doba, before leaving the city, Estevania bought little pizzas and eggs that were to be our frugal lunch. Strangely enough, she placed them underneath the windshield of the Land Cruiser and a few hours later, we had ‘hard boiled eggs’ and crunchy hot pizza! In effect, Chad has the northern part that is desert and torrid, uninhabitable if it were not for the great lake with the same name that brings humidity and water, vegetation and ichthyic fauna. Instead, the south is more fertile and temperate, I would dare say climatically even more hospitable than the north of Benin. During the voyage, we traveled along a good asphalted road, crossed every so often by distracted and funny looking dromedaries. Along the edge of the road were enormous rice fields managed by the Chinese most of the time, and close to some little lakes, herds of zebu could be seen. The road coasted alongside and crossed over bridges of the River Chari that marks the natural border with Cameroon and goes as far as the Central African Republic. On a few bridges, it is not possible for two vehicles to cross over in opposite directions and the right of way is entrusted to the humor of the moment, sometimes meaning that one has to back up a half kilometer. The police and the army are always present to monitor the power of Idriss Deby, who imputed himself during the years of the old regime the killing of tens of thousands of opposes. Sometimes, the four wheel drive vehicles of the missionaries are confiscated because they fear they could be used to transport troops of rebels. A bullet from the President’s Guard penetrated the back window of the car of an Italian sister, coming out through the windshield, only because she dared to make a U turn in front of the Presidential palace. As we traveled along, Estevania also recounted about the accident of a reasonably proud group of Italian volunteers who rolled their vehicle. While they were under shock, an English doctor who was with them, without flinching got out of the vehicle through the window that was upside down, dusted off his clothes with his hands, and having lost his sandal, got back into the little truck, belly to the ground in order to look for it. In the end he was more surprised to see how frightened the other passengers were after the accident that he said with British humor, “Is everyone ok? Is there a problem?”

When it was already dark, we arrived at the Bishop's palace in Doba. Father Clement, welcomed us with the Bishop, the Vicar General (from Chad) and two sisters from Benin from the Institute of Saint Augustine who took care of our needs in the Curia. Mons. Michele Russo was happy about our arrival and offered us a large glass of water that when I received it, said to fra Joseph Pierre, "Life is water and water is life!" As a way of putting one to sleep before saying goodnight, a few minutes later, I explained the reason for the laughter that followed more laughter after I said that phrase.

The Shrine in Doba.

On the morning of October 29, with our new missionaries of Chad and the Bishop in person, we travelled along a dirt road that leads to Bopa, 40km from Doba. We travelled through various villages also occupied by the nomads Peuls, an ethnic group that lives as shepherds, present in the immediate Sub Sahara. Once we arrived in Bopa, the spectacle of boulders and rocks was there to greet us, as if they had rained down from the heavens in the midst of the savanna. In fact, they are torn away from the natural topography and from the mineralogical composition of the surrounding terrain and it shouldn't be excluded that they have been produced by meteorites that fell thousands of years ago. On one of these meteorites… sorry(!) rocks, the radio antenna of the diocesan station is located. After climbing a little, we arrived at the little cabin housing the instruments to check the quality of the equipment. The pylon was well mounted but the electrical plug of the transmitter still needed to be re wired. There was a generator to provide electricity and at full power, the signal should be able to arrive in Central Africa. While I was climbing the rock, dozens and dozens of children appeared out of nowhere, together with a 'child mother'. This girl was wearing a funny t-shirt with a map of Chad on it , carrying her little child. I was happy to see many children wearing crucifixes around their necks. I willing offered them some Miraculous Medals that immediately helped to multiply the number of children who this time started to run, together with their mothers. A few hundred meters away, we finally found ourselves in amongst some grottos under the open sky where a temple dedicated to Our Lady of All Nations is about to be built. It will become the National Marian Shrine in Chad. The project is financed by a group of Dutch Catholics and will be venerated under the same title, Our Lady appearing in 1945 to Ida Peerdeman in Amsterdam. Father Marko Rupnik is responsible for the design, a Slovak Jesuit who also designed the crypt of St. Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo. It will be an original construction that will make the most of the natural walls of the grotto for the greater part of the perimeter. The work will commence in a few years time, with the adjacent convent buildings entrusted to the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate for the pastoral care of the religious complex. By this time, the whole village had come out to see us. Children, mothers, the youth and the elderly. The head of the village also arrived, happy to finally see the missionaries in his place. He is a Christian who also understands that a church and a religious community will bring moral and material development to his village. Father Clement gave him a small Rosary and then the head 'begged' some small change from the Bishop for a young man who was complaining that he doesn't have any money, even if in reality, he gave the impression that he didn't like work too much… Alcohol in Chad is a true wound. It already affects the young population and provokes enormous economic and social instability in the families. The 'antenna guard' offered us a nice cup of tea. The Bishops insisted we accept. He is right, because it would have been a very negative cultural sign if we had refused, so much so that it could have compromised the work of evangelization itself. We seated ourselves under a make shift shelter and slowly, with 'an act of faith', tasted the tea that was so sweet that it was like a liquor. I was awake for the next three days!

La voix du paysan

The diocese of Doba already has a Catholic Radio Station. It is enormously powerful and well followed. In a practically dictatorial government, it is called 'the voice of the farmer' in order to avoid suspicion and unrealistic politics about the presumed link with the 'Vatican'… With the former and original denomination, one would be able to classify it as a modest station broadcaster at the service of the rural communities, linking them together. In reality, it is the first private radio station in the country, but it broadcasts only four hours a day, both in French and in Gambay, the local language. There is a poor radio program that runs only the emotiveness of some news stories. The rest is filled up with songs which are not always religious. The Bishop, aware of the limit of paid lay people that work there, wanted to improve the editorial quality and the number of hours of transmission. With a lot of patience one will now have to train the already existing personnel and make it contribute for the cause of the apostolate. The necessary challenges will be creativity and professionalism for a new editorial line. The direction of the radio station has been entrusted to our Institute in the person of Fr. Clemente M. Bonou. As a bank of programs, Radio Immacule'e Conception in Benin will also be contributing, at least for the initial period. It has the capacity to be received via satellite on the whole continent of Africa. The friars in Benin generously sent to Chad all the equipment necessary for a radio studio, even if the equipment will not be used yet for another few months as there still isn't a building ready to house it… It will be really interesting to try to broadcast the signal even outside the Diocese of Doba. On our part, there is good will and preparation and the Institute has accepted this new duty with passion and participation, knowing how much good the radio can do, especially in Africa. For the other part, it will all be possible if one will live the Kolbean charism and fraternal communion with fidelity as a witness of solidarity and a general involvement.

The crocodile and the lizard

"There can be no argument between a crocodile and a lizard," goes an old West African proverb. Doba can also be called the 'Dallas of Chad', using more ones imagination than making an analogy, given its location close to many petroleum wells. In these parts, the 'crocodiles' are called Exxon-Mobil, Chevron-Texaco and Petronas, international petroleum companies (two American and one Malaysian). The 'lizard' is the government of Chad, lead by General Idriss De'by since 1990. But their forced relationship has transitive properties, and therefore inside the country, De'by becomes the crocodile and the civil society becomes the lizard. Mons. Russo says, "Since 1960, Africa does not have peace because it has too many resources. The continent is rich with petroleum, gold, diamonds, wood, steel and uranium. Africa could become a haven, but the riches are stolen from us. The little that is left to the population is sucked up by corrupt administrators and politicians." Since 1969, it was known that Chad had petroleum basins in it. At that time, the president was Francois Tombalbaye, a man chosen by Charles De Gaulle as the 'father of the country' when Chad gained its independence in 1960. Tombalbaye rapidly got rid of all political opponents, centralizing all the power in his hands. Fascinated by the 'politics of authenticity' of his colleague Mobutu in Zaire, he surrounded himself with soothsayers, feticheurs and specialists in voodoo that he had brought to him from Haiti; he changed his Christian name into an African Ngarta ('at last the head') and the name of the Capital city of Fort Lamy into N'Djamena, putting on the unmistakable leopard skin hat and obliging all his followers to participate in a rite of initiation to wash away the traces of colonialist patriotism, the same ones who put him in power. Executed 'by the Tombalbaye people', Chad entered a period of confusion in which fanning the fire of internal conflicts, Muhammar Gheddafi had arrived in the meanwhile, he being the financer of the most powerful movement of political-military opposition, 'Frolinat', a strange mixture of Marxism and Islam. Under these conditions, no progress was possible in the area of exploiting the petroleum. A first attempt was made with the advent of the ruthless Hisse'ne Habre', who passed from the support of Libya to France. It was not however until the military victory of Idriss De'by in 1990 that all were more or less in agreement: Libya definitively renounced her expansionistic intentions and France maintained her historical chasse garde'e ('hunting grounds') in Central Africa. From that moment onwards, it was possible to talk about petroleum, even if the affair was risky, not only because of all the internal unruliness. Towards the end of the 90's, the American companies 'begged' at the doors of the World Bank for the financing of the pipeline project from the petroleum basins in Doba to the port of Kribi in Cameroon. It was all done in the name of 'development' and the humanitarian cause. In any case, the experience of many African nations, starting with Nigeria, has abundantly demonstrated that petroleum doesn't make one happy, rather… "Since October 10, 2003, the exploitation of the petroleum resources started and the situation for my people has worsened rather than improved," said Mons. Michele Russo with his more than thirty years of experience of living in Chad and more than twenty of them as a Combonian Bishop in the diocese of Doba. If it wasn't for a few large jeeps of belonging to the international corporations, the cellular phones and a few internet points, truly one would not be able to tell which year one is living in, also because newspapers practically do not exist. It is enough to travel a few kilometers from the center of the Capital city and there clay houses with galvanized iron roofs, and just a little further on, traditional villages. Where does the money from the petroleum go? This is what the entire nation is still asking until today. "How can one," continues Mons. Russo, "speak about justice, peace and reconciliation when we are not in charge of what we have?" In the petroleum region in the south, the start of the extraction by the multinational foreigners has caused the immigration of thousands of Chadians from other provinces looking for work. The demand for primary needs has augmented, but the goods offered have remained very low, in such a way that the prices have in some cases quadrupled. These days, the people who hoped to improve their living conditions, are cursing the petroleum and are losing hope for a better future. Besides a few thousand workers involved in the construction of the pipeline, many of whom have already been let off from work, only a few lawless hotelkeepers without a conscience have had success fixing astronomical prices for their rooms and some prostitutes who entertain the expatriates. Delusion, poverty and frustration have thus favored the increase of the use of alcohol that an ever greater portion of the population turns to, including the young. The extraction of petroleum had not even yet started and the 'great' President De'by had already spent the bonus advance payment given by the extraction groups on weapons. Schools or machine guns? Hospitals or armed cars? Quite simply, the companies deposit 5% of the income of the net cost of production and transport, fixed without control or public discussion by the companies themselves, after which, the earnings from the work should be used by the government to construct infrastructures in the country, for health, education and other social costs according to the bond dictated by the World Bank, but not respected by the government. Even the international humanitarian organizations that used to support us with projects of development and financial aid, have abandoned us since the extraction of petroleum started" - declared Mons. Russo - "and my diocese, my community does not have the economic strength to survive any more. And it is humiliating to have to go to Italy to ask for help in order to not send every one home." "It makes one angry," the Bishop continued, "that the major part of the people do not have work and live in misery, while twenty kilometers away from the Bishop's house, 8 million dollars of black gold is extracted from the ground every day. We are exploiting Africa with four hands and in exchange, we give alms that Africa truly does not need. This is a game that must end." "It's the game of the crocodile and the lizard."

All Saints

On the solemnity of All Saints, the new community of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate was presented in the cathedral to the Catholic community of Doba. It consisted in Fr. Clemente and fra Joseph Pierre. The Bishop (whose motto is 'evangelize Africa with Africa') opens the celebration with a solemn reprimand for his faithful. He was not able to hide his disappointment, after years of pastoral experiments, made up of foundation communities and social initiatives about the decline in the number of Christians. Armed with a great deal of good will, he has tried to make himself all things to all men, from the mediation with the guerilla warfare in the civil war to the creation of a 'cereal bank' where the crops harvested by the poor farmers can be stored until a more profitable moment arrives for the market. There is still a lot to be done and to evangelize, but the seed of the Good News has been planted. One remembers the tombs of the old Capuchin missionaries, together with the presence of the new religious communities that come to Doba and to Chad. In fact, one is struck by the richness of young religious institutes present in the diocese with the best of intentions and projects. Surely it will be necessary to join together and focus more on the sacred signs, once more wearing the religious habit and clearly establishing those liturgical gestures that have been left too much to improvisation and a questionable form of enculturation. In the Capital city, Holy Mass is even celebrated sitting down! Perspiring profusely, the celebration took place with the reading of the Gospel in the various local languages and the synthetic translation of the homily in as many dialects. Joy and agreement make the people forget the Bishop's reprimand when the friars were presented, the engagement in the Catholic Radio station, the pastoral care of the Marian Shrine and… the Diaconal Ordination of fra Joseph Pierre to be held on January 9, 2011, the Baptism of Jesus. After Holy Mass, we just had enough time for a snack, enjoying some little pizzas that I had never enjoyed in Africa, prepared by the Alcantarine Franciscan Sisters that are constructing a house of charity next to the Cathedral to house girls at risk. More than eight hours of sitting in a large jeep are before me, separating me from the Capital city and its airport. I fraternally greeted my brothers, leaving them a blessing and adding to my thanksgiving for Holy Communion a prayer for the realization of the desires of the Immaculate in that far away land. In the Spring of 2011 other brothers will increase the initial mini community in order to occupy the canonical building of the first Cathedral (the ex convent of the Capuchin friars) and the ex convent of the Combonian Sisters a few months later, where it will also be possible to see if a house of formation can be situated there. It will all depend on the fidelity to the charism and to the Institute, an indispensible condition for the apostolic and vocational fecundity. The sun had already set two hours before when I arrived in N'Djamena, accepting hospitality from some Japanese-French Sisters. Here, the climate was different, hotter and drier with the perceptible feeling of tiny particles of sand from the Sahara desert suspended in the air. Hot water came out of the faucet and there wasn't any need to use a towel to dry oneself. The generator makes up for the continuous interruptions of electricity in the Capital city, but its background noise is certainly not compatible with sleep. Towards midnight, everything went silent, like a charm. The generator was off, but with it, also the movement of air produced by the ceiling fan. The blades that before were driving the mosquitoes away like a mechanical scarecrow no longer frighten the rush of these parasitical insects, damaging my worn out brother ass. Tomorrow morning, on the airplane for Cameroon, I'll be able to catch up on sleep during the flight. All for the Immaculate!

Father Alfonso Maria Bruno, F.I.