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Uganda. A Comboni Father blessed.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

On 20 November 2022, Comboni Father Joseph Ambrosoli will be beatified in Kalongo in the north of Uganda. “God is love and I am his servant for the suffering people”.

“My name is Joseph Ambrosoli. I come from Ronago. I have just qualified as a medical doctor and I want to place my profession at the disposal of the Missions. I would like to know if, in your Order, a doctor can become a priest and if, once a member, he would be sure of being assigned to the Missions and practice the dual profession of priest and doctor”.
It is the Summer of 1949 and it is with these words that the young Doctor Ambrosoli introduces himself to Father Simone Zanoner, the Rector of the Comboni Missionary Seminary in Rebbio in the Province of Como in Northern Italy.

Although Joseph says his name is ‘Ambrosoli’ he does not mention that he belongs to the well-known and influential honey-producing Family of the same name. Father Zanoner replies: “The Comboni Missionaries were founded for the Missions and it is therefore standard practice for those who join to go to the Missions. I can therefore guarantee that you will go to the Missions!”. Thus began the missionary adventure of the man who would become the great ‘Doctor Aburojoli’, the Doctor of the Acholi Peoples of Northern Uganda.

‘The Cenacle’
Joseph was born on 25th July 1923 to Giovanni Battista and Palmira Ambrosoli in Ronago, a charming village in the Province of Como, close to the border with the Canton of Ticino in Southern Switzerland.
His father was a successful entrepreneur in the honey business with the well-known slogan: ‘There are all sorts of honey and then there is the unmistakable flavour of Ambrosoli honey’.
He grew up in a family where his mother Palmira was noted for her practice of the Christian faith. It was she who educated Joseph in the faith and trained him in that moderation and self-limitation that would accompany him throughout his life.
His Christian formation was consolidated thanks to holy priest educators who were concerned only with the education of children and the youth, and always attentive to the sick.

Fundamental to his spiritual life and his missionary option was his meeting with Don Silvio Riva, the diocesan assistant of the Catholic Action of Como who brought together the best young people in a group that he christened ‘The Cenacle’. His spiritual growth translates into the search for holiness understood as identification with Christ.
As a result of all this, Joseph would therefore become a Comboni missionary doctor. He was already 28 when he entered the novitiate (1951). He made his religious profession, quickly completed his theological studies, and was soon ordained because Africa urgently needed him. It was on 17 December 1955 when he became a priest in the cathedral of Milan. The ordaining bishop was Giovanni Battista Montini who would become Pope Paul VI.

Uganda. The ‘Pearl of Africa’
On February 1st 1956 Father Joseph set sail from Venice aboard the aptly-named ‘SS Africa’ bound for Mombasa on the coast of Kenya, and then continued his journey from Mombasa to Gulu a town in the North of Uganda. And then by road from Gulu to the Mission of Kalongo in East Acholi to where he had been assigned.
Starting from the simple dispensary, he built a large hospital with 350 beds, to which the sick from Lira, Kitgum and from Kenya and
South Sudan flowed.

The jewel in the crown of that hospital is the school for midwives, which Father Joseph was very fond of. The study program is based on the English model and includes three years of study and internship after which each student nurse has to face an exam before a commission coming specially from Kampala, the capital.
The diploma issued is valid for every health facility in the colony and for all English-speaking countries.
Father Joseph was totally dedicated to the sick: “I must try to impersonate the Master in me when he treated the sick who came to him … If only they could see Jesus in me!”, he would say. He immediately understood that to win the hearts of Africans he must employ infinite benevolence. He worked unsparingly not only as a surgeon but also as a facility director and teacher in the nursing school. He was able to remain at the operating table for six straight hours, always standing, and then move to the clinic, without showing even the slightest sign of tiredness.
People ended up having unlimited faith in Father Joseph’s healing powers, to the point of considering him a sort of thaumaturge: “If you are sick, you have only to go to Father Joseph; he examines you and you come back healed, both in heart and in spirit”, they would say.
He also involved all the nursing staff, making them feel directly involved in the management of the workings of the large hospital. He shared responsibilities with his fellow doctors and gave them autonomy.

The exodus
Before going to rest, the Rosary was a must: “Reciting the Rosary while walking under the starry sky of God, with the stars of the magical African sky, is really something else”, he wrote to a friend. He took but a few hours of rest at the end of the day. “Once in heaven, I’ll have all the time I want to rest”, he would say.
He also knew how to show his stern character as a defender of the weak, including the heroic defence of the wives of government soldiers and, in general, of the people of the south, on whom the guerrillas, from the north, intended to take their revenge.
When the rebels realized their imminent defeat, they gathered threateningly in front of the hospital gate, demanding the people of the south to kill them and take revenge for their defeat.

Father Joseph intervened, placing himself in front of the gate and saying to the rebels: “Do not enter here. If you want, kill me as well, but don’t enter here!”. And the rebels relented.
1986 was certainly the most difficult year for Kalongo caught between the government troops and those of the revolution. The situation for the hospital worsened on January 30, 1987. Having gathered all the hospital and mission personnel, the military authorities accused those present of complicity with the Acholi guerrillas and the order to evacuate was given. The exodus from Kalongo to Lira would be an ordeal for Father Joseph. He truly became similar to Jesus, who appeared to many on Calvary as the icon of the most complete human failure.
His concern was still for the 42 midwifery students who had to prepare for the state exam, scheduled for May.

Things took a turn for the worse. His health was deteriorating, and the Lord granted him his desire to die with the people he loved so much. His last words distinctly grasped by those who assisted him were: “Lord, your will be done”. His Lord came to take him at 13.50 on Friday 27 March 1987. At the age of 64.
Father Joseph’s desire to be buried among the people he loved and for whom he gave his life. On the tomb of Father Ambrosoli, there is a plaque reminding everyone that he was ‘A Comboni, a priest and a doctor’. The true message, however, is contained in the phrase that Father Joseph repeated and that the people wanted to be carved in marble: ‘God is love and I am his servant for the suffering people’.

Elio Boscaini

Growing Chinese influence in Latin America.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

Despite the geographical distance involved, over the last five decades Latin America has become a significant area for the foreign policy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Chinese expansion in Latin America is strictly interconnected with the country’s rise as a global power. Since the first diplomatic ties were established in the 1970s, the Sino-Latin American relationship has developed gradually but uninterruptedly: commercial exchanges flourished in the 1980s; educational, cultural and scientific relations were promoted during in the 1990s; finally, technological, health, military and strategic cooperation has been improving continuously over the last twenty years. This process has partly been favoured by the US disinterest on its ties with Latin America and, therefore, progressively losing its presence on the subcontinent.

In 2013, Latin America’s significance to China was clearly evidenced by the First Meeting of Ministries of Agriculture of China and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) in 2013. The China-CELAC Forum1, which is attended by the respective Foreign Ministers, was established a year later. At that time, Beijing also recognised Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela as “comprehensive strategic partners” for their significant food, energy and industrial production.

In 2016, the PRC published a second “white paper” on relations with Latin America and the Caribbean, defining Beijing’s policy towards the subcontinent. A year later, in the context of the First Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, it was announced that the Belt and Road initiative (BRI) would be extended to the region.

The invitation for Latin American countries to join the BRI was formalised at the China-CELAC Forum in January 2018. At this meeting, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi presented the BRI and stated that Latin America was its “natural extension”. So far, around twenty Latin American countries have adhered to the BRI.

The BRI has generated much interest in the LAC region not only because it encompasses infrastructure projects (such as the construction of railways, highways, ports, pipelines, and housing), but fosters commercial, financial and technological developments and even civilisational dialogue too.

We must also bear in mind that physical connectivity contributes directly to the development of agricultural, mineral and industrial production and creates greater opportunities for investment, technology transfer, trade and social progress.

In addition, when the world witnessed the spread of Covid-19 at the beginning of 2020, most Latin American nations received health and medical help from the PRC, in the form of equipment or advice. In their eyes, China stood out in the concert of nations for the assistance provided, becoming a beacon of global cooperation.

Currently, most Latin American nations have China as one of their top three trading partners, or at least as a leading foreign investor, lender, infrastructure builder and technology transferor. The PRC, in a global context of energy and food scarcity, has in Latin America a trustworthy provider of primary products.

Developments in the Sino-Latin American relationship have a strategic relevance, as they affect US interests. Beijing has more political and economic influence in Latin America than any other competitor to Washington has ever had. At the same time, the current competition between Washington and Beijing affects Latin America deeply.

Washington and Beijing compete not only for trade, technology, and geopolitical areas, but also for partnerships. For this reason, ties with China represent an increasingly sensitive diplomatic challenge for Latin American countries.

At a time when Latin American governments are having to deal with the serious economic consequences of the pandemic, they are also being forced to pick a side between Washington and Beijing. The region’s governments can choose whether they want to remain loyal to their traditional alliance with Washington or strengthen their ties with China. Alternatively, they can try to play both cards and adopt a foreign policy that maintains an equal distance from both poles.

In the light of the US’ current focus on Eastern Europe, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific, it can be foreseen that Washington will remain unresponsive to Latin America, and that this will result in China expanding its influence on the subcontinent.

Therefore, among other developments, Xi Jinping’s expected third term will be characterised by growing Chinese influence in Latin America. The region will continue to strengthen its ties with the PRC, as it badly needs to leave behind the negative economic effects of the pandemic and put its economy back on track.

Jorge E. Malena/ISPI

Father Albert Nolan. The Challenge of the Gospel.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

Anti-apartheid activist and internationally renowned theologian, Father Albert Nolan, died in the early hours of October 17.
“You have to take sides”.

Many will remember him as a hero of the struggle against apartheid, a humble Dominican priest and theologian awarded the national Order of Luthuli by President Thabo Mbeki in 2003. Many more will know his name and have read his 1976 best-seller Jesus Before Christianity about the historical Jesus. I will remember him as an inspiration and spiritual guide when I was Southern Africa Desk Officer at the Catholic Institute of International Relations (CIIR) during the 1980s when both civic resistance and state repression peaked in South Africa.
Albert, despite a traditional academic training in the Angelicum, the Dominican Pontifical University in Rome, believed that theology should be open to everyone, that it should come from the grassroots and be about discovering where and how to find God in an unjust world. He was later to put his religious journalism into practice as the editor of Challenge, a popular Catholic paper in South Africa.

When Albert was Provincial for Southern Africa, the Johannesburg Dominicans abandoned their priory in a posh part of town, so the where of theology was a decrepit building in the ill-named Mayfair, home to down-and-out whites and surprisingly multi-racial. The estate agent couldn’t believe his luck when he was given a description of the building the Dominicans were looking for and got rid of an unsaleable property. And the how was by integrating faith with political commitment.
Albert Nolan chose the right religious name (he was baptised Dennis); like St. Albert the Great, teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas, he was an inspiring teacher and mentor. YCS and YCW chaplain at the largely Afrikaans University of Stellenbosch, he became National Chaplain of the Catholic Federation of Students in 1973. As well as listening and responding to youth seeking how to live in an unjust and divided society – ‘you have to take sides’ was his advice – he was able to compare notes with his counterpart in Peru, fellow priest Gustavo Gutierrez, the father of Liberation Theology and later a Dominican.
Leading up to and into the State of Emergency in South Africa (1985-1990), a time of massive repression and of mass resistance by the United Democratic Front drawing together African National Congress (ANC) front-organisations, church institutions and independent civic bodies, Albert nurtured a group of young Catholics committed to the liberation struggle.

Hector Pieterson Memorial Site, Soweto, Johannesburg. Photo: 123rf.com

By listening to their difficulties, their fears of imminent arrest, their doubts about having children, their problems in handling the violence both of the state and anarchic youth, he was able to encourage a spirituality that both discerned the signs of the times and helped them develop a moral framework within which they could actively resist apartheid. At the Mayfair Priory praying the Magnificat was almost a bidding prayer as each in their different ways was in the business of ‘pulling down the mighty from their thrones’.
For Albert apartheid was ‘sin made visible’. I can hear him saying it now in his strong Cape Town accent. I can also hear his gentle humour coming through hair-raising stories of things nearly going wrong. He was a wonderful companion and pastor. In 1983 he was elected Master-General of the Dominican Order by his confrères.
His response was to request that he be allowed to decline so that he could remain in South Africa and fulfil his commitment there. This was put to the vote and agreed so that he had the shortest time in office of any Dominican Master-General.
At the time of his election Albert was working in the Johannesburg Institute for Contextual Theology (ICT) begun in 1981, a small ecumenical group that included Rev. Frank Chikane, later the general-secretary of the South African Council of Churches who became President Mbeki’s Chef de Cabinet. The name Contextual Theology did little to protect it from the repression which was certain had it been called the Institute for Liberation Theology.

In June 1985 ICT published and distributed the Kairos document, a radical biblical and theological comment on the political crisis in South Africa and a challenge to the Churches to take sides, signed initially by over 150 mainly black Christians.
The South African National Security State was taken completely unawares. Many more signatures followed publication and as the document was read out in township churches there was a palpable sense that congregations felt ‘this is what we believe’.
Sweden concluded that leaving support for the ANC solely in the hands of the Communist Party of Soviet Union and the East German Stasi bode ill for the future and was secretly getting money into South Africa to boost non-violent forms of resistance.
Much the same group as the ICT, including Albert and the great Dutch Reformed Church dissident pastor, Rev. Beyers Naudé, performed the invaluable and unusual role within South Africa of guiding this funding of the internal movement of the ANC whose base was outside South Africa in Lusaka, Zambia and to a lesser degree in Maputo, Mozambique. For example one of the major requests of the ‘Christian ANC’ group was funding to strengthen leadership amongst black youth. At the time arrests of youths for ‘necklacing’, that is killing suspected collaborators with flaming tyres around the neck, was decapitating the youth movement and creating anarchy in the townships.
Albert saw the movement against apartheid bringing together the different races and Christian denominations as a glimpse of the ‘kingdom of heaven’. He saw no conflict between faith and political commitment and there was something beautiful about the way he and those around him lived out that integrated vision. We should learn from him. (Photo: Babelio – 123rf.com)

Ian Linden
Professor at St Mary’s University,
Strawberry Hill, London.

Ghana. Women and Climate Change.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

In harmony with Pope Francis’ call in Laudato Si’ to “care for our common home”, the Sisters of the Holy Cross have a long-standing commitment to ecological sustainability and systemic change across the globe. Among the Congregation’s initiatives to care for creation and God’s people is SOAR (Sisters Organizing and Advancing Recycling), a project launched by Sister Comfort Arthur.
She explains the initiative.

In Ghana, you can easily find water bottles and rubber sachets on the street. The polybag or plastic bags that we usually use are causing a problem in the country. Our beaches are filled with them. In terms of the gutters, our drains are also being blocked. Because of that, we have flood issues every year.

As a child, we used to have food served in plantain leaves rather than plastic bottles, bags, and other things. So, when the food is eaten and the leaves thrown away, the leaves can decompose to enrich the soil. It is only recently that plastic bags have become common in Ghana.
And look at what has happened! Even food, when it’s hot, is now saved in plastic bags. Can you imagine the chemical composition of plastic
and its effects?

I kept reflecting on what could be done because of the plastic waste being accumulated every day, creating a severe issue in my country.
Not only does this plastic waste deteriorate our environment, but, as I noted above, the plastic waste also clogs the drainage system
and causes floods.

The stagnant water causes water-borne diseases to spread more rapidly, and it also breeds more mosquitos that claim lives through malaria. And this is only the beginning of the impact of climate change in my country.

People can see plastic waste everywhere along the roadside, on the farm, and in the fields. Can you imagine what the farmers are struggling with? On the beaches, in our rivers and oceans, all life, both human and animal, is truly suffering.

Ghana is now filled with plastics. And we only recycle less than 2%! And so, I ask myself what can be done? As Sisters of the Holy Cross, we are committed to fostering models of development that care for our environment. We have considered how we can help the situation, clean up our country, save lives, and reduce our impact on climate change?

This is where the SOAR program came in. SOAR stands for Sisters Organizing and Advancing Recycling. The SOAR started as a pilot program in 2017 in Kasoa, located on Ghana’s southern coast.

Our mission is to utilize an integrated approach to waste management services, educate God’s people, care for the environment, and support the under-served.

Our vision is to be a leader in recycling, education, and action in Ghana. People are involved in our schools and parishes, especially women.

We were inspired by Laudato Si’ so that even if we cannot change the whole world at once, we can start from a small corner in Ghana. And hopefully, that light may grow and shine in other parts of the world, since climate change is a global concern.

We started by educating the public in the church. We talked to the parishioners after Mass about the importance of caring for our Common Home. We then provided recycling bins in the parishes and encouraged young members to fill them with plastics from home and around the church area. We didn’t stop there.

We then moved to schools and educated students, faculty, and staff about their role in making a difference and inspiring their family members to do the same as far as plastic waste is concerned. Also, there is global concern about what is happening in terms of climate change. Recycling bins were then placed outside the schools to collect plastics from home and the school compound.

Again, we moved ahead. We used the FM radio stations and other social media outlets to educate the general public. We knew we couldn’t do this work alone and so we decided to dedicate time and resources to organizing volunteers and individuals to help us collect the plastic waste. It was interesting how many women bought into the idea and started collecting a massive amount of plastic waste.

We paid the women for their hard work. Of course, we have to motivate them. This money supports them and their families to put something on their table and bring a smile to their families. Our aim and primary objective to help clean the environment then grew to include employment and job opportunities for women.

Five years after its humble beginning, SOAR is reaching incredible heights. We started with seven collection points in Kasoa. Today, the program boasts 33 collection hubs at six parishes and 11 schools in three cities – Kasoa, Cape Coast and Takoradi.

Many of the schools – where 3,600 students volunteer with the program – hold friendly competitions to see which can collect the most plastic waste. The students are enthusiastic. They take home what they learn about environmental issues and personal responsibility, sharing this new knowledge with family, friends and neighbours.

Along these years, we have aligned our mission with that of other climate change advocates and supporters. We know that when we heal the earth, which is the only home we have, we heal our neighbour. And when we heal our neighbour, we heal our relationships.

Blessed Fr. Ambrosoli. A Great Gift .

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

We have asked mons. John Baptist Odama, Archbishop of Gulu in Uganda the meaning of the beatification of Father Joseph Ambrosoli.

The beatification of Father Joseph Ambrosoli is a blessing not only for the Archdiocese of Gulu, Uganda, where he spent most of his missionary life, nor for Africa alone, the continent he loved deeply, but also for the entire Church and the entire human race. Father Ambrosoli’s life reflected the love of Christ.
And we know that Christ’s love is salvation for humanity from all kinds of evil, especially the spiritual evil we call sin.
He prayed hard to be liberated from selfishness, which is the evil that dominates our world, leading it far away from the dream God has for it. Even as a young man, Father Ambrosoli prayed that Jesus would free him from selfishness, and the love of Christ moulded him in such a way that he became a-man-for-others.

Mons. John Baptist Odama, Archbishop of Gulu.

A typical prayer of his was: “O God, deliver me from myself”. A prayer that may seem rather strange to many. Correctly understood, however, it is a splendid invocation addressed to God. And God made him truly free from himself and totally devoted to others. It is a prayer we should all pray always, if we want to live our lives like Jesus Christ, who from being God became the ‘servant’ of all.
By beatifying him, the Church wants to present Father Ambrosoli to us as an inspiration to imitate Christ, who lived and died for us all.
In our diocese of Gulu, we already boast two other blessed, Jildo Irwa and Daudi Okello: two young catechists who were killed in the early 20^th Century and whom the Church today venerates as martyrs.
These three splendid people are not just a monopoly of the people of Gulu, simply because they are from here. Instead, they are a blessing
for the whole world.

Father Ambrosoli lived the values of the Gospel and practised what Jesus came to proclaim: salvation. His service to the people was nothing but ‘healing’ and ‘salvation’, especially for the poorest and most abandoned. He used to repeat: “I must love the poor”. He gave himself a slogan: “God is love and I am his servant for the poor and for the suffering”. He really was healing and salvation for many. And that was an extraordinary blessing for us and our people.
By proclaiming him blessed, the Church offers us a sure example to imitate. Through his life, he can teach us to be truly human, that is, people who can take interest in and care for others.
Father Ambrosoli was a simple man, humble and pure in his intentions. He served people with total dedication. No one was afraid of him. He was not at all proud, although he could have been, being one of the best doctors Uganda had.
Although he was the hospital’s head doctor, he never drew attention to himself, to the point that some people hardly noticed him. A warder from Gulu had brought a patient to the hospital in Kalongo. As was his wont, doctor Ambrosoli came and started passing between the beds, greeting the patients. After a while, the warder asked a nurse what time the doctor would arrive. “But the doctor has already been here”, she replied. “He even greeted you. But you can join him in his office at any time”. Fr. Ambrosoli was of a disarming simplicity.

I was assigned to the diocese of Gulu as archbishop in January 1999, 12 years after father Ambrosoli’s death. During my pastoral visits to the new diocese, people did nothing but speak well of him to me. They had no doubts: the ‘great doctor’ had been a very special person in all respects. Therefore, I decided to make an investigation and gather precise information about him, especially first-hand accounts of his life.
I thought that, if certain gospel values had indeed been lived by him in a truly exceptional way, they deserved to be made known to more and more people, so that, by imitating him, they would be helped to change their lives. Not only that: their faith would increase and their love for one another would improve. The best way to proclaim the gospel is a truly evangelical life. Dr Ambrosoli’s life really appeared to be such.

The initial work was undertaken by Father Joseph Okumu, who acted as local postulator [the person who guides a cause for beatification or canonization through the judicial processes required – editor’s note]. His work was then passed on to a postulator in Rome, who continued the work by interviewing all the Comboni missionaries who had known Father Ambrosoli closely. All this meticulous work was then collected in a voluminous document, called Positio in Latin: a true examination of the whole life of the ‘great doctor’, trying to show how he had really lived an evangelical life in a heroic way, following the example of Jesus. Father Ambrosoli had not only read and heard the Gospel, but had put it into practice.When, as a bishop, I ordain a deacon, handing him the book of the Gospels, I tell him: “Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you have become. Believe what you read, teach what you believe and practice what you teach”. From the day of his diaconate, Father Ambrosoli did nothing but this: living the gospel. He was filled with the love of Jesus, so much so that he felt he had to share it. That is why he kept saying: “I must love those who are not loved”.
I want to repeat what I have already said: the beatification of Father Ambrosoli is an inspiration to us all. Blessed Giuseppe Ambrosoli is nothing less than a gift that God gives us through his Church. My wish is that we all learn from him to love as he loved.

Mozambique. Close to the People Despite Everything.

Saturday, 1 October 2022 8:00

During the night, an armed group attacks the mission of Chipene, a small village on the border between the provinces of Cabo Delgado and Nampula in northern Mozambique. Sister Maria De Coppi, a Comboni Sister, was killed. She had lived in the country for 59 years. “I experienced beautiful and difficult times in this country: first the colonial times, then the war followed by peace and, today, unfortunately, a time of terrorism”.

They arrived at the mission around nine in the evening on pickup trucks and started shooting and throwing grenades. One commando entered the nuns’ house, shooting at everything they saw. In the shooting, Sister Maria is hit by a bullet in the head. Another group of rebels set fire to the hospital and the nearby church.

The raid ended around 11 pm, after about two hours. Only much later did the government officials arrive. Rebel groups had been active in the area for some time. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. Sister Maria De Coppi, an 83-year-old Comboni missionary Sister, had lived for 59 years in Mozambique having gone there in 1963 while still very young.
During the years of mission and services offered to the local population, Sister Maria had also become a Mozambican citizen and she felt “part of this land and this people in the midst of whom I lived my life”. She said: “I have experienced beautiful and difficult times in this country: first the colonial times, then war followed by a time of peace and, today, unfortunately, a time of terrorism”. She continues: “The last two years have been very tough. In the north of the country, there is a war over gas fields and people are suffering and fleeing: in my parish, there are 400 families who come from the war zone. Then came the cyclone. Finally, last year the drought lasted for a long time”.

The parish of Chipene, in the diocese of Nacala, Nampula Province, in the north of the country extends for 3 thousand square kilometres and has no asphalt roads. The population is plagued by hunger, ignorance, war, and floods, with an average life expectancy of 40 years. The parish hosts displaced people fleeing clashes between the Rwandan army and the military on the one hand and armed groups fighting the government on the other, and has schools, dormitories, and other recently inaugurated facilities. At the time of the attack, about eighty boys and girls living at the mission managed to escape.
The hope and testimony of Jesus in the poorest places on earth have always been the characteristics that accompanied Sister Maria throughout her life: “I try to be close to the people above all by listening to what they tell me. Despite material poverty, listening to others remains a great gift, it shows you respect their dignity”.
The bishop of the Diocese of Nacala, Alberto Vieira recalled: “Sister Maria had repeatedly denounced the war, exploitation and terrorism in Mozambique and the suffering of the people”.
The community of Chipene had four nuns and two ‘fidei donum’ priests, who miraculously escaped the attack.

Al-Shabab
The province of Nampula has been affected by the ongoing insurrection in the neighbouring province of Cabo Delgado. Fighting erupted in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado region in 2017 when a group calling itself al-Shabab – unrelated to the Somali group of the same name – attacked towns in the region. After the rebels seized the city of Palma in early 2021, troops from neighbouring countries arrived in the country to help the Mozambican army.

About 2,000 soldiers from eight Southern African Development Community (SADC) nations, known as the SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM), were deployed on July 15, 2021. Rwanda, a non-SADC member, had previously sent 1,000 soldiers to Cabo Delgado, after an agreement with Mozambique. The insurgents are known for their brutal methods, including burning villages and beheading civilians, and at least 4,000 people have died in the conflict. The International Organization for Migration estimates that over 900,000 people have had to flee their homes since the start of the conflict.

Buried in Caparica cemetery
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Southern Africa issued a Sept. 7 statement expressing its ‘deep sorrow’ over the murder of the Sister and said they were increasingly concerned about the safety of priests and nuns in the area.“There is nothing one can say at this moment to console you except to assure you that we grieve with you”, the statement said.

“At this challenging time, we try to hang on to the words of Jesus, who promises those who mourn while believing in him that they shall be comforted”, the letter continued.
They said Sister De Coppi’s life, like so many others before her, has been “brutally terminated out of greed and intolerance of freedom of belief”.
The bishops’ conference added the nun died “a martyr’s death”, noting that over six decades, the nun never abandoned the poor and destitute.
On 9 September last, Sister Maria was buried in Caparica cemetery east of Nampula where many Comboni sisters and brothers rest, having carried out their mission in this land so rich and complex. (C.C.)

The Birthplace of the Rainbow.

Saturday, 1 October 2022 8:00

Victoria Falls is one of the best known and most spectacular sights in Africa. Its history is lost in the mists of time. We visited this majestic and mysterious birthplace of the rainbow

A 1,737- meter-long crack in the ground blocks the way to the Zambezi, which falls with an impressive drop of up to 107 meters. As it reaches the localities of Victoria Falls and Livingstone, the two border towns that mark the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, the Zambezi, the fourth-longest river in Africa opens up to become almost two kilometres wide, embracing the entire extension of the falls. The grandiose flowing face of the falls is interrupted at two points by the natural watersheds of two large islands, Cataract Island and Livingstone Island, which are never submerged by water even during floods, as evidenced by the abundant deciduous vegetation covering them.

The face is almost entirely visible from the Zimbabwean side, along a scenic path that runs along the precipice and allows you to admire the four main sections of the falls. The first is Devil’s Cataract, which is the lowest at 74 meters high, and nevertheless impressive; it is in fact the only one that, on the Zimbabwe side, can be viewed from a central point thanks to a flight of steps that descend into the gorge.
After Cataract Island comes the highest and largest stretch, the Main Falls, perhaps the most spectacular and photographed section of Victoria Falls. Rainbow Falls follows, which takes its name from the singular phenomenon of the perennial rainbow (sometimes even two appear) that dominates the falls, originating from the refraction of sunlight in the droplets of nebulized water, a phenomenon to which the falls owe their ancient (and little-known) name of shungu na mutitima (or chongo na mutitima), which in the Tonga language means ‘the place of the rainbow’. Lastly, there is The Eastern Cataract, the only section visible from the front from Zambia.

Millions of years ago
The history of the falls was written by the river on the rocks. Millions of millions of years ago, an eruption formed a vast base of basalt rock between today’s Zimbabwe and Zambia, which takes the name of Batoka Plateau, having cracked at the current Victoria Falls. After the great Ice Age, the rise in temperatures and the consequent return of rains gave rise to innumerable watercourses on the African continent, one of which was the primitive Zambezi.

The very powerful winds following the thaw created formations of giant transversal dunes which, together with the lifting of the earth’s crust at the edges of the Kalahari-Zimbabwe fault, blocked the course of many rivers which, instead of continuing south, diverted some towards the Atlantic and others to the east.
The latter went to fill the vast depression of the Kalahari, forming that enormous prehistoric lake called Lake Magkadigkadi (whose remains are still seen in Botswana in the great saline area of Sowa and the Magkadigkadi Pan), which until 20,000 years ago occupied a large part of Southern Africa. The rivers, however, carried a large amount of sediment, which raised the bottom of the lake until it dried up about 10,000 years ago.

The Zambezi began to flow on the same sedimentary rocks that had decreed the death of the lake and at the same time filled the fracture in the basalt. It gradually eroded the rocks, finding its way to the ocean along the slight natural depression that had followed the fracture of the plateau. Here, due to the abrupt change of direction of the water, erosion became more intense, and in the following epochs, the soft sedimentary rock was carried away up to the deepest and hardest basalt, a hundred meters deeper. The different colours of the sedimentary layers eroded by the water are clearly visible from many viewpoints overlooking the gorges.

Discovery by explorers
Compared to this story, the fact that David Livingstone was, in November 1855, the first European to discover the falls seems an insignificant detail. But it was probably thanks to him that today we know them for what they are. They had already been reported in 1715 on a map by the cartographer Nicolas de Fer (the result of the stories of local populations).However, the first European eyewitness account was that of Livingstone, led by the Makalolo (inhabitants of the region at the time) to what they called Mosi oa tunya (‘The smoke that thunders’). “Nothing in England can match such a spectacle of such beauty and majesty that it seems reserved for angels”, noted the explorer, who named the falls in honour of the sovereign of England.

The story of the falls will continue with Cecil John Rhodes, an entrepreneur and politician in her Majesty’s colonies, and his dream of uniting all British possessions through a single railway. The project led to the erection of the iron bridge over the Zambezi in 1905, an extraordinary engineering work that, more than a hundred years after its inauguration, still fulfils the task of ensuring transit between Zimbabwe and Zambia at a strategic point. A 2005 appraisal established that with simple maintenance works the bridge could last another hundred years.
The volume of the river varies considerably during the year, due to the alternation of dry seasons (generally from May to October) and the rainy season (November-April). It is completely normal that at the end of the dry season the rivers reach the minimum flow and consequently also the waterfalls originating from them. The hydrometric levels of the river have certified a record level of flooding in the river in recent months, which had not been recorded for over forty years.

Gianni Bauce/Africa

Africa. The Gas Routes .

Saturday, 1 October 2022 8:00

Out of 55 African countries, only 18 produce gas, although 87 per cent of African production is supplied by three countries: Algeria, Nigeria, and Egypt.

The war in Ukraine has suddenly put Africa in the foreground, with the wheat crisis, but also with the opportunities created for its energy sources, mainly gas. The EU hopes to draw on this, as it seeks to become independent from Russian gas, and for this reason, in mid-May, it launched an energy plan (REPowerEU) in which, in addition to renewables, gas maintains a strategic role. This situation has restored centrality to the Mediterranean, which, as it looked towards the East, had been marginalized. As a crossroads of civilizations, the Mediterranean is the new gas route for Europe, with gas pipelines or methane tankers carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG).

A severely unbalanced market
Africa did not wait for the Ukrainian crisis to exploit its gas, even if in the world context its importance remains modest.
Africa possesses, as of early 2021, 6.9 per cent of the world’s proven gas reserves, against Russia alone with 19.9 per cent and the CIS countries (Confederation of Independent States) with 30.1 per cent while Turkmenistan alone owns 7.2 per cent of world reserves, more than the US which has 6.7 per cent, and the EU with 0.2 per cent (Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2021).

Huge tanker gas carrier at the berth of a power station on the island Malta. 123rf.com

The gas market is therefore highly unbalanced: two countries, the United States (23.7 per cent) and Russia (16.6 per cent), produce 40.3 per cent of total world production. The most economically developed countries (OECD) own 10.8 per cent of reserves, produce 38.4 per cent of gas and consume 46 per cent, compared to 89.2 per cent (reserves), 61.6 per cent (production) and 54 per cent (consumption) of non-OECD countries.

The more prominent countries
Currently, the more prominent African countries in the gas market are: Algeria, in 10th place with 2.1 per cent of world production and 1.2 per cent of reserves; Egypt in 14th place with respectively 1.5 per cent and 1.1 per cent; Nigeria in 16th place, with 1.3 per cent and 2.9 per cent respectively; and Libya (0.3 per cent and 0.8 per cent).
Three out of four are also Mediterranean countries, hence the interest of multinationals such as the Italian Eni or the French Total, which are also present in other African countries. Out of 55 African countries, only 18 produce gas, although 87 per cent of African production is supplied by three countries: Algeria, Nigeria and Egypt.

Map of gas pipelines across Mediterranean and Sahara. CC BY-SA 3.0/ Mahmoudb1953

There are five medium-sized producers: Libya, Angola, Mozambique, Tunisia, and the Ivory Coast. It should be noted that African gas is, in proportion, destined more and more for the consumption of families and businesses, for the production of electricity and less and less for export.
While in 1970 only two countries were gas exporters (Algeria and Libya), today there are seven African exporting countries: Algeria (58 per cent), Nigeria (28 per cent), Mozambique (5 per cent), Libya (4.5 per cent), Angola (2 percent), Egypt (1.5 per cent). Europe, even before the Ukrainian war, was the main source of outlet for African gas with 62 per cent, 43 per cent through pipelines and 57 per cent by ship in the form of LNG, while only 10 per cent of African gas is destined for Africa (data relating to 2020, source BP).

The other strategic challenge
Algeria is not only the largest producer of African gas, but also the country best equipped for transportation, relying on three gas pipelines linking it to Europe, via Spain and Italy, and on natural gas liquefaction units (LNG) and ports. Of the two gas pipelines that connect them to Spain, Algeria has suspended transport through the one that passes through Morocco, the GME (Gas Maghreb Europe), following the breakdown of diplomatic relations and the increase in tensions between the two countries due to the Western Sahara issue.
Algiers committed itself, even before the Ukrainian crisis, to boosting transport through the gas pipeline that links it directly to Spain (Medgaz) and the one that reaches Sicily via Tunisia (TransMed). We should also remember Libya and the Greenstream gas pipeline that reaches Gela in Sicily but which, given the tension in the country, is not a candidate for expansion for the time being. The Algerian network originates in the Sahara, and this brings it closer to Africa’s largest gas reserve, that of the Niger delta in Nigeria.

Natural gas pipeline construction work. 123rf.com

The country is engaged in two pipeline projects, still on paper. The first leads through Niger to Algeria and the European market. The second passes under the sea along the coast of West Africa and is expected to make landfall in Morocco; it would be an extension of the gas pipeline that currently carries gas from Nigeria off the coast of Ghana, serving Benin and Togo. Given the costs, investments and time required for implementation, it is unlikely that both projects can be implemented. For this reason, the economic-diplomatic battle between Algeria and Morocco accelerated due to the invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, on 25 July, Algeria’s state-owned oil company, Sonatrach, announced three major oil and gas discoveries in the Sahara desert.
The first discovery is a gas condensate located in two different reservoirs which were found following the drilling of an exploration well in the Illizi Basin, located at the border with Libya. According to the company, the flow rates recorded by the two reservoirs amounted to 513,000 cubic metres/day of gas during the test phase.
Another discovery of crude oil was made in partnership with Italian oil company Eni in the northern region of the Berkine Basin. ‘During the production test, the well produced 1,300 barrels/ day of oil and 51,000 cm/ day of associated gas’, said Sonatrach. The two discoveries are located close to existing oil and gas facilities.

The eastern Mediterranean has been shown, more than a decade ago, to be rich in gas. The dispute between Turkey and Greece over the delimitation of their respective exclusive economic zones is preventing gas research projects and the passage of a gas pipeline, which could also affect Cyprus, whose northern part has been occupied by Ankara since 1974, and Israel. Thus, the EastMed gas pipeline project that could carry gas from Israel via Cyprus to Greece and to Italy remains on paper for the moment. In the meantime, Turkey has become a strategic gas distribution pole for both Russia and Europe, and this also explains the role that Ankara plays in the Ukrainian crisis.

Gas and ecological transition
Faced with the challenge of gas for Europe and Africa, the climate dimension is placed on the back burner. The Africans want to take advantage of the upcoming COP27 climate conference, to be held in November in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, to take stock of the possibilities of exploiting their energy sources. In particular, they ask that gas be considered as an element of the ecological transition and that therefore Africa can take advantage of it longer than expected to bridge the gap with the West. We may take for example the electricity grids, ready to receive renewable energy, something still largely lacking in much of Africa. As for Europe, the Russian gas crisis has revived fossil and nuclear sources. Among the victims of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we must now also count those caused by the abandonment of more stringent policies to combat climate change. (Open Photo: Gas storage spheres tank in petrochemical plant in sunset. 123rf.com)

Luciano Ardesi/MO

World Mission Sunday. “You shall be my witnesses”.

Saturday, 1 October 2022 8:00

This year World Mission Day will be celebrated on Sunday, on 23 October, focused on the theme: “You shall be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8).

In his message, the Pope reflected on three foundations of the life and mission of every disciple: “You shall be my witnesses”, “to the ends of the earth” and “you shall receive the power of the Holy Spirit”.
The first, he said, is “the call of every Christian to bear witness to Christ,” calling it the “heart of Jesus’ teaching to the disciples.”
Pope Francis said Christ was the first to be sent to proclaim, as the Father’s missionary and as His “faithful witness.” “Every Christian is called to be a missionary and witness to Christ. And the Church, the community of Christ’s disciples, has no other mission than that of bringing the Gospel to the entire world by bearing witness to Christ. To evangelize is the very identity of the Church.”

123rf.com

The Pope said each baptized Christian is called to carry out the Church’s mission in a communitarian way, even in the ordinary activities of our daily lives.Christians, he added, are sent on mission by the Church in Christ’s name, and never under our own initiative. He noted that Jesus sent the disciples out in pairs, since “the witness of Christians to Christ is primarily communitarian in nature.”
“The disciples are urged to live their personal lives in a missionary key: they are sent by Jesus to the world not only to carry out, but also and above all to live the mission entrusted to them; not only to bear witness, but also and above all to be witnesses of Christ.”Missionaries, said Pope Francis, proclaim the Good News of God’s salvation in Christ, not their own abilities or persuasive qualities.
“In evangelization,” he added, “the example of a Christian life and the proclamation of Christ are inseparable. One is at the service of the other.”Pope Francis went on to consider a second foundation of the Christian mission: “to the ends of the earth.”

He said the early disciples gradually expanded the scope of their mission, and lived an image of the Church “going forth” and guided by divine Providence, not the desire to proselytize.
As they faced persecution, early Christians fled their homelands, taking the Gospel with them to new countries, something which happens in our own day.Pope Francis added that the phrase “to the ends of the earth” also challenges modern Christians to proclaim Christ to those who have still not encountered Him.
“Christ’s Church will continue to “go forth” towards new geographical, social and existential horizons, towards “borderline” places and human situations, in order to bear witness to Christ and His love to men and women of every people, culture and social status.”

The Pope then turned to the third foundation of mission: “You will receive power from the Holy Spirit”.He said the Spirit broke the bonds of the Apostles’ fear in the first days after Jesus’ death and resurrection.
The Spirit prompted St. Peter to give his missionary address to people in Jerusalem, as recounted in Acts, kicking off an “an era in which the disciples of Jesus evangelized the world.”
Pope Francis added that Christians are only able to bear “full and genuine witness to Christ the Lord without the Spirit’s inspiration and assistance. “All Christ’s missionary disciples are called to recognize the essential importance of the Spirit’s work, to dwell in his presence daily and to receive His unfailing strength and guidance. Indeed, it is precisely when we feel tired, unmotivated or confused that we should remember to have recourse to the Holy Spirit in prayer.”
Prayer, said the Pope, plays an important role in the missionary life, since it “allows us to be refreshed and strengthened by the Spirit as the inexhaustible divine source of renewed energy and joy in sharing Christ’s life with others.”

Pope Francis said that “In light of this action of the Holy Spirit, we also want to consider the missionary anniversaries to be celebrated in 2022.”
The first is the 400th anniversary since the establishment of the Sacred Congregation De Propaganda Fide, now the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
This year also marks the 200th anniversary of the foundation of Society for the Propagation of the Faith by a young French woman, Pauline Jaricot. He pointed out: “ The Congregation proved to be crucial for setting the Church’s evangelizing mission truly free from interference by worldly powers, in order to establish those local Churches.”
Pope St. Paul VI granted the Society the status of “Pontifical” 100 years ago, along with the Association of the Holy Childhood and the Society of Saint Peter the Apostle.
Pope Francis prayed that the local Churches will “find in these Societies a sure means for fostering the missionary spirit among the People of God.”
In conclusion, the Pope expressed his dream to see a “completely missionary Church, and a new era of missionary activity among Christian communities.”

Devin Watkins/VN

Agroforestry. Life back to the land.

Saturday, 1 October 2022 8:00

Two projects, systems of agroforestry, are helping bring life back to the land in Central America

Rainforests are the most productive ecosystems on the planet, and yet we take the opposite approach when growing food. We slash and burn vast areas of forest to make way for cattle and monoculture crops that require billions of gallons of water every year — alongside the use of pesticides, herbicides and genetically modified hybrids.

A generation of farmers are abandoning their land in desperation, fleeing to over-crowded cities and leaving their once-cherished land depleted. Thanks to the work of two projects, however, systems of agroforestry are helping bring life back to the land.

In the village of Tatin, near Livingston in Guatemala, Contour Lines has been revolutionising the agriculture system in the area by planting rows of fruit trees, legumes and annuals along the contours of the hills. The root systems help prevent rainwater runoff and soil erosion and “build terraces of fertility over time”, the project says. The plants also sequester carbon and provide the community with a wider variety of food. So far almost 317,00 trees have been planted across 115 villages.

Juan, a 23-year-old farmer and a member of the Q’eqchi’ ethnic group, told Resurgence & Ecologist: “Before this project began, I was going to leave. But when young people start seeing projects like this happen in their communities, they might decide to stay. Our staple crops, such as corn, aren’t growing like they used to. People my age want to leave the village and find work in the cities instead.”

Flory Coc, aged 43, has worked on farms her entire life. She told me how the introduction of food forests has transformed farming as she’s known it: “The women in Guatemala, especially my Q’eqchi’ group, are engaged in cultivating the land, and this is very beneficial to us because we are deeply connected to the land,” she said.

“I can assure you that women are the power behind cultivating food… Growing food forests makes our lives a lot easier because it involves less physical labour. We are currently trying to look for an alternative solution. If we are dedicated to only one crop as a monoculture, it can fail due to lack of fertiliser, which is expensive. In using this method, the earth loses its nutrients. We are also forced to use insecticides.
Through the food forest project, we are changing and encouraging the growth of more plants, which also feeds us as a community.
And we can use the same plot of land each time. The whole community is part of this transition.”

Mike Hands is a tropical ecologist and the founder and director of the Inga Foundation in neighbouring Honduras. He has worked closely with local communities to combat deforestation by popularising an agroforestry system known as inga alley cropping.

It was a difficult experience watching entire forests go up in smoke during field studies in Africa during the 1980s as farmers used slash-and-burn techniques to plant crops. Hands recalled seeing “vast areas of forest being replaced by nothing but grass”. Today, roughly 7% of the world’s population uses slash-and-burn. The fires release the carbon stored by the trees back into the atmosphere at alarming rates.

“In the humid tropics there are barely any sustainable agricultures. This was the problem I was trying to address in the eighties. Why was this so?” Hands asked. “You’ve got the most biologically successful ecosystem in the rainforest and yet people are turning to slash-and-burn. It doesn’t work. It maintains people in poverty.”

The agroforestry system Hands helps promote is based on the use of inga, which is grown as a companion plant alongside other crops such as cacao and coffee. Inga “ticks away in the background and can be something that farmers sell”, Hands explained.

Since inga is a nitrogen-fixer and fruiting tree, it provides nutrients for the soil, protects roots, and acts as natural pest control. It also provides firewood, and this slops villagers from encroaching into the forests.

“For the first time, people were able to grow crops again,” Hands said. “This was a breakthrough.” He added: “We told the farmers that we could give them everything they need, but even so they would have to wait two years before getting a successful harvest. But even knowing that, they still wanted the system.”

Pilot schemes have now demonstrated the resilience of inga alley cropping in the face of storms – including climatic El Niño events.
The inga alleys have proved to be more resistant to changing weather patterns.

“El Niño ripped every peak of conventional cropping on those slopes and was followed by nine weeks of drought, from which most conventional harvests on slopes failed. The only crops that survived were in the inga alleys,” Hands said.

Seeing the success of their neighbours’ plots, many other families are turning to the technique. “We are now witnessing a critical mass of families that are spreading on their own. We now have around 700 families implementing inga alleys,” Hands said.

With the help of funding from organisations such as Kew Gardens and the Eden Project, the foundation currently houses over 75,000 seedlings, including cacao, rambutan, mahogany, and of course inga.

With an agricultural system collapsing under climate breakdown, food shortages are an inevitable part of diversity loss. The work of these two projects shows that using agroforestry techniques to replace monocultures and slash-and-burn can provide a robust and resilient solution that helps nourish the earth and feed mouths.
(Photo: 123rf.com)

Yasmin Dahnoun
Resurgence & Ecologist

Industrial-scale piracy.

Saturday, 1 October 2022 8:00

Foreign industries of transformation of fresh fish into fish meal and oil for export to European, Asian and American countries flourish on the coast.

The entire informal fishing chain in Senegal employs more than 600,000 people, contributing 3.5% to the gross domestic product. According to Aliou Ba, a Senegalese activist of Greenpeace Africa, fishing is a crucial sector both for socio-economic stability and for the food security of the populations of the entire region: “The local fish market, however, is now poorly supplied and very expensive, due to the over-exploitation and depletion of fish resources perpetrated by large foreign fishing boats. At the same time, the usually foreign industries of transformation of fresh fish into fish meal and oil for export to European, Asian and American countries flourish on the coast”.
These products, increasingly in demand on world markets, are used as feed in intensive farming of animals or other more valuable fish – such as, for example, salmon in Norway and Sweden – as ingredients in the cosmetic industry and in the manufacture of food for pets. “Senegalese fishermen, like their colleagues from neighbouring countries, are experiencing a dramatic situation”, Aliou ruled.

The entire informal fishing chain in Senegal employs more than 600,000 people. (Photo: M.Cattani)

A report published in June 2021 by the Changing Markets and Greenpeace Foundation estimates the fish caught each year off the western coast of Africa and grabbed by foreign processing industries, at over 500,000 tons. Natural resources that, the Report specifies, could feed 33 million inhabitants of the African region.
According to Greenpeace’s observations and complaints, the main culprits of industrial fishing in these waters are European, Chinese, Turkish, and Russian countries. Fleets that, according to Aliou Ba, “often operate thanks to licenses granted by the Senegalese government in a non-transparent way, in spite of the decision, in 2012, to freeze all new fishing concessions to try to curb the over-exploitation of fish stocks”.
In May 2020, the National Coalition against the granting of illegal licenses, which brings together the major players involved in the sector, wrote an open letter to the President of the Republic Macky Sall to denounce the attempt by 52 foreign companies to obtain illegal permits. Added to this are illegal fishing boats flying the Senegalese flag using borrowed names or mixed companies as a cover to circumvent fishing bans in areas intended exclusively for local use.
“It is a context in which it is not easy for African states to control, define real responsibilities and sanction harmful and illegal practices”, comments Aliou. This is why Greenpeace Africa has for some time been unsuccessfully asking the Dakar government to publish the complete list of national and international fishing vessels active in Senegalese waters. An opening in this sense was aired last year by Macky Sall himself, who, following protests from sector unions, had also promised to organize an ad hoc presidential council. Words which, so far, no deeds have followed.

The local fish market, however, is now poorly supplied and very expensive. (Photo: L. Doretti)

In April 2022, neighbouring Mauritania, on the other hand, succumbed to pressure from Greenpeace and other associations in defence of informal fishing by joining the international program Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI). A decision that Aliou Ba hopes will soon be followed by Senegal as well. “To solve the problem of the plundering of our seas, a common regional strategy must be implemented which focuses on shared surveillance and regulation of the entire sector”.
For Aliou Ba, strategic resources – such as yaboy, a pelagic sardinella at risk of extinction, particularly used in the processing industries to manufacture oil and fishmeal, which, in addition to being rich in iron, zinc, vitamin A and B12, contributes to 75 % of the animal protein intake of the inhabitants of Senegal – should be protected and managed in a more forward-looking way by African governments, especially in a regional and global context destabilized by conflicts and climate change. “The erosion of the coasts and of the seabed, which also causes the destruction of the infrastructure and homes of informal fishermen, is violent in Senegal and is exacerbating the numerous criticalities that threaten artisanal fishing”, concludes Aliou Ba. (Open Photo: 123rf.com)
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Senegal. The Colours of the Pirogues.

Saturday, 1 October 2022 8:00

The fishing sector is crucial both for socio-economic stability and for the food security of the populations of the entire region. Fishing vessels from Europe, China, Turkey, and Russia are endangering the livelihoods of many local fishermen. We accompanied some fishermen on a fishing night.

In Soumbédioune, a colourful harbour nestled between the rocks of Medina, one of the oldest districts of Dakar, the bustle is incessant. Lines of women carry crates of freshly disembarked fish on their heads towards the stalls of the adjacent market, while a crowd of kids hops from one pirogue to another, sewing up nets and preparing lines, hooks, baits, and floats for the ‘grands frères’ who are waiting to set sail.
It is close to sunset. Today the sea is an oily expanse that placidly reflects the glint of the sun glittering on the surface.
Nearly perfect weather conditions herald a crowded and perhaps less risky fishing trip than usual.

The fleet of ‘informal fishermen’ of Soumbédioune.

Sitting on the only and well-used bench or on polystyrene crates resting on the ground, their backs against the wall of a dilapidated building overlooking the beach, young and very young sailors who have recently returned to port take turns with their mates on the evening shift.
They stare at the ocean as if they could not leave it even after returning, safe and sound, to the land. Whenever a boat appears in the bay, pointing its bow towards the cliff to return to port, the boys jump up and quickly set out the logs to slide the hull over the sand and pebbles of the shore. Everyone participates, all together, in helping their companions to bring their catch to shore.
A human chain of mighty arms, tense muscles glistening with sweat, pulls the pirogues from the shore to the beach. Competition in these parts has not eroded mutual aid, that pragmatic pillar on which survival in the difficult contexts of life and work is still based.

A son of the port
Madj, like all the children of the port of Soumbédioune, scrutinizes the ripples of the waves without ever taking his eyes off the horizon. His face, furrowed by the wind and the sun, contracts with each gust, each wave, each increase in current, betraying his concern. Dressed in a military jacket, tracksuit trousers, an Air Jordan sweatshirt and an artist’s beret, with short salt-beaded dreadlocks sprouting here and there, this expert artisan fisherman in his forties knows the waters of Dakar like the back of his hand.

Madj, a son of the port.

“It can be said that I was born on this beach. I have a photograph of me as a child, on my father’s shoulders, taken right here”. Madj does not own a boat, but often accompanies his friend Bouba into the sea, a young captain of one of the many colourful wooden pirogues that, arranged one after the other on the beach, make up the fleet of ‘informal fishermen’ of Soumbédioune. Long and narrow dugout tree trunks on which the brightly coloured paint – the green-yellow-red of the Senegalese flag prevails – and the writings, especially ‘Allah’ and formulas of blessing in the Wolof language, only partially hide the cracks that open in the hulls, a thousand and one times riveted and repaired.
In the dry season, which in Senegal runs from October to June, mainly squid, sardines and trout are caught. They are particularly sought-after in luxury restaurants in the rich districts of Dakar, in regional markets and, even more so, in large-scale European, Asian, and American distribution: “I fell in love with this profession seeing the work of our fathers, our uncles and grandparents. Those were real fish! Today we only catch small fish, ‘African fish’. The best, or what remains of the finest tuna, swordfish, prawns, and crustaceans, are all exported”.

Soumbédioune, one of the oldest districts of Dakar.

Despite it becoming harder and less profitable over the years, Madj is proud of his job: “It’s a noble job, not for everyone. Only real men, not just any sort, go out to sea”. Like many Senegalese artisanal fishermen, hit by the worst crisis in the fishing sector in the history of the country, he too is constantly looking for alternative jobs to try to meet the needs of the family: “In recent years, many young people have deserted the sea to look for work on the mainland. Several then took the ‘path of adventure’, emigrating to the region or to Europe”.
The route leading to the Spanish Canary Islands, one of the most dangerous migratory routes in the world – even more lethal, according to the estimates of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) than that of the central Mediterranean – has regained strength in 2020, taking a further 50 thousand sub-Saharan citizens to the European coasts closest to Senegal, Mauritania, and Morocco.

In recent years, many young people have emigrated to Europe. (Photo Swm)

As a result of the socio-economic crisis and the greater travel restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, in the last two years, hundreds of small fishing boats converted into precarious ferries of hope have evaded the patrols, by ship and helicopter, of the Spanish Civil Guard and Frontex, a private security agency in charge of controlling the external borders of the European Union.
Barça wala barcakh!, as they say in Wolof: Barcelona or death! A generational cry that provides a feeble foothold to the perceived lack of employment and prospects, especially by younger people, throughout West Africa. (Photos: Michele Cattani) – (AdG)

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