Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Milano (Agenzia Fides) - AVSI AFRICA is the title of a photographic exhibition which documents Italian humanitarian assistance in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo. In black and white photographs Francesco Fantini captured the heart of Africa during a reportage in the Spring of 2002. In the dramatic situation of Africa Fantini sees, amidst smiling children with AIDS, a path of hope, giving a face to the dignity of the human person as unique and special. More than poverty and disease, more than hunger and exclusion, this is the same path of hope on which the Italian NGO AVSI has laboured for 20 years in the Great Lakes Region of Africa promoting programmes for schools and cooperation for development. A constant presence of volunteers, not just humanitarian workers, but persons totally dedicated to every man, woman and child's vocation to happiness. A path along which photographs accompany the visitor to the places and situations where AVSI works day after day to help the local people: from Prisons for Minors in Kampala, in Uganda, to the Nyiragongo volcano eruption in Congo and its unstoppable flow of evacuees; from visits to people with AIDS to African women's songs and dances of hope. Already shown at the United Nations Offices in Geneva in September and October 2003, the AVSI AFRICA exhibition will be open to the public in Milan at the Polo Multifunzionale Zonale CAM Gabelle del Consiglio di Zona 1, in via S. Marco 45, 1 to 13 October 2007, no entrance charge (Monday to Friday 9.30-19.00). (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 27/9/2007, righe 17, parole 262)
