Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Cairo (Agenzia Fides) – “In our very modest structure we try to make sure the small classrooms where we teach our children are kept clean. We insist on the necessity of hygiene and order as a system of life, and we hope that in time we will render our children, adults of tomorrow, able to manage better in the spaces of life”, Fides was told by Italian Comboni missionary Fr. Luciano Verdoscia, who has worked for years among children in Mansheya, Cairo's district of rag-pickers or Zabbaleen. For several weeks now the already difficult living and working conditions, have been worsened by sewage overflowing from blocked drains.
“One of the teachers suggested suspending lessons for a few days because the Centro is difficult to reach. We have to follow stepping stones to keep out of the mud. After consulting others at the Centro, we decided to continue the lessons. It is a little more difficult than usual, but we have so many problems that one more makes little difference. The environment disaster is such that it will be years before any incisive changes are seen ” Fr Luciano told Fides.
The missionary has local and foreign volunteers working with him. “Here at the end of the world not many visitors come to see us. It is not easy to reach this corner of the earth, and even less to think of doing a little volunteer work here and I am always surprised by the courage and perseverance of those who dedicate a few hours of the week to the children of our poor world”.
Perhaps precisely in these situations of difficulty and discomfort, the spirit of Christmas can be better grasped, as Fr. Luciano says: “Our trials and tribulations are many, but we would be ungrateful to God if we failed to tell you that this experience fills us with joy. Thinking about Christmas I asked myself what it means to me to wait for the Lord, or to set out on a journey guided by a star like the Wise Men, or receive the news from the angels like the shepherds. I recall with renewed wonder the crib scenes which my father, my brother and I used to build every Christmas: here are the Three Wise travellers, far away in the distance, to reach Jesus by 6 January. Reality forces me to look at our overcrowded and disastrous district. Suddenly I remember that Jesus today, as then, is born for us, here in a stable. Do you know…the name of this rag pickers district 'Zaraib' means 'stable'? This is because of the donkeys, goats and pigs which are kept here, and which populate the district with dogs, cats and thousands of rats. Perhaps if the Lord had chosen to be born in this epoch, given God's way of acting, He would not have disdained this place. Who knows what our slum, overflowing with refuse, would look like on Christmas Eve if the angels were to decorate it with gold and silver lights and sing the heavenly songs:"...Adeste fideles.......Tu scendi dalle stelle Stars…..Glory to God in the Highest. Dearly beloved, God has truly pitched his tent among the derelict of the earth!” (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 23/12/2008 righe 37 parole 569)
