ASIA/INDONESIA - Covid-19: schools closed and Camillians are not allowed to leave, but "hope is not lost"

Monday, 30 March 2020 coronavirus   solidarity  

INTERNET

Flores (Agenzia Fides) - "In Indonesia, cases of coronavirus are constantly growing, especially in the capital Jakarta. Fortunately, here on our island of Flores, so far we have only a few suspicious cases", writes Father Luigi Galvani, a Camillian missionary in Flores, to Agenzia Fides. "In recent days, however, the government has issued serious prevention rules for us too, by closing all schools, suspending liturgical celebrations, all group activities and inviting them to stay as much as possible at home. We too, therefore, like other institutions, are experiencing a period of quarantine... with gates closed and the ban on going out".
"It is not easy to keep our young seminarians locked inside without doing much - adds the priest - and for this reason we have given them kitchen, gardening and maintenance jobs. Of course there is time left for prayer with the recitation of the Rosary. These are the vitamins that make us feel more united and give hope in being able to see the end of this dramatic moment that is now affecting the whole world".
Regarding the Italian emergency Fr. Luigi says: "I returned to Flores about a month ago, just in time before the dramatic situation of the coronavirus broke out in Italy. I can imagine the suffering that is affecting hundreds or better thousands of families in seeing that the earthly life of their loved ones has ended. But we are lucky to think and believe that another life awaits us. Thank God I am in good health and I feel happy to have been able to return to continue my missionary commitment in this great Asian country which is still offering good vocational hopes. "Relating to this, good news for the Camillians: on March 12 there was the blessing and the laying of the first stone of the novitiate in Kupang on the island of Timor, "where we intend to develop other social and formation activities for young people in the near future". (LG/AP) (Agenzia Fides, 30/3/2020)


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