Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Benin City (Agenzia Fides)- “A dream come true! A dream shared by many for many years is at last a reality ” says Sr. Eugenia Bonetti, Consolata Missionary and co-ordinator of the Union of Major Superiors' Office Against Human Trafficking. In Benin City, south east Nigeria, Sr. Bonetti recently inaugurated a Women's Resource Centre, a home for girls victims of the slave trade (see Fides 13 April 2007).
In Italy there are about 30,000 Nigerian girls who are forced to be prostitutes. At least 70% come from Benin City. So the new Centre is a great step forward to help the girls who return to Nigeria, and it is also a symbol of the fight against this ignoble trafficking.
“Many people are now saying that enough is enough - says Sr. Eugenia - and our presence here is testimony ”.
The Centre is the fruit of collaboration among Italian and Nigerian institutes. Funded by the Italian Bishops' Conference and by Caritas Italy which purchased the land, the Women's Resource Centre is also a fruit of years of work by the Union of Major Superiors Italy and the Conference of Nigerian women religious and the Salesians who oversaw the building of the Centre. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 12/7/2007 righe 22 parole 231)
