Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Sarh (Agenzia Fides) - "School is a place of mutual respect and the ability to be together". From Sarh, in Chad, in the heart of Africa, Father Jean Claude Kikondee, a Salesian missionary from Cameroon, talks about the time he spent with more than 600 children and young people gathered in the "Casa Don Bosco" every day.
In this place, the missionaries feel particularly comfortable in a context where the emphasis is on school education, so much so that a university campus has also been opened. "We have a parish, a large youth center, an oratory, a kindergarten, a primary school and a secondary school," says a statement sent to Fides. The oratory is open all year round. There are 25 group leaders who can ensure constant assistance, and in summer there are about sixty.
"Here in the south, it is not like in the north: we live together with Christians and Muslims, there is tolerance. Everything we do is aimed at overcoming the differences that lead to violence. Muslims also accept the mission of the Salesians because they know that we offer quality education," stresses Father Jean Claude.
"The vast majority of people here are of the Islamic faith, and they hold the economic and military power. There is the phenomenon of raids by people from the north who come to steal the agricultural production of the south. They come with their herds in search of pasture, but they also appropriate the food: if the farmers refuse, they even go so far as to threaten and kill them. This conflict is intertwined with religious differences; many Christians have immigrated to Chad from other neighboring regions. They are persecuted and forced by the Islamic population in the north to leave the area and go to Cameroon and Burkina Faso in search of freedom," reports the missionary.
"The Salesians came to Sarh in 1995, the founders were Italians, Father Francesco Cremon and Father Pietro Bano," says the missionary. The first mission was in Sarh, a town on the border with Cameroon and the Central African Republic. Later, other facilities were opened in the capital N'Djamena and in 2013 in Doba.
Chad is a country that is half desert, in the north, and half green. In Doba, the effect of the Russian-Ukrainian war is felt so strongly that led to a humanitarian crisis in 2022. Once the emergency was over, the Salesians returned to the normality of their commitment, destined from the early years to guarantee education and food to the little ones. (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 2/10/2024)
