From the refugee camps of Chad, brother Fabio Mussi sends us a wish of hope for this Christmas and for the new year. But also an invitation to courage, like that of many people who have lost everything, and to commitment, like the one he himself puts into play to bring help and some clean water…
Like every year, as December 25th approaches, I’m here to wish you a peaceful Christmas and a happy new year 2024. Unfortunately, we are not experiencing a very peaceful period with all the wars underway on our planet, the dangers due to resurgence of Covid, not to mention the disasters caused by climate change. Despite these major problems, we try to “live” the Christmas period with a positive attitude of hope. And this is exactly what I would like to talk to you about.
Chad refugee emergency
In April 2023, a fratricidal war broke out in Sudan, forcing approximately 560,000 Sudanese to leave their country to seek refuge in eastern Chad. The Apostolic Vicariate of Mongo, where I am, through its Caritas, continued to contribute to the humanitarian response, coordinated by United Nations bodies with an initial emergency intervention in favor of over 3,500 families. This has enabled the distribution of food and household kits, the construction of community latrines and the installation of solar street lights in the Farchana and Métché camps. This is thanks to the support of the various Caritas in the USA, Germany, Italy and finally Caritas Internationalis, in addition to the large contribution from PIME Foundation, which is still ongoing.
The priority is drinking water
Among the thousand problems encountered in these humanitarian crises, drinking water is certainly the absolute priority. It is with this in mind that we worked hard to provide drilling for drinking water in the Métché refugee camp, which hosts around 60,000 people.
From 1 to 6 December, we were able to carry out 6 boreholes, of which only 3 were positive and provided sufficient water for the population of the neighbourhood. This huge financial and technical effort was also possible thanks to your contribution, which reached us through the PIME network in Milan and Detroit. Unfortunately, we had 3 negative drillings due to a rocky subsoil problem and the finding that important and usable aquifers are located beyond 120 meters deep. Unfortunately, our equipment does not allow us to use the aquifers at this depth. We continue to search, hoping to find groundwater within 100 meters, so we can give water to these populations.
Children looking for the future
Having stayed for about 7 days in the camp, I was able to come into contact with many children who followed us to the places where the drilling took place. So, with the help of some translators who translated from Sudanese Arabic, I collected some of their stories, almost always very tragic.
This is the case of Fatime, a 14 year old girl who sold us tea. She explained to me that she had seen her kill her grandfather, her father, her older brother and her younger brother. She, her mother and 2 little brothers managed to hide and escape to Chad. The girl told me: «I am only 14 years old, but my heart is now old because I have seen the evil that men can do. But now I’m the big sister and I have to worry about the younger brothers.” In her eyes full of tears there was also the courage to look forward with confidence.
This positive attitude, despite the objective difficulties that many children and adults encounter in these tragedies, is certainly a sign of courage and hope of people accustomed to facing survival day by day. It is an example for all of us who often look for certainties in the things around us, but little within ourselves. Perhaps we still have something to learn from these people who experience conditions very similar to that of Jesus, who was also born in an “emergency” situation.
Merry Christmas to all!