In a remote corner of Chad, three missionaries of the Immaculate give a simple but precious Christian witness. Walking next to people
Their stories refer to distant worlds: Bangladesh, India, Papua New Guinea. Their mission, however, places them in a remote corner of Chad, which in this rainy season is completely isolated even from the part of the world closest to them. “People are happy that the nuns are here,” they say. And, in the end, they are happy too.
Hilda, Shephali and Irene are the three missionaries of the Immaculate present in Koupor, in the south-west of Chad, on the border with Cameroon, where they arrived in February 2019 and where they share an experience in the most absolute essentiality. In the past, there had been some Burundian nuns. But for five years there was no one left. “They threw us a big party when we arrived!” they recall. Even if no one knew about them and most of the people aren’t even Christians. And yet, these three nuns, in the greatest simplicity and with an incredible lack of means, manage to make tangible, through small gestures, the sense of respect and care for the people with whom they share their lives. Just being there is a great sign. Because in Koupor, as well as in the surrounding villages, there is nothing and nobody. There is no state in any form and no NGO. Everything is missing: roads, water, schools, health centres… People live very poorly and increasingly at the mercy of a crazy climate, poised between terrible droughts and devastating floods. Either there is no water or there is too much.
Now is the time of the floods, but up until a few weeks ago the savannah was scorched by temperatures over 50 degrees and water and millet – the basic element of food – had become extremely scarce goods. With the rainy season, on the other hand, real lakes were created where the earth appeared wrinkled and furrowed by deep cracks. Which have further accentuated the condition of isolation of this village and of the whole area. Even the missionaries, who normally travel by bicycle or motorbike on sand tracks, have to use the canoe to overcome these expanses of water which are increasingly associated with devastating climatic events that cause destruction and displacement of people.
It is an extreme land where these three sisters of different origins, generations and experiences live their mission, who today find themselves sharing the joy of bearing witness to the Gospel in this part of the world also through gestures of closeness and charity. Sister Hilda, from India, is the veteran of the group. You have 36 years of experience in Cameroon behind you, first in the south in Ambam, with the “pioneers” of PIME, and then in the Far North. “When I arrived, it was a very poor and abandoned region, but I have seen great changes. Here, however, there is nothing.’ Koupor’s mission is a constant challenge. Not only for the climate, but above all for the backwardness of the place. Even the simplest things become complicated. She experiences it every day in the dispensary they remodeled. All very basic, but clean and tidy: there is even a small laboratory, solar panels and a water pump which also serves the houses of Father Frattini and the nuns. «But there are no medicines – Sister Hilda tells us, showing us the almost empty warehouse -. The government gives nothing but vaccines and it is not easy to get them because transport is extremely difficult. Normally we get them from Caritas which also pays the salaries of the staff».
There are currently two nurses and a midwife. But the patients are very few, as are the women who come to give birth: five in the last month. Almost all of them continue to do it at home and only go to the dispensary in case of complications, perhaps making impossible journeys by motorcycle or donkey. Nurse Valentin shows us the visit log: less than three thousand patients a year, an average of nine a day. “People don’t come to the dispensary because they often don’t even have the few coins they need to pay for visits and medicines, but also because they don’t even know they can get treatment here. This is why we are doing a lot of awareness-raising work and vaccination campaigns in the villages – explains Sister Hilda -. But it’s a matter of mentality. People often don’t understand the importance of going to the dispensary or even sending their children to school…».
This is what the other two nuns who are dedicated to the formation of girls and to pastoral care as well as mission schools also experience. Sister Shephali has just returned from Bangladesh, where she went on vacation after a long “forced” absence due to the Covid-19 pandemic. She too has 17 years of experience in Cameroon behind her. And then she got back into the game in Koupor, just across the border in a similar territory and with similar peoples, but with very different challenges. Her main commitment is with the group of girls of the cutting and sewing course which also becomes an opportunity for a broader formation, also carried out in the extracurricular moments, since they are welcomed into a small house within the mission.
«The course is divided into three years. The first two are attended by about fifteen girls each. The third only from the best », explains Sister Shephali, while he tries to start the lesson with girls who arrive late, children who cry, others who run away… -. It is not easy to give continuity to this course, because they themselves live in precariousness. Some start and then never come again, others get married, still others have children. Some now come with their child…». All this must be managed with a lot of patience and determination. Sister Shephali is well aware that for these girls it is a unique opportunity not only to learn a trade and contribute to the meager finances of the families, but also to have a minimum of training. «Many of them are illiterate – he says. For this reason, in addition to the cutting and sewing courses, we do a little literacy, French language, hygiene and cooking courses, and what is called “Eva” here: education in life and love».
Unfortunately in these areas, girls are often excluded from the education system, which is very precarious in Chad. The mission is building several schools or replacing classrooms made from millet stalks and straw with brick buildings. But then there is a lack of qualified teachers and those who do exist are not paid. The Koupor school – the first in the whole area founded by Oblate missionaries – and the surrounding ones are all community. That is, they are managed by a committee of families who have to bear the costs and even the wages. In Koupor, where there are 230 students, the staff is full and they usually manage to stick to the schedule. But it’s an exception. The mission also provides most of the books, but there aren’t always enough for all the teachers. For this, there is also a small library which is managed by some volunteers together with Sister Irene.
Originally from Papua New Guinea, she is the “youngest” of the group: before arriving in Chad, she spent a few years in Italy and seven months in Cameroon. Now you are in charge of pastoral activities together with Father Frattini and of the catechesis of children and young people. «Koupor’s – she reflects – is a very isolated and closed context, in every sense, which develops very slowly. We experience it continuously by going to the villages for pastoral care. What we do is above all to give support to the catechists who carry out the bulk of the work and we verify the progress made by the Christian communities. People are always welcoming, even if often they have nothing».
The children, then, are always very festive. Above all, their voices fill the silence of the evening, when darkness descends and envelops everything. A single soft light, that of the mission chapel, illuminates the darkness and is soon filled with songs and prayers. Father Frattini and the three missionaries of the Immaculate lead a small procession of children, women and young people who meet in this circular building, similar to local houses. The sounds of the tam tam give the rhythm to the chants. Prayer gives meaning to the day. It is a precious moment of thanksgiving, trust and hope in the flow of lives marked by precariousness.