An exhibition at the Museo Popoli e Culture, from 8 May to 23 September, recounts PIME’s commitment to food security in Africa
Climate change, political instability, conflicts, humanitarian emergency… The Sahel region in Africa is experiencing an unprecedented crisis, aggravated by the repercussions of the war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic. Currently, some 24 million people are at risk of starvation and more than 5 million have been displaced from their homes.
For PIME missionaries working in the far north of Cameroon, in Chad and in the northern regions of the Ivory Coast, all of this is part of their daily life. This is why the PIME Center in Milan has decided to promote this year the “Not just bread” solidarity campaign which will now also be accompanied by the “Seeds of change” photographic exhibition.
The exhibition, accompanied by some symbolic objects of the daily life of the populations of these countries, is curated by the Museo Popoli e Culture, in collaboration with the editorial staff of World and Missionthe Mission Aid Office and the PIME Lay Association (Alp).
The images tell of people’s efforts in contexts where access to food and water is often problematic, but also the attempts to find the best solutions – sustainable, ecological and at low cost – to improve the level of food security in very poor and frail. However, it is not just a question of dealing with emergencies or building wells, but also of adopting adequate agricultural solutions and strengthening health and education systems, investing above all in the promotion of women.
One panel, in particular, is dedicated to the cultivation of moringa which engages the missionaries, especially in the vicariate of Mongo, in Chad: a plant with exceptional nutritional properties, it is particularly used to combat child malnutrition.
The exhibition will also involve children and young people from the schools who participate in the Solidarity Days with PIME and who are invited to leave a message in a large calabasha type of pumpkin emptied and used in Africa as a container: visitors will be able to take the cards which contain a reflection on the human need to have, preserve and cultivate nourishment that is not only material.
Even adults, however, are invited to do their part, first of all by getting informed and becoming aware that everyone’s actions, linked to the use of resources, have a much wider impact than the context in which we live. And, then, those who wish can support one of the projects of the “Not just bread” campaign which allow, through the PIME missionaries in the field, to send a gesture of closeness and solidarity even to those who live very far away.