P. Vittorio Bongiovanni sx.
It seems to me that I have arrived in Sierra Leone only yesterday, and instead already 38 years have passed. They have flown. I remember that 38 years ago in my town, near Mantua, when I set off for the first time, people praised me: "How good you are! You are going to bring the Lord to Africa, you are going to help the poor and the sick, to promote social development... "
And I, naïve as I was, believed it: "I am good!". "I am going to bring the Lord to Africa!..." At my arrival in Africa, I found out He was already there, waiting for me ... "You are going to help the poor and the sick!" But without the help of friends and benefactors I couldn’t have helped for sure so many poor ... "You go in order to promote social development!" I managed to organize a project of agriculture for men and women ... But who were the protagonists of the project? Not me of course! Under the hot sun, my brain, grown up in the humidity of the fog of my land of origin, would have evaporated in no time. And today, if I look back, I ask myself: "In my experience of 38 years of Africa who has been the real missionary?”
First of all it was the Lord. It is he who touches the hearts, is he who converts. I realized that I really worked together with the Missionary-Lord when I freed myself from the worry of being myself the "converter" etc. The more I allowed him to act, and I helped him to act, the more I worked along with him ... We come now to the poor, the sick ... Many have passed through the mission and who took them to the hospital? The benefactors. They are the ones who paid for the doctor and for the medications. Not me. I'm just a distributor of goods of others. And let's get to social development: here the merit goes to the Sierra Leoneans. They are the protagonists of their own social development. We missionaries are not here to work for them but with them. Therefore, the "Bravo" that my people said to me, really goes to the Lord, to the Benefactors and to the Sierra Leoneans. And I, where am I? . .. I find myself to be that "lucky" that has been awarded with being sent to Sierra Leone.
Let us talk about the culture: the more I am in Sierra Leone, the less I understand the culture of Sierra Leone but the more I love the Sierra Leoneans. Their culture is so different from ours, and in my opinion, only a inexperienced person may presume to have it understood. Once I crossed a river in a canoe bringing my bicycle. And then I rode 24 km to reach the village of Kantia where we have a beautiful Christian community. When I arrived, I was really hungry. And right at the beginning of the village I saw the Paramount Chief with some elders, ready to eat a nice bowl of rice. The Chief invites me. You can imagine the joy that I experienced! I got closer to them and the Chief, very politely, invites me to sit elsewhere. And he gives me the explanation: "I know the ‘whites’; they do not eat our food”. I explained that I appreciate and enjoy their food very much. But he, the Paramount Chief, is a man of great wisdom: he calls his wife and talks to her secretly. Meanwhile others start eating and I am left there with my appetite.
The wife returns with a saucer with a tiny egg on it: "It is fresh. It was laid this very morning by the rooster!" With a bite I swallowed it, with a toast to the culture!
Then there was the war for 11 years. There I engaged myself in negotiating for the release of the child-soldiers. It was an experience that I will never forget. ... I lived with the rebels, I was a prisoner of the rebels, but the Lord never abandoned me. Once I met a rebel Colonel, I had never seen him before. He gives me a sharp order: "You, white man, sit in the sun with your hands on your head!" My quiet answer: "I will not sit down!". (To sit in the sun means giving freedom to the rebels to go behind one’s back, to hit him with beastly kidney kicks). He insists: "Sit in the Sun!" "No, I won’t!" Then he pulls out the gun and points it at my head. "Sit down!" "No, I won’t". He puts away the gun and takes me by the throat and repeatedly slams me against the wall: "why are you not afraid?" “Why should I be afraid? My life is not in your gun, but in the hands of the Lord!" "Go away!" I am glad it ended this way! At that time I had no fear, I was amazed at myself. Is it really true what the Lord says: "Do not be afraid, in difficult moments I am with you ...". Now I'm caught in the middle of this ebola outbreak. The authorities are taking all the necessary measures in order to avoid that anybody might come in contact with someone carrying Ebola... We are in the Lord’s hands and we keep being very prudent, trying not to leave the Country. We are isolated from the people, but not from the Lord.
We are in good company and therefore we will not run away from Sierra Leone. We stay here with Him, close to our people. If you will remember us in your prayers, then you will see that Sierra Leone will return to smile in a short time. Hi to everyone.
It seems to me that I have arrived in Sierra Leone only yesterday, and instead already 38 years have passed. They have flown. I remember that 38 years ago in my town, near Mantua, when I set off for the first time, people praised me: "How good you are! You are going to bring the Lord to Africa, you are going to help the poor and the sick, to promote social development... "
And I, naïve as I was, believed it: "I am good!". "I am going to bring the Lord to Africa!..." At my arrival in Africa, I found out He was already there, waiting for me ... "You are going to help the poor and the sick!" But without the help of friends and benefactors I couldn’t have helped for sure so many poor ... "You go in order to promote social development!" I managed to organize a project of agriculture for men and women ... But who were the protagonists of the project? Not me of course! Under the hot sun, my brain, grown up in the humidity of the fog of my land of origin, would have evaporated in no time. And today, if I look back, I ask myself: "In my experience of 38 years of Africa who has been the real missionary?”
First of all it was the Lord. It is he who touches the hearts, is he who converts. I realized that I really worked together with the Missionary-Lord when I freed myself from the worry of being myself the "converter" etc. The more I allowed him to act, and I helped him to act, the more I worked along with him ... We come now to the poor, the sick ... Many have passed through the mission and who took them to the hospital? The benefactors. They are the ones who paid for the doctor and for the medications. Not me. I'm just a distributor of goods of others. And let's get to social development: here the merit goes to the Sierra Leoneans. They are the protagonists of their own social development. We missionaries are not here to work for them but with them. Therefore, the "Bravo" that my people said to me, really goes to the Lord, to the Benefactors and to the Sierra Leoneans. And I, where am I? . .. I find myself to be that "lucky" that has been awarded with being sent to Sierra Leone.
Let us talk about the culture: the more I am in Sierra Leone, the less I understand the culture of Sierra Leone but the more I love the Sierra Leoneans. Their culture is so different from ours, and in my opinion, only a inexperienced person may presume to have it understood. Once I crossed a river in a canoe bringing my bicycle. And then I rode 24 km to reach the village of Kantia where we have a beautiful Christian community. When I arrived, I was really hungry. And right at the beginning of the village I saw the Paramount Chief with some elders, ready to eat a nice bowl of rice. The Chief invites me. You can imagine the joy that I experienced! I got closer to them and the Chief, very politely, invites me to sit elsewhere. And he gives me the explanation: "I know the ‘whites’; they do not eat our food”. I explained that I appreciate and enjoy their food very much. But he, the Paramount Chief, is a man of great wisdom: he calls his wife and talks to her secretly. Meanwhile others start eating and I am left there with my appetite.
The wife returns with a saucer with a tiny egg on it: "It is fresh. It was laid this very morning by the rooster!" With a bite I swallowed it, with a toast to the culture!
Then there was the war for 11 years. There I engaged myself in negotiating for the release of the child-soldiers. It was an experience that I will never forget. ... I lived with the rebels, I was a prisoner of the rebels, but the Lord never abandoned me. Once I met a rebel Colonel, I had never seen him before. He gives me a sharp order: "You, white man, sit in the sun with your hands on your head!" My quiet answer: "I will not sit down!". (To sit in the sun means giving freedom to the rebels to go behind one’s back, to hit him with beastly kidney kicks). He insists: "Sit in the Sun!" "No, I won’t!" Then he pulls out the gun and points it at my head. "Sit down!" "No, I won’t". He puts away the gun and takes me by the throat and repeatedly slams me against the wall: "why are you not afraid?" “Why should I be afraid? My life is not in your gun, but in the hands of the Lord!" "Go away!" I am glad it ended this way! At that time I had no fear, I was amazed at myself. Is it really true what the Lord says: "Do not be afraid, in difficult moments I am with you ...". Now I'm caught in the middle of this ebola outbreak. The authorities are taking all the necessary measures in order to avoid that anybody might come in contact with someone carrying Ebola... We are in the Lord’s hands and we keep being very prudent, trying not to leave the Country. We are isolated from the people, but not from the Lord.
We are in good company and therefore we will not run away from Sierra Leone. We stay here with Him, close to our people. If you will remember us in your prayers, then you will see that Sierra Leone will return to smile in a short time. Hi to everyone.