http___www.taize.fr_hr_article8735.html_1.xml
1.1 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 3.1 3.2 4.1 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 5.10 5.11 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 7.1 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8 10.9 10.10 10.11 11.1 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 12.8 12.9 12.10
In May 2009, two of the brothers went to Goma where they met the young people who had taken part in the meeting in Nairobi in November 2008. We are sitting on two volcanoes that can awaken at any moment. One is the Nyragongo which has destroyed the town twice in thirty years. At night the molten lava of the crater projects reddish reflections into the sky; in the daytime, its trail of smoke spreads over kilometres. The other is the enemy rebel factions, whose extortions have been ravaging the province of North Kivu for years. In November 2008 there were two million displaced people. There are still seven camps of refugees staying around the town. Situated at the frontier between Rwanda and Democratic Congo, on the north bank of Lake Kivu which allows one to rejoin Bukavu, capital of the province of South Kivu, in two hours by rapid canoe, Goma, which is endowed with an airport, is an epicentre of the troubles in the Great Lakes region. People here remember the cholera epidemic that decimated the columns of refugees during the mass exodus of Rwandans in 1994. Main street Detachments of the blue helmeted soldiers of the United Nations Mission in Congo have installed entrenched camps in various sensitive places in the town. The soldiers come from India, Bangladesh, Uruguay… They go past in convoy or in a helicopter. “They observe but they are powerless to stop the troubles”, the people regret… The four-by-fours of the non-governmental organisations crisscross the town, flags waving in the wind. No need for speed restrictions on the only tarred road that crosses this built up area of over six hundred thousand inhabitants: the craters in the surface are enough. Elsewhere you drive on the lava that has covered vast areas, several metres deep. The soil is dotted with pointed projections, some of which transform the road into steps. This does not prevent the Tchugudus from working: adolescents steering large wooden scooters which make possible the essential transport of merchandise in the town. They can carry up to four hundred kilos of food or of the most diverse materials. What courage to push these amid the fever of the traffic, in the swarms of motorbike taxis, amongst the lorries… The deficiencies of the administration have stimulated strategies for coping. The contradictions between signs of prosperity and of distress are striking, here even more than elsewhere. The edge of the lake is ringed by building sites for well protected, sumptuous villas. A chain of planes put down their cargo of rare metals extracted a hundred kilometres away. Electricity and water are often lacking in the houses. But the most difficult thing is the insecurity. Stories of aggression are told daily and shots in the night do not surprise our hosts: “They are grilling peanuts!” they joke before telephoning two or three neighbours to check that all is well with them… A camp for displaced people “If we could join together the sociability of the Congo people with the sense of organisation of people from Rwanda, then we would go a long way and life would be easier”, explains one of our hosts. At the Makunda II camp for displaced people, 14,000 are sleeping under sheets of plastic stretched over arcs of branches. The walls are of straw. They cook with wood on a range in front of the entrance. “When one hut catches fire, twenty of those around it are destroyed” explains Blaise, co-ordinator of projects for the Jesuit Refugee service. The World Food Programme has just reduced its distribution of flour rations by half: no more than six kilos per person per month. This is to encourage people to return to the villages. Some go back regularly to work on their plot of land, sometimes travelling for several hours to get there. However, they do not decide to move back there, dissuaded by the actions of rebel bands passing through, and by the sudden reversal in their position and connections. It is difficult to see things clearly: “The troubles are greatly exaggerated” states someone returning from a weekend of evangelisation in the Rutchuru region. “There are reports of columns of people, carrying their bags on their heads, fleeing the new troubles in the Masisi”, a sister explains… The Salesians run a technical school in the north of the town. Three thousand pupils are training in carpentry, masonry, electrics, plumbing, sewing… Three hundred of them have come off the street or have lost their parents. A hundred children who have been demilitarised by UNO are welcomed separately. They have to follow a programme of preparation for social reintegration before obtaining the indispensable papers in order to circulate freely. These are the most difficult and the most exposed. This morning they attacked the carpenters and threw stones at the workshop windows. When they heard this, the local youths came running with bars and machetes, wanting to punish them. It took the threat of calling in the army again for calm to be restored. The ex-soldiers cannot leave the centre: they could be lynched by the locals. Unwelcome when they return to their village, stripped of the prestige of carrying arms and no longer on a payroll, some return to the centre to ask for professional training – but they can easily be retaken by the rebel bands. Part of the youth delegation from Goma who came to Nairobi The joy and the emotion of the young people who welcomed us are on a par with the isolation they feel after the successive trials that have marked their country. “The region has seen so much trouble that it is difficult for young people to believe in their future”, explains a support worker. A dozen of them made the journey to Nairobi in November 2008 to take part in the pilgrimage of trust. At the end of a Sunday of prayer and sharing with the young leaders from various parishes in the town, the young woman co-ordinator came back again to that experience in a carefully prepared three-page message. “… We were no longer young people from Congo, Rwanda. Tanzania, South Africa, China, Europe… we were all daughters and sons of one same Father, He who through His Son united a scattered multitude. This unity in diversity allowed us to have another vision of the world, through faith. Only the Gospel could unite people in this way, beyond their socio-political rifts, and make of them one people, speaking one language: that of love.” She finished with an invitation for us to come back again, to prepare meetings in their country, and to remain close to them…
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 2.1 2.2 3.1 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 4.10 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 6.1 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 9.9 9.10 9.11 10.1 11.1 11.2 11.3 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4
«Sjedimo na dva vulkana koji bi mogli eruptirati svakog časa. Jedan je Nyragongo koji je dvaput u trideset godina razorio grad. Noću rastopljena lava iz kratera projicira crvenkaste odraze u nebo, danju se njegov trag dima širi kilometrima. Drugi je niz skupina neprijateljskih pobunjenika koji pustoše područje sjevernog Kivua već godinama. U studenom 2008. bilo je još dva milijuna raseljenih ljudi. Još postoji sedam izbjegličkih kampova u okolici grada. Na granici između Ruande i Demokratske Republike Kongo, na sjevernoj obali jezera Kivu, odakle se može doći u Bukavu, glavni grad provincije Južni Kivu, za dva sata brzim kanuom, Goma, u kojoj se nalazi aerodrom, epicentar je nepogoda u području Velikih jezera. Ovdašnji se ljudi sjećaju epidemije kolere koja je desetkovala kolone izbjeglica tijekom masovnog egzodusa Ruanđana 1994. Glavna ulica Vojne jedinice s plavim kacigama, iz misije Ujedinjenih naroda u Kongu postavili su utvrđene kampove na različitim osjetljivim mjestima u gradu. Vojnici dolaze iz Indije, Bangladeša, Urugvaja… Kreću se u konvojima ili helikopterima. «Oni nadgledaju, ali ne mogu zaustaviti nevolje». Nevladine organizacije šire se gradom, zastave vijore na vjetru. Nema potreba za ograničenjem brzine na jedinoj asfaltiranoj cesti koja presijeca ovo naseljeno područje s preko šesto tisuća stanovnika: dovoljni su krateri na površini. Drugdje se mora voziti po lavi koja je pokrila velike površine, više metara u dubinu. Zemlja je izbrazdana izljevima, a neki od njih pretvaraju put u stepenice. To ne sprečava Tchugudue da rade: adolescenti guraju velika drvena kolica koja omogućavaju nužan transport robe u bradu. Na njima se može nositi do četiristo kilograma hrane ili najrazličitijih materijala. Kakva ih je hrabrost gurati usred prometne gužve, rojeva taksi motocikala, među kamionima… Nedostaci administracije potakli su strategije snalaženja. Suprotnosti između znakova napretka i propadanja dojmljivi su, ovdje čak više nego na drugim mjestima. Rub jezera okružen je gradilištima za dobro zaštićene, luksuzne vile. Niz aviona spušta svoj teret, rijetke metale iskopane sto kilometara dalje. U kućama često nema struje i vode. No, najteži problem je nesigurnost. Priče o nasilju svakodnevno se pričaju i noćni pucnji ne iznenađuju naše domaćine: «Prže kikiriki!» šale se prije no što će nazvati dvoje ili troje susjede kako bi provjerili je li kod njih sve u redu… Kamp za raseljene osobe «Kad bismo mogli udružiti društvenost ljudi iz Konga sa smislom za organizaciju Ruanđana, daleko bismo dospjeli i život bi bio lakši», objašnjava jedan od naših domaćina. U kampu Makunda II, za raseljene osobe, 14.000 ljudi spava pod plastičnim nadstrešnicama razvučenima preko lukova od grančica. Zidovi su od slame. Kuhaju na drvenom ognjištu ispred ulaza. «Kad jednu od koliba zahvati vatra, dvadeset njih u okolini izgori», objašnjava Blaise, koordinator projekata Isusovačke službe za izbjeglice. Svjetski program za hranu (World Food Programme) je upravo smanjio opskrbu brašnom na polovicu: ne više od šest kilograma po osobi mjesečno. To bi trebalo ohrabriti ljude da se vrate u sela. Neki se normalno vraćaju kući raditi na svom zemljištu, ponekad putujući nekoliko sati kako bi ondje dospjeli. Međutim, ne odlučuju se preseliti natrag, obeshrabreni napadima pobunjeničkih bandi koje se kreću u okolici, kao i iznenadnim obratom u svom položaju i vezama. Teško je jasno sagledati stvari: «Nevolje su u velikom porastu», kaže netko tko se vratio s vikenda evangelizacije u regiji Rutchuru. «Izvještava se o kolonama ljudi, koji nose svoj teret na glavi, bježeći od novih nevolja u Masisiju», objašnjava jedna časna sestra… Salezijanci drže tehničku školu na sjeveru grada. Tristo učenika uči stolariju, zidarstvo, električarski, vodoinstalaterski, krojački zanat… njih je tristo došlo s ulice ili su ostali bez roditelja. Stotinu djece koje je demilitarizirao UNO došlo je zasebno. Oni moraju završiti pripremni program socijalne reintegracije prije no što mogu dobiti neophodne dokumente koji im omogućuju slobodno kretanje. Oni su u najtežoj situaciji i najizloženiji. Jutros su napali stolare i bacali kamenje na prozore radionice. Kad su to čuli, mladi iz okolice dotrčali su sa šipkama i mačetama, želeći ih kazniti. Da bi se smirili, moralo im se zaprijetiti da će ponovo pozvati vojsku. Bivši vojnici ne smiju napustiti centar: lokalno bi ih stanovništvo moglo linčovati. U svojim selima nisu dobrodošli, oduzeto im je oružje i ostali su bez plaće. Neki se vraćaju u centar da bi zatražili stručno školovanje, no pobunjeničke bande bi ih lako mogle ponovo oteti. Dio predstavnika mladih iz Gome koji su došli u Nairobi Radost i osjećaji mladih koji su nas primili jednako su jaki kao izolacija koju osjećaju nakon uzastopnih kušnji koje su obilježile njihovu zemlju. ‘Ovo je područje prošlo tolike nevolje da je mladima teško vjerovati u bolju budućnost’, objašnjava jedan od tamošnjih socijalnih radnika. Njih je desetak otputovalo u Nairobi u studenom 2008. kako bi sudjelovali u Hodočašću povjerenja.» Kad je završila nedjelja molitve i razgovora s voditeljima mladih iz različitih gradskih župa, mlada se koordinatorica prisjetila tog iskustva u pažljivo pripremljenoj poruci na tri stranice. «… Više nismo mladi iz Konga, Ruande, Tanzanije, Južne Afrike, Kine, Europe… svi smo mi kćeri i sinovi istoga Oca, Njega koji je po svojem Sinu ujedinio rasuto mnoštvo. Ovo jedinstvo u raznolikosti pružilo nam je drugi pogled na svijet, kroz vjeru. Samo Evanđelje može tako ujediniti ljude, prelazeći njihove sociopolitičke barijere i čineći ih jednim narodom koji govore jednim jezikom: jezikom ljubavi.» Završila je pozivajući nas da se opet vratimo, kako bismo pripremili susrete u njihovoj zemlji i ostali blizu njih…