Salesians in Goma Rescue Displaced Children

“If it weren’t for Don Bosco, we’d already be dead.”

Displaced children in Goma thank the Salesians for their help

(ANS – Goma, DRC – March 20, 2024) – As part of his extraordinary visitation to the province of Central Africa (AFC), Fr. Alphonse Owoudou, regional councilor for Africa, recently traveled among Salesian works in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the area of Goma. That area has been the scene of armed clashes between the army and some rebel formations for several months now. In this context of great suffering for the local population, Fr. Owoudou has once again renewed the Salesian commitment to accompany and to give hope and spiritual and human support to all those in need, and has received intense testimonies of how all the work done by the Salesians in this land really does make the difference between life and death for many people.

Fr. Owoudou spent four full days, between March 15-18, visiting the Don Bosco work in Ngangi, the 2d work of the AFC East Delegation in institutional terms – after ITIG, also in Goma, which is the delegation’s headquarters – but the one that is pastorally the most important, because it is so rich in apostolic works: a care center for children in difficulty, the vocational training center which also has a detachment for agricultural training, the primary school, youth center, a boarding school for the poorest youngsters, and even a small chapel.

In addition to all the activities, the Ngangi center is also a beautiful testimony of collaboration between different religious groups, all committed to the good of the population served. The Salesians of Don Bosco, the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, and the Salvatorian Sisters reside at the center, and all the communities take care of their respective recipients, in communion of intent, in harmony with each other, but also respecting their specific charisms.

Until a few weeks ago, the Don Bosco Shasha presence in Ngangi was also dependent on the work, where the agrarian training courses took place, and where thousands of people who had fled from the battle zones had already taken refuge because of the clashes in the area. Since mid-February, however, rebel militias have reached there, and both the displaced people and the 3 Salesians working there have had to abandon their homes and continue their journey as displaced persons.

“There are now about 26,000 people in Goma, including many minors who have come from all the surrounding areas,” says Fr. Owoudou. “Some are up to 12 years old; the youngest, whom I saw the day before yesterday, is 5 days old, and his mother died during childbirth.”

“To the youngest, the Salesians distribute a gruel made of maize, soy, and sorghum, which is a real lifesaver for many of them. In addition, thanks to an aid project strongly desired and supported by the Rector Major, through the Don Bosco Mission office in Bonn, basic necessities for survival are delivered monthly to each family: a 10 kg packet of beans, a sack of flour, soap, 1.5 liters of oil and medicines," the regional councilor said.

“We were all but dead, but thanks to your confreres, we now have our lives assured, even if uncertainty remains because we don’t know how long the armed conflict will last,” a mother testified to Fr. Owoudou, after seeing her son begin running again after days of when he nearly died of starvation.

“I saw before my eyes so many children running again, happy, beautiful, full of hope, probably also because they were unaware of the nightmare their parents were going through,” the Salesian priest commented.

And during the welcome greeting at the work, one of the center’s young guests read a message for Fr. Owoudou prepared by the children themselves, in which he said: “Reverend Father, your presence here is a sign of love, a ray of sunshine and hope. We, the young people who have been victims of wars which have changed our condition forever, turning us into children separated from our families, we are now marginalized and are called ‘mai bobo’ [street children, abandoned, ed.].... If it weren’t for Don Bosco, we’d already be dead. Here, then, is a good opportunity to thank you, Salesians of Don Bosco, for your love and support toward us young people in difficult situations.”

Speaking of his visit to the center in Ngangi, Fr. Owoudou concludes: “So many mothers, so many people have told me when I return to Italy to thank Don Bosco for all the help.... Perhaps they wanted to say thank you to the Rector Major, or perhaps some believed that Don Bosco is still alive today. Certainly, Don Bosco is alive in the Salesians who have remained with the people in all circumstances: in the suffering in the fields, in the flight from the war.... It seems to me this is what the Rector Major calls the ‘Salesian sacrament of presence.’”