From July 11th to 17th, Andrea Riccardi visited the city of Nampula, in the north of Mozambique. About 70 representatives of Communities from all areas the country gathered to reflect together on the life and prospects of Sant'Egidio in the country. Andrea Riccardi's presence, testimony of his longstanding attention to Mozambique, was deeply encouraging.
The reflection proposed by Andrea Riccardi led the participants to question themselves on the perspectives of the Community in the country, in a difficult moment but also one of great expectations, marked by terrorist attacks in the north and by an important but uneven economic development, often a source of injustice in the country.
Sant'Egidio, many remarked, is and wants to be more and more a Community that has the face of a mother to the poorest - children, the abandoned and marginalised elderly, prisoners, those living on the streets, the displaced from the conflict zones of Cabo Delgado. There is a great demand from young people, both in the big cities and in the small towns. They are looking for a future, yet they are distressed by the lack of prospects. Andrea Riccardi pointed out that everyone is called to overcome evil with good and that service to the poor is characterised by stories of great and small victories over suffering and evil. Many of the participants emphasised their responsibility for social life, both in Mozambique's remote villages and big cities.
Communities from the province of Nampula, living in smaller towns and villages, also convened in Nampula and met with Andrea Riccardi on the morning of July 13th. More than three hundred people, mostly young people, reflected together on how to be prophetic communities in small towns - places where you feel forgotten - following the spirit of Sant'Egidio that sees the periphery the heart of its presence.
In the afternoon of the same day, the Communities of the different neighbourhoods of Nampula met. There were about three hundred participants. Sant'Egidio is a well-known and respected public entity in the city, thanks to the intensive engagement of the Schools of Peace, with the elderly, with refugees from Cabo Delgado and with the BRAVO programme. The presence in such an important city has led to the growth of a network of Communities in villages and small towns in the province. It is in fact one of the areas where Sant'Egidio's presence in Mozambique is most widespread.
Some of the young refugees from Cabo Delgado, welcomed by the Community of Nampula, who are benefiting from a scholarship in a programme of integration into society, also took part to the meeting. Some other refugees are in Pemba.
‘In Mozambique,’ Andrea Riccardi observed, ‘Sant'Egidio is a reality that makes society human through its gratuitous commitment to the poorest and most forgotten.' The visit to the psychiatric hospital in Nampula, a facility that houses about 35 people, including a teenage girl, was significant in this perspective. The encounter with these patients, some of whom are not Mozambicans, inspired a desire to have a more intense presence of the Community close to them to allow pathways and improve their dire situation.
