259. The Not So Holy Week

The Passion of Christ is read out in Church. Is there anyone who cares about
the pain of anyone else, but their own?

With Palm Sunday yesterday, Holy Week begins, but in the world it is anything but holy.

The blessing of the palms took place in the courtyard, reminding us
Jesus was hailed as king, only to be presented with a crown of thorns.
Are there any African leaders who would accept that?

There must be something abysmally wrong with a society that wants to leave their native country, Africa, sparsely populated, to try one’s luck in a Europe, already filled to the brim and unwelcoming.  Be it because of the Christian origins of the Italian people, or because it would be humanly insane to throw these people back into the sea and sure death, as indeed happens with Spain and Malta, but the only means of salvation, and I mean literally, was that the Italian authorities did not find it in their sense of civic duty to behave as barbarically as some of their European partners. 

The Celebrant Fr Michael, our visiting priest from Ukraine
with Fr Fabio, originally from our village.
Maybe the Christian origins does help one reflect that you simply can't throw
people back into the sea- though this does not stop other countries from doing so

I can understand as someone in the British Government said, one immigrant allowed through is one vote less.  I can understand why Germany says no since years back they had to house thousands of immigrants from Kosovo,  and they have had enough.  I can understand the Italian government feeling isolated by the rest of Europe but I can also understand why the only option Europe has offered is to fund the return flight of these immigrants.  Even though getting these people on a plane back is easier said than done, as one Italian Minister said, satirizing as this being the only solution: “We can’t shoot them… yet.”

I have seen events happening at the reception centre in Lampadusa that have convinced me that quite a number of these immigrants are only here for what they can get.  They have caused riots because they didn’t like the food, they have escaped through security to heaven knows where, they have set fire to the bedding and furniture provided in the temporary quarters they were placed and some were later found to be Al Qaeda supporters.  And yet among all these are normal people who simply want a better life.

But what has to be implemented in the minds of these young Africans is that a better life will not be found by selling drugs and prostitution in a foreign country.  A better life can only be found by working and getting along with fellow Africans in one’s own country.  A better life is there in Africa, and it can be done, as some states like Tanzania are witnesses to such.  A better life is in in Africa, not behind the iron bars of a European cell. A better life is building Africa and not draining Europe... and the people in Africa need to really, really take this to heart.

Perhaps if there was more adoration of the Lord there would be less egoism
among men

182. Tanzania: NYERERE, A Leader to be Proud of