For the past thirty years, Miguel Angel Sebastian has been serving in Chad as a Comboni Missionary. He is currently bishop of Sarh, where he is preparing for the pandemic. As he explains, the authorities are taking very strict measures to prevent the virus from spreading. "The healthcare system is very precarious. In the country's capital, there are only 36 ICU beds."he explains. Therefore, in Sarh, the Church runs a large hospital and several clinics.
Although they have had to close the temples and public celebrations, the Church has not stopped working. Many volunteers from the diocese are gathering in 7 parishes to sew masks, which they are giving to the government to distribute to hospitals and health centers. In addition, through the diocesan radio, classes are given at different levels (primary, secondary and high school), to make up for the lack of education in the face of closed schools. Liturgical celebrations are also broadcast.
But there is one thing he is particularly concerned about. "Because of this crisis, hospitals have decided to suspend other important things like vaccinations for children, and I am aware that children are dying from measles." states.
Only 4 ventilators
In most of the houses in Punta Negra (Republic of Congo), there is no electricity, so there are no refrigerators and no food can be stored. The markets have to remain open out of necessity, and there are no social distances. In addition, there is no water or soap in many of the houses. This is in addition to the lack of sanitary preparation. One fact: there are only four respirators in the city for one and a half million inhabitants.
At the head of the diocese is the Spanish missionary Miguel Olaverri. "If the disease spreads, there will be many deaths."he explains. This Salesian has worked for 40 years on the African continent, and seven years ago he was consecrated bishop of Punta Negra, a diocese the size of Belgium, with a million and a half inhabitants and 39 parishes, 17 of them in the middle of the jungle with difficult access. These parishes often house health clinics and schools.
The missionary is concerned about the arrival of the virus, but also about the situation of poverty that prevention is generating. "Because of the business closure situation, many people lose their jobs, can't eat or pay rent, so they will be left on the street. The needs are very great."he says.
Hunger will kill more
This perception is unanimous in different parts of Africa. This is explained by the Colombian missionary Luis Carlos Fernandez, from Kenya. "The measures against the virus are getting stricter every day. They closed schools, and now they are closing markets. Hunger, which kills the most people in the world, will be more deadly than the coronavirus."he says. This missionary, who carries out his pastoral work in the Samburu tribe, is visiting all the communities to raise awareness about this virus that seems so far away, and is offering daily meals to pastoralist children.
This situation is repeated in many parts of the world. Thousands of kilometers away, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, the Apostolic Vicariate of Puyo is working hard to accompany so many people who are having a hard time. "Here the Church has mobilized to be close to the people, and to let them know that we pastors have not abandoned them. There is a very large number of families who do not work in this situation of confinement, and if they do not work, they do not get paid." explains Mauricio Espinosa, a native priest. "The vicariate has bought food, and at home, the priests and religious who live here, we set about making the bags ourselves, with rations for the families."
The Catholic Church is present today throughout the world to proclaim Christ in many ways in this situation: caring for the sick in its hospitals, offering comfort and pastoral accompaniment, and providing material aid to so many families who have been left in poverty. The needs are immense, and our own resources are not sufficient.
Universal problems, universal solutions
Pope Francis wanted to be close to those who suffer most from the consequences of this pandemic, in the poorest countries. For this reason, last April 6, he instituted an Emergency Fund to accompany the affected communities in the mission countries. The aim of this aid is to support the Church's presence and to respond to the great needs faced by people in the face of the disease itself and in the face of confinement.
He himself was the first to collaborate with this fund, with $750,000, and he asked the faithful and Church entities to join the initiative. And how does he make this aid effective, to support each and every one of the mission dioceses? Through the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS). Why? Because it is the official channel available to the Holy See to support the young Churches in Africa, Asia, Oceania and certain Amazonian regions of America.
A large network of charity and evangelization
Through OMP, this money will reach all the affected communities in the mission countries through the structures and institutions of the Church. This Fund is international, and counts on the capillarity of the pontifical institution, which reaches 1,111 mission territories, and supports the work of the missionaries and of each of the parishes in these areas.
These territories represent one-third of the world's dioceses and are home to almost half of the world's population. The Church carries out an enormous work of evangelization and human promotion in these areas. In fact, in these large areas the Church supports 26,898 social institutions (hospitals, dispensaries, homes for the elderly, orphanages...), and 119,200 schools - more than half of those supported by the Church in the world. In the last 30 years, the Church has opened an average of 2 social institutions and 6 schools per day in missions.
This work carried out by the Church needs financial support, and it receives it regularly through OMP, in campaigns as well known as the Domund. But in these very special circumstances, there are already extraordinary requests for help.
Help from all over the world
The OMP Covid-19 Emergency Fund is international and channels aid collected worldwide for distribution. The management is centralized in Rome, in the international presidency of the institution, led by Bishop Gianpietro Dal Toso, where requests for aid of all kinds arrive from all over the world.
ne of these requests comes from the center St. Mary's Maternity Hospital in Khartoum (Sudan). Owned by the local Church, but founded and supported by the Comboni Missionary Sisters, it offers the possibility of giving birth to women with fewer resources, for a symbolic price. On average, 300 deliveries are assisted each month. However, because of this pandemic, women are not being able to contribute anything. This is in addition to the high cost of food, gasoline for staff transportation and medicines for confinement. The hospital is bearing all the expenses with almost no income, but this situation is unsustainable in the long term. For this reason, they have decided to ask for help from this Fund.
If this project were approved, the presidency of OMP International would instruct one of the donor countries, for example, Spain, to send the money through the Nunciature, with the endorsement of the local bishop.
Solidarity that crosses borders
"That solidarity that is being seen at the city level, at the neighborhood level, at the house level, must cross borders, like the virus." explains Monsignor Cristóbal López, a Spanish Salesian missionary and Cardinal of Rabat. "It is true that there are needs everywhere, but there are some countries that will find themselves and are in worse situations than others." states.
Although the Diocese of Rabat is one of the 1,111 mission territories that will receive aid from the Emergency Fund, the Cardinal has not ceased to encourage Moroccan Christians to join this Fund in order to help other sister churches. "I have made a specific appeal to priests and religious communities, who do not usually collaborate much when campaigns are carried out, so that, from our own personal or community pockets, we collaborate with this Emergency Fund.".
On the lessons to be learned from the pandemic, the Cardinal of Rabat explained at TRECE tv we found "A simple virus is capable of bringing a great nation to its knees, and, in addition, the fact that the virus knows no borders, which shows us that we cannot live isolated from each other, we have to be a single family, and not return to the selfish and closed nationalism of solving the problem in my country and the others be damned. It is shameful this marketing that has taken place with masks and respirators. If we do not come to understand that, we will have lost a great opportunity to discover that we are one big family".
OMP Spain joins
In our country, OMP Spain has joined, as it could not be otherwise, to this invitation of the Pope, and has launched the campaign #AhoraMásMásQueNunca. "The missionaries are already giving us the alarm... They're going to need a lot of prayer and a lot of help from us!", says José María Calderón, the institution's national director. "OMP is the channel that the Holy Father and the Church have to provide them with this help, both spiritual and material. That is why we have decided to launch this campaign. Thanks to all those who decide to collaborate", concludes.
– To join the OMP Coronavirus Emergency Fund: donate through the website omp.es. Make a bank transfer: BBVA: ES03 0182 1364 3300 1003 9555. Santander Bank: ES25 0075 0204 9506 0006 0866. Concept: Help Coronavirus Missions.
Press officer for OMP Spain.
