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6 Febbraio 2008
How different is Africa!
The first time that I left for Nigeria, inexperienced as I was, I was the victim of many worries and fears. I knew the Africa of the grassy plains, the Africa of the geography books, the Africa of tales written by foreign authors... I imagined Africa as the vast, wild Africa that tour operators make you visit on organised trips. I had heard talk of missionaries who set off very bravely, cross in hand... On my arrival in Onitsha, the reality of Africa suddenly appeared completely different – no wild nature, no grassy plains, no jungle where one could meet monkeys, crocodile, hippopotamuses and giraffes. There were only snakes, mice, spiders, cockroaches and lizards.
It was a highly overcrowded, super-chaotic city, submerged in piles of refuse... everywhere along the streets or squares of the various neighbourhoods are dumped piles of rubbish that with the passage of time become really and truly stinking mountains of filth. This situation becomes a dramatic emergency especially in the rain season, when because of erosion and lack of an adequate drainage system “rivers” of refuse are carried downhill and deposited on the roads and pavements
For the Salesian Community at St John Bosco Youth Centre and for the families living in the surrounding area, the question connected with the clearance of refuse has been for about a year a serious problem, not only environmental, but also for health, from the time when just a few metres away there arose a “dump reaching up to the heavens”. Yet many poor people manage to survive by means of the refuse. After having recovered everything possible from the rubbish dump, men, women and chuildren burn the remainder to obtain copper or iron embedded in the plastic. This burning gives rise incessantly to smoke (with carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide...) that hangs over our narrow valley. Consequently, we and all the families that live in the area round this dump breathe day and night air that is polluted by poisonous substances.
One day a month the whole population is asked to cleanse the gutters and streets of the city. The State Governor and the Minister of the Environment, exactly on the Feast of Don Bosco, promised to solve the problem. Among the requests made to the Governor was also one asking that the refuse dumped in the valley should cleared away at once, so avoiding its being burnt. For his part, he spoke of a plan to ... sell the rubbish! “Give me time!” he told us.
Yours,
Fr Nicola.
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