Ethiopian Cardinal calls for justice and peace for his people
By Alessandro Di Bussolo - Addis Ababa
"There is peace in the air," in Ethiopia, and prayers are still being uttered after the heavy violence and casualties in the regions of Tigray, Amhara, Afar and Wollega.
Speaking to Pope, Cardinal Berhaneysesus Souraphiel expressed his hope for "true justice and also forgiveness among the people" and peace.
The largest country in the Horn of Africa is home to more than 400,000 Sudanese refugees, 600,000 Somalis, Eritreans, Yemenis and Syrians, and has recently seen more than 100,000 Ethiopian migrants return from the Gulf Arab countries.
He looks hopefully to a Global Solidarity Fund (GSF) pilot project to benefit these “returning” migrants, refugees and internally displaced persons which involves five religious congregations and the archdiocese of the capital.
These are the themes of the interview with the Cardinal Metropolitan Archbishop of Addis Ababa, who hosted the African Continental Assembly of the Synod on Synodality in the Church in early March.
Family at center of African continental synod assembly
The crucial role of the family in Africa was discussed by the cardinal who has been at the head of the archdiocese since July 1999 and president of the Bishops' Conference of Ethiopia and Eritrea.
The pastor, who leads about 12,000 Catholics, inhabitants of the ecclesiastical province of Addis Ababa, reminds us that more than 200 participants at the synod meeting emphasized the family as “the image of the Church in Africa.”
A family that “should be inclusive” with young people, the elderly, young single women with children, and the increasingly common “single-parent family” in the new Africa.
Church and education
To strengthen women's participation in the life and works of the Church, "not only parish activities but social activities as well, from schools to social and health care," Cardinal Souraphiel told us, the synod assembly reiterated the need to focus on formation and support for the “extended family,” that is typical of Africa.
In Ethiopia, the aim is to reach 430 schools run by the diocesan clergy and religious congregations, and the new Catholic University – ECUSTA - which the Ethiopian bishops are building on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, in collaboration with Brothers of the Christian Schools.
“Because we believe,” the archbishop explained, “education is crucial to change the mentality and also to bring solidarity among the different ethnic and tribal groups of Ethiopia.”
Free movement of people "to get out of poverty"
The cardinal expressed his belief that the free movement of people, "throughout Africa as in the European Union," would be key, something also identified by the continental synod assembly, "to keep our young people on the continent" and not to"pass into Sudan and then to Libya to go to die in the Mediterranean Sea," or migrate to the Arab countries of the Gulf, "to end up abused or mistreated."
In February in Juba, South Sudan, where the Ethiopian cardinal was present for the Pope's visit, "I saw many young Ethiopians, Kenyans, Eritreans, Ugandans working there.”
He noted that many African borders are artificial, established by former colonizers, and said that if they were open, young people could move better and change their situation, "get out of poverty and be able to defend the dignity of the human person."
Global Solidarity Fund's pilot project
The GSF launched a pilot project in late 2020 which focuses on the training of young Africans in Addis Ababa, it’s an innovative alliance of religious congregations, private companies, and international organizations to support “returning” migrants, refugees from other African countries, and internally displaced persons.
It has done so by supporting the establishment of an inter-congregational "consortium" or network, which now involves Salesians and Salesian Sisters (Daughters of Mary Help of Christians), Ursuline Sisters, Missionaries of Charity and Jesuits (through the Jesuit Refugee Service), coordinated by the archdiocesan Socio-Pastoral Commission.
Each congregation, with its specificities, has its own role in creating a virtuous pathway that has so far helped more than 1,500 beneficiaries acquire, through vocational training, skills to enter the local labor market, either by being hired in a company or by starting their own micro-business.
Training, employment, care for those who suffer
Cardinal Souraphiel is familiar with the GSF project, he said he visited some training and job placement centers, and feels so grateful for its success he proposes to export it to other African countries.
He recalled the plight of many young women who migrate to Gulf countries to work as domestic workers. “But they are not prepared enough, the transition from an Ethiopian village to a skyscraper in Dubai” is often traumatic, he said.
Recently, nearly 100,000 domestic workers were sent back to Ethiopia from Saudi Arabia and they do not have money to survive in big city like Addis Ababa. These “returning“ Ethiopian migrants are the first beneficiaries of the “consortium” project promoted by the GSF.
Changing lives
The Global Solidarity Fund is a great help to the Catholic Church which works for those who are abused, abandoned, and hopeless and for those who are most in need to come back from Arab countries or elsewhere.
Congregations receive and welcome them and offer various kinds of training to these migrants as well as socio-psychological support so they can change their lives without leaving the country.
The Salesian, Ursuline, and Mother Teresa sisters, and the Jesuit Refugee Service, do not only provide shelters but also teach the migrants, refugees, and IDPs new skills.
Single mothers are able to entrust their children to the sisters and go to classes to learn different skills for work. Some have been able to start their own small self-employment ventures. Others are employed in various companies in Addis Ababa.
Cardinal Souraphiel said he wants this project to continue and to focus not only its efforts here in Addis Ababa but also in other places. There is a similar effort in Meki, but he added, it can also be carried out in other dioceses.
Significant results of working together
Networking, he noted, can also be a tool for collaboration with various government offices and private individuals.
This new model of local employment, the Cardinal continued, can also give hope to other young people who perhaps are dreaming of leaving the country. Thus the beneficiaries of the GSF project can explain to them that they too can stay in Ethiopia and learn in training centers to have new skills, a job, a livelihood, a dignified life.
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