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Sexual violence in war is no longer a mere act of savagery. It is more and more a weapon deliberately used and, in some cases, an instrument of ethnic cleansing. Rape is nowadays a crime against humanity and treated as such when it is possible to find and prosecute the perpetrators. Victims are often double victims: raped and rejected by their families or communities.
For years, an American journalist and author has been following the work of the Salesian Sisters
in Bangalore Province, India. He got so impressed by their relentless efforts to serve the poorest
of the poor, that he created a charitable foundation to help them. He states: “Their orphanages are places of safety and laughter for street and slum girls who have finally found a refuge. The girls’ parents have died of AIDS, some were abandoned and arrived, not even knowing their names; too many were sexually exploited, but now their future is bright.” In a recent report, he explains the reasons for his deep admiration for and commitment to the Salesian Sisters.
The hospital and midwifery school of Kalongo, in Uganda, celebrated their 50th anniversary this year. It is impossible to speak about these extraordinary projects, that “miraculously” survived the ravages of a tragic war, without mentioning their founder, Comboni Fr. Dr. Joseph Ambrosoli, who, for the love of the sick and the poor, gave his life to build and defend the projects. The process of canonization of this Comboni missionary is now underway.
She was 25 when she decided to run away from home to follow her missionary vocation. Assigned to the Sudan, in little more than a decade, Sr. Lucia revealed herself to be “a force of nature” in the field of education. This attracted the enmity of the Muslim authorities who expelled her from the country ahead of the largest expulsion of Christian missionaries in the 20th century. After only two months, she was starting afresh in Karamoja, Uganda, where she was to spend the next 40 years of her life. She became an institution: her Kangole Girls’ School rescued hundreds of girls from the traditional position of servitude and ignorance. She was a true “woman of the Gospel.”
“Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and salute no one on the road.” (Luke 10:4)
