He is Riccardo Racca, Salesian Brother, born in 1954, who shared with “La Fedeltà” (a weekly) a dip into his past as a boy who grew up between his parents' grocery store and rotisserie and the parish courtyard, passing through elementary school and girls with their playmates.
While carrying out his mission as a son of Don Bosco, involved in the management of the vocational school and the oratory, Bro. Riccardo Racca goes visiting young people in their cell without trial and without any educational accompaniment. Occasionally a "miracle" occurs, such as the case of a boy missing one leg who managed to get treatment by obtaining permits to leave prison, overcoming shyness and just accepting things. Now, having served his sentence, he is free to move and face life taking his destiny in hand.
The expert gaze of the farmer led Salesian Brother Racca to explore the possibilities of enhancing a plant used by the local population for food purposes. This was the moringa, also called the "radish tree", up to 7 metres in height and eminently exploitable. The roots are edible, the leaves are tasty, the tender pods can be used in salads, the seeds also provide oil used for cosmetics. What is important is that its properties can be a response to the dietary needs of large communities: the vitamins, proteins, calcium, antioxidants that moringa contains are valuable additives, also through the drying of the leaves that makes them durable, becoming condiments or herbal tea bases.
This plant was referred to as a “superfood” in 2022 thanks to the promotional activity that Bro. Racca started a few years ago. He made use of his regular visits to Italy and Europe to study it, consider the possibilities of extensive cultivation in Sierra Leone, and make contact with experts and potential buyers of moringa powder.
The dream is in fact that the farmers in Bo, currently a group of about twenty families in a cooperative run by the mission, can produce and treat the product for export as well: this trade would thus become a first step towards the self-sustainability of the Salesian presence. From this resources could be added to those that already today many benefactors entrust to Missioni Don Bosco to defend the most fragile young people: the future foresees the strengthening of the vocational school, socio-educational services, the formation of new Salesians to give a future to the congregation in Sierra Leone.
When returning from time to time, Bro. Riccardo Racca finds his sister in Piasco, who is the family anchor and spiritual support once also provided by his parents, and the new members of the Salesian work in Fossano and his fellow students who have become professionals. He finds the resources there to nurture his dream that advances - as the Holy Founder did - with feet on the ground. The Piedmontese Association of Past Pupils of Salesian Schools has enthusiastically embraced this project. The “miracle” will be the first container that will be filled in Bo to export moringa in its various forms instead of leaving Italy to bring aid.
Source: La Fedeltà
