“We, Fr. Buratti, the children of the educational summer camp and myself, are in Kafroun, about 40 km from the Lebanese border. Unfortunately we are stuck here: we were supposed to return on Tuesday 9, but we cannot, because Aleppo is for the nth time a besieged city,” Fr. Pier Jabloyan, SDB, recounts.
Yet, even in this situation Fr. Jabloyan manages to find reasons for hope and gratitude: “In this situation I see how beautiful it is to be a family concerned with the needs of others and to share not only our joy, but also our sufferings and pains: for instance, after our group, there should have been the summer camp of the Salesians of Damascus, but they decided to postpone the date because now we need the house. We hope to be able to return to our city as soon as possible”.
The major concern now is exactly for the families that remained in Aleppo, the besieged city, “whre prices increase very much, and where we lack the minimum of public services, water, electricity, gasoline, gas, bread, vegetables...” Fr. Jabloyan added.
The Salesian oratory in Aleppo, under the guidance of Georges Fattal, SDB, continues its service, but the situation in the city remains distressing: the frail positive signs, like the three-hour daily ceasefire to distribute water and humanitarian aids to the population, are nullified by the sad news of new attacks with chlorine-filled barrel bombs.
