Democratic Republic of Congo – An appeal to help people fleeing war

08 November 2022

(ANS - Goma) - News and photos are coming in from Goma. The war between the regular armed forces and the rebels of the M23 group (accused of being supported by some neighboring countries) has caused thousands of people to flee towards the city. The suffering and dying are mostly women and children. Since this situation is perhaps little known in the world, missionaries active in the Democratic Republic of Congo decided to re-release the message of the Provincial Delegate for the Eastern Zone of the Central Africa Province (AFC-EST), who resides in Goma, and with it some sufficiently eloquent photos.

"We have just returned from a patrol completed as far as Kilimanyoka to learn about the conditions of the people displaced by the war, who are still without assistance, and especially the situation of the displaced youth and children.

We also went to Kanyarucinya parish for a discussion with the pastor who has already referred an orphan to our 'Don Bosco Ngangi' center. It is difficult to witness, unable to intervene, the misery to which so many innocent people are being forced. There are more than 2,500 displaced and homeless families.

That is why I ask you, dear brethren who are in Goma, to be open and willing, according to your possibilities (and as a community) to do something for the displaced youth, in collaboration with the Project Office of the AFC-EST Delegation.

The time has come when we must go out to meet the youth, our target recipients, in the existential peripheries. I invite you to go and see for yourself so that you can see this for yourselves.

And at the same time, I ask you to be careful and avoid going out at night, because the war is already less than 40 km from Goma.

Let us unite in prayer for peace in the East of our country.

Fr. Aurélien Mukangwa, Delegate for AFC-EST."

At the conclusion of this appeal, Salesian missionaries in the Democratic Republic of Congo comment and reiterate, "Let us make this situation known and, according to our possibilities, let us bring humanitarian aid and call for peace in the Great Lakes region. And let us pray both for the victims of this situation, and for those in power."

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