Erminio de Santis has been active for over 20 years in the Clairvaux mission, as it is commonly called, and has sent a letter in these days in which he describes the mission and its satisfactions. The missionary writes:
"Let me tell you about a recent episode: a young man who graduated last year, his name is Rivo, came along with his twin Rija. Rivo attended the electricians course and Rija attended the car mechanics course. He told me that his brother works as a mechanic, while he and all his classmates, who had done the internship in a large electrical company, now work there with a regular contract, and that the company, which is looking for other workers, has already booked those coming from this year's course!
It is news that cheers the heart, thinking above all of the circumstances of these young people when they leave: Rivo and Rija were forced to leave home still young because of their alcoholic, violent and unemployed father, while their mother, who is sick, was unable to support the family. They live with their grandmother in a small house that only has the name of being a home... but now they have become the support of the family, to their great satisfaction!"
Fr de Santis a Salesian originally from Borgo Velino, Central Italy, has been active for 40 years in the Salesian missions in Madagascar. In these four decades he has totally spent all efforts on young Malagasy, serving in the Mary Immaculate Vice-Province of Madagascar (MDG) in different ways and with a great variety of assignments – he has also been Economer, Delegate for Social Communication, Superior and Councillor. For 20 years he has worked at the Salesian Notre Dame de Clairvaux centre in Ivato which is also the first centre where he arrived 40 years ago.
"In all the work I did I tried to spend myself for the good of these poor boys and the people of the place where I was" Fr de Santis says. "In these years in mission I have never lost the joy of working as a missionary, nor the hope of seeing the Congregation flourish, despite the difficulties of all kinds that I encountered along the way."
Fr de Santis arrived on the great Red Island in 1983, after looking after the Santa Maria Ausiliatrice oratory in Rome. "Initially it was not easy, due to the shock caused by the cultural and social leap upon arrival in a completely different world completely unknown to me, indeed unthinkable!" he says. I am still amazed today, talking to the boys, at discovering their ways of seeing things, of reasoning, of understanding family relationships ".
"But I am increasingly convinced that the Gospel of Jesus and the Charism of Don Bosco are also for them" he says. The Salesian Congregation has a beautiful future here, where we don't have to go looking for the most needy young people because they come to us with determination and with great and sincere hope."
Concluding his reflections, Fr de Santis said: "It was hard to work in a country that is struggling to get out of serious poverty and build a rule of law. But I was able to count on the help of the people, who have always perceived us as friends, benefactors of their children, priests dedicated to ecclesial service, promoters of development initiatives and accompaniment of the people in the missions entrusted to us. Now this people and this culture are becoming my cultural and spiritual heritage.”
For more information, visit: www.missionidonbosco.org
