Meetings with the Superior of the Mary Help of Christians Vice-Province of Mozambique (MOZ), Fr Adolfo Sarmento De Jesus, with other Salesians and lay people in MOZ's works, the staff of the Provincial Planning and Development Office, the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Luís Miguel Muñoz Cárdaba, together with stops at the Italian Embassy in the country and visits to the communities in Maputo, Matola, Inharrime, Matundo, Moatize allowed Fr Barone and Fr Pietro Bianchi, who accompanied him, to carry out a first feasibility analysis of projects in the context offered by the Mattei Plan.
The social tensions of these post-election weeks in the country are evident in the streets, the atmosphere of control and in demonstrations led by the people. The elections, officially won by the Frelimo government party with 71% of the votes, saw Venancio Mondlane's "Podemos" party get 20% and "Renamo", the historic Mozambican opposition party, 6%.
Ossufo Momade, Renamo's presidential candidate, denounced irregularities, including alleged vote manipulation, detention of opposition candidates and non-transparent electoral counting. Protests have led to violent clashes in several cities and victims and kidnappings have been reported. Tensions have led to the intermittent closure of the main border with South Africa, further aggravating the situation.
As always in these cases, young people are the ones who are most exposed, and who feel the desire for change, so the commitment of the Salesians becomes even more urgent in standing with them and providing concrete possibilities for education, instruction, vocational training, spiritual and material accompaniment.
