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Scheckübergabe an
Pater Mario Porto
Grußwort von Pater Mario Porto
Oberkochen 17.10.2009
Dear
Christians and Friends of Oberkochen,
We have seen each other last year, but I hope it may not have done
any harm to have seen each other again this year. I have come home
in Europe because my father is going to celebrate his 100th
birthday on 29th October: he has written a letter to my
superiors asking me to be with him on this special occasion, and my
superiors have granted me permission.
But to
you in Oberkochen I come always in the name of the people of
Kariobangi Parish, with whom we pray for you in thanksgiving for all
that you have done for us, and in the hope that our bonds of faith
and generosity may not be broken. I felt the need and I was happy to
have the opportunity of knowing your new Parish Priest, Pater
Andreas Macho: it will be easier to communicate also with him from
Africa.
However,
my presence here was meant to refresh and keep alive your memory
for the people of Kariobangi: without seeing each other, our memory
fades away, and people can become simple works of our imagination. I
am here also praying with you so that our memory may become a
memorial in Christ: with my Christian community of St. Martin we
pray three masses every Sunday, and in each we make memory also of
you, so that your faith, hope and love may never diminish.
I have
seen that the level of our communication and information has
diminished in these 2-3 years: we understand the reasons. But we are
also afraid that this may indicate that the level of our
communion may diminish. If we, Oberkochen and Kariobangi,
are going to diminish our communion and solidarity, we shall all
become poorer, spiritually and materially. We need each other, if we
want to overcome our selfishness and become ever more
“Catholics”, open to the world.
Some of
you are eager to know about the present situations of life in
Kenya.
1. The
Climatic Changes are the most serious cause of problems in Kenya.
The Rainy Seasons are unpredictable,
and the consequences are:
1.
the water
stored in the great basins has
finished;
2.
even in Nairobi,
4 million people, water and electricity are rationed: we have
water one day and night per week– we do not have electricity three
days per week;
3.
industrial-commercial-communication activities
are paralysed;
4.
lack of water
blocks even the small industries or activities, bringing
unemployment where before there was personal and creative
initiative;
5.
hygiene
is more difficult to be kept, and so diseases spread easily:
cholera, malaria, AIDS, respiratory diseases (dust is
everywhere, and we cannot stop breathing it-ecological
disaster), physical weakness and no resistance to diseases;
6.
loss of
agricultural products and especially
of the basic foodstuff;
7.
terrible
increment of prices, especially of food;
8.
lack of grass
has brought death to hundred thousands of livestock among the
pastoralists. This has caused hunger for the people, and loss of
their capital goods, destroying even their culture and way of
living.
9.
children out of
school: many children do not go to school in order to go to look for
water, kilometres far away.
2. School activities:
it is difficult to run institutions
with hundred/thousand people without water; water harvesting is a
must, excavating new underground tanks to preserve water.
3.
Conflicts:
economic for the possession of land/forests;
Tribal-political for the possession of
power;
Social: because the differences between
the few rich & the many poor have
increased, and bring anger to those
who can barely survive, eating once a day,
what they can scarcely afford.
4.
Solidarity:
do not
forget us; do not forget your responsibility as Christians….
Zusammenfassung des englischen
Originaltextes:
Behaltet Kariobangi in Eurem
Bewusstsein!
Anlässlich seines Besuches während unseres diesjährigen
Kirchweihfestes rief uns Pater Mario in seinem Grußwort geradezu
auf, unsere Verbindung zu Kariobangi wach zu halten. So wie während
der drei sonntäglichen Messen in Kariobangi im Gebet unserer
Kirchengemeinde gedacht wird, bittet Pater Mario um unser Gebet und
unsere anhaltende Unterstützung für die Menschen in unserer
Partnergemeinde. Er schildert uns die aktuelle, von großer Not
geprägte Situation vor Ort.
Die
klimatischen Bedingungen in Kenia verursachen die größten Probleme:
Aufgrund des Regenmangels sind die Wasservorräte erschöpft, in der
4-Millionen-Stadt Nairobi werden Wasser und Elektrizität rationiert
(wir erhalten pro Woche 1 Tag und 1 Nacht Wasser, an 3 Tagen der
Wochen haben wir keinen Strom). Der Wassermangel hemmt die kleinen
wie die großen Unternehmen, daraus resultiert eine weiter steigende
Arbeitslosigkeit. Hygienische Mindeststandards können nicht mehr
eingehalten werden und Krankheiten wie Cholera, Malaria, AIDS und
andere verbreiten sich einfach und noch schneller. Agrarprodukte,
besonders die Grundnahrungsmittel sind kaum mehr vorhanden und die
Lebensmittelpreise steigen ins Unermessliche. Da kein Gras mehr
wächst, stirbt das Vieh zu Hunderttausenden. Die Menschen leiden
nicht nur Hunger, sondern sie verlieren auch ihre ganze
Lebensgrundlage; selbst ihre Kultur, ihre Art zu leben, wird
zerstört. Und vor allem auch die sozialen Unterschiede zwischen den
wenigen Reichen und den vielen Armen nehmen zu und sorgen für
steigenden Zorn unter den Menschen, die kaum überleben können, da
sie nicht genügend zu Essen haben. Seinen Dank an unsere
Kirchengemeinde für die große Hilfe beendet Pater Mario mit dem Ruf
: "Bitte vergesst uns nicht, bitte zeigt weiterhin Eure Solidarität,
Eure Verantwortung als Christen".
Ihre MEF-Gruppe
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