(ANS - Rome) - "Missionary life is beautiful. There is the challenge of living the vocation as Don Bosco wanted us to, showing a joyful holiness. As a missionary I have grown a lot in my vocation; I would do it forever." So says Fr George Chalissery, a missionary in Africa for twenty-five years, currently Superior of Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Namibia (ZMB).
Fr Chalissery is not a simple missionary. Originally from the Province of Bangalore in India, he came to East Africa in the early '90s working in Kenya and Tanzania. He became Provincial in East Africa before assuming the leadership of the ZMB Vice-Province.
Among the most significant developments of his term in office in Kenya was the start of the Salesian missionary presence in the huge refugee camp of Kakuma. He recalls that "The Provincial Chapter of 1998 decided to start work with refugees fleeing from southern Sudan to escape the war and forced recruitment. So in 1999 we opened a centre inside the camp... It was a special work from the beginning because we had three technical schools and a parish within the camp, while the other agencies usually left every evening."
Similarly, he was to revive the Salesian work in southern Sudan, which had been active from 1982 to 1986, but was then blocked when Fr James Pulickal was kidnapped by the SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army). "They hoped a ransom would be paid and they held him for eighteen months. They took him with them to the border with Ethiopia, a distance of almost 1500 km. We did not even know if he was alive. Eventually he was released thanks to the intervention of the Apostolic Nuncios in Ethiopia and India and Sudan. By coincidence, he was the one to reopen the Salesian works in southern Sudan, about ten years after those events."
Today in the ZMB Vice-Province Fr Chalissery is leading a flowering of the Salesian charism. "The Salesians are in high demand in the dioceses, because there are many young people in these countries; unfortunately we cannot accommodate all the requests" he says. The spirituality of Don Bosco is spread mainly through the many parishes and youth centres, although there are also two technical schools and three secondary schools. Vocations are flourishing. There are almost sixty Salesians currently in formation. "During the Bicentenary year 93 Salesian Cooperators made their promise. In a few years the number of local centres has gone from four to eight."
However, there is no shortage of challenges. "The major problems are youth unemployment, the superficial lifestyle and low self-esteem of many young people, and sometimes they seek an escape in the virtual world... and even at the family level there are many needs, with many broken families."
Fr Chalissery asks the Salesians to be authoritative witnesses for those young people, and he recalls some of the points highlighted in the 27th General Chapter: "Strengthen community life, be attentive to economic transparency and be full of zeal for God and young people."
Published 9/10/2015
