Dec17
Father Renato Sesana, known to everybody
in Kenya as Father Kizito, has received a prestigious award assigned every year
in December by the Lombardy Region in Italy for “Peace and Solidarity”.
The motivation reads :”With over thirty years of intense work done in Africa
struggling for justice, human rights, democracy and peace, he is committed to
supporting constructive dialogue and mutual respect among peoples, and to assure
that everyone can have a dignified life”.
Last December 13, in
Milan, Father Venanzio Milani, who in the past had been Vice Superior General of
the Comboni, collected the award, with goes with a 10,000 euros cash (something
more than a million Kenya shillings) on his behalf, since Father Kizito was the
same day in Tone la Maji, one of the homes for former street children he has
started around Nairobi, as usually busy with new projects and programs. That is
where we met and interviewed him.
Father Kizito, what does this award mean
to you?
It is important to me because it is given by the
Lombardy Region, the region of my people, of my parents, of those who have
taught me with their daily example the values of dedication, work, sacrifice,
honesty and simplicity of life, generosity, respect and service the weak and the
poor. On these values I have built my life, when Jesus, on the shore of the lake
of Lecco, my town of origin, invited me to follow him “to the ends of the
earth.” While aware of my shortcomings, I have not ever regretted it. Even in
the darkest moments, I always thanked God for calling me to be open to others,
to the world, and to work humbly, along with millions to others, for the growth
of a new people.
Looking back, how do you see the years
you spent in Africa? Was time well spent?
The recognition of the validity of the roots from
which I come would be a foolish attitude if incapable of recognizing the values
I have leaned form my African friends.
With them, I learned to be a brother to all, and
with joy, when I visit Italy, I recognize as my brother the African immigrant in
Lecco. We did the opposite journey, affirming in different ways the same right
to be at home anywhere in the world. Our shared humanity unites us well beyond
the things that could divide us. When I return to Lecco, and I happen to catch a
train early in the morning to go to Bergamo, Brescia, Milan, I feel to be back
to when I took the train to go to work to the motorcycle factory at the time of
my youth. Today on those early morning trains there are people from all over the
world who make work the economy that was built up by my grandparents. There is
continuity and a communion which are invisible only to those who do not want to
see.
But immigrants in Italy are often
regarded with suspicion, if not with hostility…
Solidarity is not such if it is not open to
everyone, always and everywhere. The boundaries of solidarity are the boundaries
of humanity. The economic crisis that we are experiencing in Italy cannot
possibly be read as an invitation to live more fraternally, leaving the position
of privilege, and exploitation of others, in which history has put us? Today we
have to accept that if we really want justice and solidarity we must have them
for all the people of the world, without boundaries.
You are well known also for having
brought the attention of the world to the Nuba people, about fifteen years ago.
Are you still engaged in that area?
Certainly. Now we have registered a Koinonia Nuba
in Juba, South Sudan. Koinonia is the name of the community I have already
established here in Nairobi and in Zambia. Now we want to assist the Nuba
refugees who were forced to flee to South Sudan.
What are peace and
solidarity?
If we start giving theoretical definition we will
never end and we will get more confused. Instead in recent years in Nairobi I
have learned that if I want to grow, I have to let the children teach me the
way. They at times seem to live in a dream world, where only to love and be
loved count, but then they are capable of extraordinary concreteness. Yesterday
I asked a group of children just rescued from the streets of Kibera, the
largest slum in Nairobi, who are now living in a house of first asylum, what is
the time of day when they feel more at peace. I told them that their response
would serve to explain to people who live far what peace means in Nairobi. The
response of Ismail, aged 7, was: “When we eat together, and we must not fight to
grab a little more food. There is food for everyone, and we share it. This is
peace.” That is the best definition of peace and solidarity I ever heard.
You are a priest. How do you link your
spiritual mission with your charitable work?
You see, in Ismail’s answer there is the whole
mystery of the incarnate spirit that is the human person, his present, and the
eternity that is already in him. With Ismail and others like him you understand
the meaning of communion. The goods are meaningful only if they are signs and
instruments of fraternity. Only in this way life is lived in truth: a gift
shared with others. Jesus must inspire us all on how to attend to the needs of
the whole person. Don Primo Mazzolari, a spiritual guide to many priests of my
generation in Italy, once wrote: “We have to give everything, and fast, because
the day is short and the creatures are in such need of a little love”.
Can you tell us how you will use the
million plus Kenya shillings you have received?
No secret. Everything will go into scholarships
to the youth who grew up in Koinonia homes around Nairobi and have completed
form four a few weeks ago.
By Staff -Afronline.org
