(Read the browseable version)

The Rotary Club awarded 100 million to Monsignor Cesare Mazzolari the other night for the Mapuordit health centre, which is intended to accommodate 2200 young people and 157 lepers serving a wide range of users within a radius of 150 kilometres. It is the first half of the sum promised. To the Rotarians of the Brescia Centro Club and the members of the Innerwill, gathered together to address the theme “Women in Islam”, Monsignor Mazzolari proposed a further objective: “We must bring women to be respected: it will be a long road, we must do it together and for this we must take a greater ownership of our culture.

“Culture “is something dynamic, it is an identity that we must reinterpret,” said during the meeting Professor Milena Santerini of the Catholic University of Milan – The problem of women divides us from Muslims, but certain practices are more tied to culture than to religion. The subordination of women exists, but it is a bit typical of the Mediterranean area. There are 700,000 Muslims in Italy, women are between two cultures. They come for family reunion, they live in the shadows. They offer us the challenge of welcome, education and understanding”.

Islamic law, observes Giuseppe Eid Samir, is the “source of the legal system, in an armoured society, in which one can enter but from which one cannot leave. The woman cannot judge a man, she inherits half of a brother and the Christian woman does not inherit from her Muslim husband”. All this is part of a cultural heritage. Our first task is to recognize differences, indispensable for dialogue. Migrations give us an opportunity: that of impressing a greater spiritualization on our lives.  For our part, we can make the value of religious freedom known. Regarding the promotion of the human values we can foster dialogue, but we must commit ourselves to being “agents of change”. Fanaticism can come from “ignorance, indoctrination and frustration”.

The other night meeting was introduced by the president of Brescia Centro, Luigi Magnani and the president of Innerwhill, Luciana Bertoli, the governor Angelo Borgese and the president of the Province, Alberto Cavalli. Professor Gianfranco Callegari proposed the service budget for Monsignor Mazzolari’s mission in South Sudan, a service that has involved many clubs and has already raised 130 million. The commitment of the Comboni Fathers is “Save Africa with Africa”, that is the motto of their founder. “It’s a long way, we need to train people: we will make it,” says the Bishop of Rumbek, today more confident, after the European resolution for Sudan: “I’m beginning to see more light; our hoarse voice is reaching more hearts and more minds”.

Giuseppe Samir Eid

Free web translation from the original in Italian

The published articles intend to provide the tools for a social inclusion of the migratory flow, shed light on human rights and the condition of life of Christians in the Islamic world from which the author come from. Knowledge of the other, of cultural and religious differences are primary ingredients to create peace in the hearts of men everywhere, a prerequisite for a peaceful coexistence and convinced citizenship in the territory.