Interview with the Bishop of Pemba
The north of Mozambique has been the scene of a bloody Islamist insurgency for several years. ACN has supported the local Church throughout this time. Bishop Antonio Juliasse Ferreira Sandramo of the Diocese of Pemba was recently interviewed by ACN Portugal.
By ACN Staff
Bishop Antonio Juliasse Ferreira Sandramo. (Credit: Aid to the Church in Need)
Recently, Bishop Antonio Juliasse, the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Pemba in Mozambique, was interviewed at the office of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) in Portugal. If has been about six months since Bishop Juliasse took over the role from Bishop Luiz Fernando Lisboa. Northern Mozambique, where the Diocese of Pemba is located, has been witness to a bloody Islamist insurgency.
A church in the Diocese of Pemba destroyed by Islamists. (Credit: Aid to the Church in Need)
When asked how he felt his first six month in the Diocese of Pemba went, Bishop Juliasse said the following:
“A favourable one, on balance, because on the various fronts the diocese is working on I have been able to make some contribution. I arrived one month after the attack on the town of Palma, an event that increased the sense of insecurity throughout the province of Cabo Delgado. That event left us all very shaken. There were many phone calls from the general superiors of the religious congregations, wondering whether it would be advisable or not to withdraw their members from the diocese of Pemba. I believe we got through that time together, and it was good to find a way in the darkness and good that God was with us at that moment, helping us to make a deeper discernment. Good also to discover this deeper perspective of our mission and our Christian commitment, and our response likewise to the dimension of martyrdom – since nobody goes looking for martyrdom, yet it is something that can happen at any moment.”
Bishop Juliasse said that the security situation in northern Mozambique has been improving, but the situation is far from secure. The bishop said that he does not advise people to return yet to areas previously controlled by insurgents.
Refugees in Mozambique. (Credit: Aid to the Church in Need)
Bishop Juliasse details the psychological support the Church has been offering to the people:
“The Church is very involved in this work of psychological support. We have trained teams going into all the places where the refugees are living. We understand that it is not always easy to do, since psychological support of this kind requires rather more dedication and what we call “walking together”, and there are so many people involved. We simply don’t have the physical capacity to accompany everyone at the same time. But wherever we do go, we identify those who most need support and then held in a dedicated manner. At the same time, our psychological and social support also involves the strengthening of the existing family and community networks, so that these networks can also function as a means of healing for their members.”
Bishop Juilasse went on to describe other needs of displaced people:
“I myself visited a refugee camp (resettlement camp) in the district of Palama, where I saw many families stretched out in the darkness of their homes. I went to see them and found that they were ill. I asked them if they had been to the medical aid centre and were taking their medication, and they all told me that they had been, but they didn’t have any medication there. This is also an urgent aspect of our aid programme, because otherwise there could be an outbreak of certain diseases in the refugee camps and then we would have a really serious problem on our hands.
As far as food aid is concerned, the people eat one day, and next day they need food again, and so it continues. It’s not something you can give once only; it has to be ongoing, until the families are able to support themselves. The sowing time will start soon, with the rains, especially the maize, yucca, and the other staple food crops. We have to make sure that the families have the necessary means, and this involves having a mattock, an axe, everything they need to work the fields. But at the same time we also have to make sure they have enough land to grow their crops on.”
Bishop Juilasse also detailed the spiritual care the Church is offering:
“The other priority for us as a Church is their spiritual support. The psychological support is already ongoing, but we now also have to focus on spiritual support. This is a priority for the Church and requires a pastoral outreach involving the integration of the refugees in the Christian and religious life of the places where they find themselves. There are tensions between the local people and those who have welcomed the refugees. This is also one of the aspects where the Church has a role to play, starting with the local Christian leaders and influencing the local leaders to promote a climate of friendly coexistence between the refugees and those who were already living in the area.”
The bishop wished to pass on his thanks to the benefactors of ACN for the support we have been able to offer to the Church in Mozambique:
“On behalf of the diocese of Pemba and all the people of Cabo Delgado, I would like to thank you for all the financial aid we have received and all the particular ways you have helped, and also all the help that we have received through what we cannot see, namely your prayers.”