George Biguzzi, a native Italian, has been living in West African Sierra Leone for 25 years, the last 11 of these as a bishop in a bloody civil war. Eleven years of war have influenced the nature of his work but he has never abandoned his cheerful nature.
During the years of war he worked untiringly. He set up camps for tens of thousands of refugees, developed healing programs for former child soldiers and succeeded again and again in forcing rebels and government to sit down at the negotiating table and was never afraid to condemn both sides for their atrocities. His motivation: "The victims are innocent. Over a million refugees, over 100,000 dead and mutilated. Their fate breaks my heart. We have to protect these innocent people because they have been enslaved by criminals."
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Bishop Biguzzi negotiates with the rebels. | Last year Bishop Biguzzi organized a meeting between the Christian and Muslim religious leaders in his bishopric of Makeni which he had not been allowed to enter for more than two years. "We drew up a joint letter," he recalls, "and we personally handed this letter to the rebel general, Issa." A step which is said to have caused the rebels to finally agree to disarmament.
The war however did not spare the bishop. During an attempt to liberate child soldiers, "rebels fell upon us and tore off everything we had: watches, rings, belts, shoes, jeans, everything. They shot bullets to just barely miss our feet." The stolen ring was his bishop’s ring which he had received in 1987. Fearlessly he complained to the rebel chief and, contrary to all his expectations, he received the pope’s gift back within three days.
Bishop Biguzzi is deeply grateful to catechists. He was the only one to send catechists to the African synod in Rome. "Without the catechists there could be no effective church in Africa," he explains. "So why should only clerics ever be allowed to speak?"
"During the war these men and women founded completely new parishes in priestless regions where there never had been any Christians," he reports enthusiastically. And these were not just individual cases. "It may sound a little exaggerated," he summarizes, "but the catechists are the pillars of our church."
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Bishop Biguzzi and the children.
Their school is built with bamboo
and roofed with grass. | On the route to Kenema the bishop makes a stop at a school named "Bishop Biguzzi School". The unexpected visitor causes an uproar. Nothing will keep the pupils in their classes. Abdula Kargbo, 32, introduces himself as the teacher. He founded the school and is fed by the parents of the 125 children. "Although I am a Muslim," he says, "I love the Catholic Church. I went to a Catholic school myself and I would like my own children to attend a Catholic school."
A group of blind people spends the day in the shadow of a mango tree. Children play on the square. Bishop Biguzzi jokes with the children and then sits down for a chat with the men. Before he leaves they suggest: "Bishop, let us pray together," and one of the Muslims raises his hands and begins praying to Allah. And then the "Our Father". In the same posture and with the same devotion, the same men pray together, out of a conviction that "there is only one God for all people," as the prayer leader tells us.
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Bishop Biguzzi-compassionate and caring. | Although the working day of George Biguzzi is determined by emergency and catastrophe aid, there is always time for Mass and prayer. "Spirituality must teach us to see everything that happens with the eyes of faith," he says, explaining his attitude which gives him visible strength. "We see the tragedy, the suffering of the people but this also offers us a chance to be witnesses for Christ for the refugees and the children, the wounded, the rebels." And he sees a chance, particularly for the priests, "to rediscover what is truly important through simplicity." The new simplicity "has brought us closer to the people."
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