Africa changes our lives

Interview with Donata Frigerio, consecrated Ordo Virginum, fidei donum of the diocese of Reggio Emilia returned from Congo

It happens, in someone’s life, that one day a question arrives unexpectedly and, suddenly, so does the answer.So it was for Donata Frigerio, born in 1962, consecrated
of the Ordo Virginum, originally from Como and fidei donum of the diocese of Reggio Emilia in Bukavu, who began her comings and goings from Africa in 1985.

“I was in my second year of university; I was studying veterinary medicine and, because I thought I wanted to work with wild animals, I went to Congo for 20 days, without even knowing where it was,” recalls Donata, who, by the law of counterpoise, has always been dedicated to promoting knowledge of it.

In that area, Fr. John Piumatti operated.

“What do you think of this experience?” he asked me. I burst into tears and, at that moment, decided that my life would be for Africa.”

After graduation and some work experience in fair trade and communications, she spent herself for her brothers and sisters in South Kivu.

Even when at a distance, periodically returning to Italy, she has been touring schools and parishes to denounce mining exploitation and that low-intensity war that continues to wear down the population.

Even when she continues to tell of “the resilience and joy of a continent that, despite everything, is capable of hope.”

For her, 2021 was the year of her stopover in Bukavu: she wanted “to stay there and share in their daily lives,” so until January 2022 she worked at a facility that takes in girls accused of witchcraft, “scapegoats whom we accompany to an understanding of their families’ difficulties and to
forgiveness.”

And he did so as a “fidei donum.” She could, in fact, have leaned on her countless contacts, but in full lockdown she asked the Bishop of Reggio Emilia to be “sent.”

“Because, in my faith journey, it was important for my Church to send me. I felt not only a responsibility to carry the Gospel with me, but also a sense of belonging. I was there representing something bigger that was following me from home.”

Now, it only remains to be clarified which home is his. Whether that of the family where he currently lives in community in Reggio Emilia or the Congo where he plans to return?

And, then, a question: What kind of Christians are we?

Who knows, the answer might change our lives too….

(PeM, July/August/22)

Source

• Popoli e Missione

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• Father Giovanni Piumatti