ESTOTE PARATI: Be Prepared!

A Chat with Don Giuseppe "Beppino" Larcher, Salesian Missionary in Ethiopia

Did you make the Scouting motto yours?
Ah yes, "Estote Parati" has always been the motto of world scouting, not only the Catholic one. It means "Be Prepared!" and during my priesthood years, there have been several and different calls, which I have always tried to answer with "I am prepared". In Ethiopia we have just started a new Salesian mission in Soddo, where I have been since the summer of 2011, but the call before that was in the year 2000, in Gambella and even earlier, in 1993, at St. Mary Salesian Center in Adwa, always in Ethiopia.

Your mission was a triangle between the Middle East, Italy and Ethiopia, where you are still working in Soddo.
As soon as I became a Salesian, when I was 19, I asked to go to a Mission among the lepers. Instead, I left for Lebanon where I was for three years and then near Bethlehem, for another 4 years, until 1969. Then the experience in Iran, at the Don Bosco College began, but the Khomeini revolution of 1979 forced us to go back to Italy where I continued my work for 14 years, between Savona and La Spezia. Finally, I received the new call in 1993 for the exciting mission in Africa: Ethiopia.

Did the scouting experience help you in being a Salesian and a missionary?
I feel that I am a scout as much as I am a Salesian. Scouting is to live the Gospel message in its authenticity and mission. Through scouting, especially in my years of service in Iran, I was able to bring in many young non-believers and direct them to know the Gospel through the activities, camping and essentiality, nature. In 1977 I participated with them in Norway at the Jamboree (a jam of boys), where we met with scouts from all over the world and we lived the concrete experiences of brotherhood and universality. However for the Khomeini regime who took over in 1979, we were "corrupters of youth" and therefore, for us there was no more room. But from those young men some vocations were born: Salesian vocations.

And then began the long Italian interlude, before Ethiopia.

The years spent in Savona and La Spezia were in effect also years of mission, although on Italian soil. I am convinced that for us being Christians it means to experience salvation, here and now, in the place where the Lord wants us to be.

Your enthusiasm and testimony, even in those years have not gone unnoticed in the eyes of the many young people that met you on their way and with whom even now you keep a direct line of communication.
"Da robur fer auxilium (come on bring some help) is something that we must strive to live always, in every place. I had the gift of meeting so many people on the margins of society, even in Italy: prisoners, drug addicts, the last and the outcasts. The needy are not only found in the Middle East or in Ethiopia, there are many at the train stations and on city streets. Young people see these things and we have a duty to try to be more of the seeds sown on earth, and not reduce our journey to that of simple wool tassels hanging from the brambles.

Let's go back to your last and current mission, the one in the land of Ethiopia.
It is the poorest country on earth. By now, I have been here for nearly two decades. At first I must admit that it was tough. In 1993, Adua lacked everything. There was no electricity and not even water to wash ourselves, the temperature was high, there was only a fence, stones and thousands of children and young people merged in deep poverty. Then with the help that was coming from Italy we started to build wells to draw water from the dry ground: the village of Don Bosco was born after a hill leveled by the force of arms and picks, and we have built up the residence, the youth center, technical school, laboratories, offices and the library. In Gambella, in southwestern Ethiopia on the border of Sudan, in 2000 when we arrived, we were confronted with savannah and jungle. The hot climate, malaria and constant clashes between different ethnic groups killed people practically every day. After 10 years now we have a beautiful church, oratory, youth center, a vocational school for construction, carpentry and mechanics, because we must not only give the daily bread but prepare young people to provide it for themselves.

What does Africa mean for the Church?

Africa is oratory, is youth, and is life! As Pope Benedict XVI used to say to us in his encyclical, Africa is a "Gift" and will give life to other continents. The Pope wants this continent to be the "Salt" of the earth and "Light" of the world. It is then that to all of the youth of the African continent we say "Estote Parati", Be Prepared!

Why this wish?

We must not forget that he who carried the cross of Jesus is Simon of Cyrene (Libya), an African. It is emblematic of the fact that the "power", the Roman soldiers, made an African carry the Cross.... Africa, the largest of the continents, colonized ... exploited ... forgotten, Africans that were sold into slavery and transported to other continents. Yes, it is with our heart that we say Estote Parati and good work to Africa: you are the youngest continent by average age; you are the future of Humanity!

What projects are you working on, at this time in the Mission?
Projects are related to families and children, to the multitude of children who flock our oratories. We need help to provide the simplest things that may seem the easiest for us who have everything, from being able to give few cookies to all of the children who visit us on Sundays, to larger and wide-ranging projects as to ensure a future through our schools where they learn trades and professions. This is why we need constant help, however small, but steady. I thank all of the people who for all these years did not interrupt their support to the Mission.