In Ndosho, one of the large, difficult suburbs of Goma – in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo – the house of the Little Daughters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary of Parma is a small paradise immersed in a beautiful garden full of flowers. At the entrance, the first thing that strikes the eye is a large colorful banner reading “Karibu”, welcome. Sister Rosina Rocci80 years old and with a wonderful smile, welcomes you with a good coffee prepared with a mocha and excellent biscuits made by you. «Here in Goma we are four sisters, I am the only Italian, the other three are Congolese», she explains. The residence of the Little Daughters is next to the parish of San Francesco Xavier and the mission of the Xaverian fathers. An area dominated by insecurity, violence, crime, where going out alone, even during the day, is risky. And at night sleep is often interrupted by the sound of gunshots, in clashes between police and criminals. The armed conflict in North Kivu has certainly worsened the situation, but street crime often has to do with local, neighborhood issues and score-settling.
«I arrived on a mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1981, 43 years ago, immediately after the Little Daughters began their mission in this country», remembers Sister Rosina, who is of Abruzzo origin but spent many years in Parma. «We were already in Latin America before, but I have always had a particular attraction for Africa, I thought that here I would experience my missionary life much more». In Italy Sister Rosina became a nurse. I then studied Tropical Medicine in Belgium.
Her first destination: Fizi, in South Kivu, where she remained for almost 15 years. «When the first Congo war broke out in 1996 (which put an end to General Mobutu’s regime), she and her sister nuns were in Uvira, on Lake Tanganyika, almost on the border with Burundi and they were told not to return to Fizi because the armed conflict had reached there. «I stayed in Uvira for another twenty years, then for three years in Bukavu, still in South Kivu. Finally in 2020 I arrived in Goma. In Fizi I ran the state hospital with a sister, which had been managed by the diocesethe. I also worked in the operating room alongside the surgeon. One of my tasks was also take care of the Busimba leper colony, a real village where old lepers lived – that is, those who had contracted the disease long ago – together with their families, isolated from the rest of the world, with their schools for children and the church for the celebration of mass. With the advancement of treatments, even then recently infected lepers were no longer forced into isolation, removed from the rest of the world: thanks to the new drugs the sick were treated immediately and after a week they could return to their homes, from their families, because they were no longer contagious. Once a month I reached the lepers in the village of Busimba: I brought them medicines, palliative drugs, I treated their wounds.”
Even in Uvira, Sister Rosina continued to deal with leprosy, but there was no leper colony there like Busimba. «In Goma for two years I taught in our “Anna Micheli” school which deals with the recovery of street children and orphans. I taught knowledge of the body, putting my experience as a nurse into practice. Then I taught religion. Now I hold training meetings on life care with the group of mothers who follow the literacy courses. I teach these women how to prevent diseases, how to respect good hygiene practices, how to treat malaria and various infections. I raise their awareness of gynecological issues, which they know very little about. Many of them ask me to explain how to plan pregnancies using natural methods, especially the Billings method. Many years ago at the Gemelli in Rome I followed studies on fertility for three years and I have always taken care of sterile couples.” Here, when a woman is unable to have children – explains Rosina nuns – she is a victim of discrimination and is treated like a slave by her husband and family, as if not having children was a sin or a shame. «But often, when carrying out analyses, it turned out that the problem was linked to the man’s fertility. I have helped many women get pregnant.”
Sister Rosina’s thoughts go to Luca Attanasio, the Italian ambassador killed on 22 February 2021 in an ambush near Goma, near the village of Kibumba, while traveling with a World Food Program convoy towards Rutshuru. Together with him, the escort carabiniere Vittorio Iacovacci and the driver Mustapha Milambo were also killed. «The evening before his death, Attanasio was in Goma and had gathered all of us Italians in the city for a dinner at the Mediterranée hotel. He had spoken to each of us, because he was interested in everyone and if he understood that there was a need he would work to solve the problem. The next day, when I heard about the killing, I burst into tears, I couldn’t believe it. It was a terrible loss. Since I have been in Congo, I think he has been the ambassador who has dealt more than anyone with the eastern part of the country. He visited regularly every year, in North and South Kivu. When he traveled to Bukavu he always went to the Xaverian fathers.” Sister Rosina still remembers, moved: «Luca was a man of faith, rich in humanity, sensitive, attentive first of all to others, to the poorest. He wanted to keep himself informed about all of us Italians. When the Covid pandemic broke out he managed to organize a flight for the repatriation of his compatriots who wanted to return home.”
And he adds: «The evening before his death, when we were at dinner, Luca told us that a few months later his mission in Kinshasa would end and he didn’t know if they would renew it. When I said goodbye to him, before leaving, I approached him and said: “Ambassador, I really hope you stay here.” He smiled at me and blew me a kiss with his hand. Well, that’s the last memory I have of Luca.”
(In the photo, Sister Rosina Rocci, 80 years old)
