Mercy: Christians and Muslims visit prisoners
Marking World Week for Inter-religious Harmony, youth groups have organized various charitable activities. PIME missionary: "The prisoners take turns to sleep, there are not enough beds. Thanks to the meeting with young people they experience dialogue and witness from inside their cells".
Zamboanga (AsiaNews) - A group of Christians and Muslims are making visits to Zamboanga prison, one of the most crowded in the Philippines, to educate inmates to dialogue and tolerance, calling them to witness from within their cells.
This is one of many initiatives organized for World Week for religious harmony (Feb. 1-7), an initiative sought by the UN in 2010 to celebrate the coexistence of different religions.
Fr Sebastiano D'Ambra - PIME missionary and founder of Silsilah, a group for interreligious dialogue - explains that in Zamboanga (Mindanao) the initiative is significant because it is one of the most multicultural cities in the Philippines (40% of the population is Muslim).
"We have a busy schedule - says the missionary - every day there are meetings and activities. The first day we discussed the document A Common Word, the letter that 138 Muslim leaders addressed to Benedict XVI in 2007, which is essential and is a veritable Magna Carta of dialogue. "
Alongside the work of Muslim and Christian leaders, who will alternate throughout the week, says Fr. D'Ambra, "every day is dedicated to one activity in particular: a blood donation, a visit the sick in the hospital, a visit to the hospices ...".
"Yesterday morning in particular - continues the priest - a group of Muslim and Christian youths went to Zamboanga prison, known for drug crimes. The young people met the detainees and asked them about their concept of harmony. They were then invited to make drawings and write stories and songs with the theme of peace among religions. It's nice to see people in those conditions experience these concepts. The prisoners are called to testify what they saw inside their cells. Many of them are in isolation and can not get out. "
The conditions in the Zamboanga prison are difficult: "There are 1,500 men and 300 women - says Fr. D'Ambra - and the prison is overcrowded: prisoners must take turns sleeping because there are not enough beds. Often, then, people spend even two or three years in prison before trial because there are very few judges and a backlog of cases to be heard. We wrote them a letter inviting them to do everything possible to resolve this situation".
"Beyond the problems that exist in Mindanao - says the missionary - in this Harmony Week we want to tell positive stories to communicate to the people the message of hope. Let us put aside the problems, not to forget them, but to focus on how we can build harmony. Both those who believe and those who do not believe can do something for the common good. "
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13/09/2004
