World Youth Day: Young Mozambican will share testimony of war during papal vigil

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World Youth Day: Young Mozambican will share testimony of war during papal vigil

7:49 CAT | 26 Jul 2023

The group from Cabo Delgado, Mozambique was received by the Archbishop of Braga, D. José Cordeiro, yesterday morning. [Photo: Arquidiocese de Braga]

Eighteen-year-old Marta Luís will be one of the young people joining the papal vigil in Lisbon on World Youth Day (WYD), and sharing her experience of the war in Cabo Delgado province in Mozambique.

“I come from the Sagrado Coração de Jesus parish, Mozambique, in the north of Cabo Delgado. I’m here to participate in World Youth Day. I received the invitation from Father Edgar. He called me and told me to write my testimony to read at the vigil, at night, in front of the Pope,” says Marta, introducing herself to Lusa in Braga, Portugal.

The tourism student and four other young Mozambicans travelled from the city of Pemba, capital of Cabo Delgado province, accompanied by a Mozambican priest and another Portuguese priest and missionary, and arrived at the Archdiocese of Braga on Tuesday to participate in the Days in Dioceses meeting before heading to Lisbon on Monday for the WYD.

READ: World Youth Day: At least 600 Mozambicans to participate – Watch

Cabo Delgado province has been facing an armed insurgency for almost six years, with some attacks claimed by the extremist Islamic State group. The conflict has already displaced one million people, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and killed about 4,000, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.

Speaking to Lusa, Marta Luís says that she has already written the testimony that she will read before Pope Francis in Lisbon’s Campo da Graça on the night of August 5th.

“I am going to talk a little about my story, the war, of what we were left with, the difficulties we faced during that time, what I experienced,” the tourism student reveals, stressing that her reality is the reality of all young people and those living in Cabo Delgado.

In a calm voice, the young woman says that “the first time terrorists entered” her district was on the morning of April 7, 2021. They forced her whole family – herself, her 63-year-old mother, three older sisters and four nephews – to flee with them into the bush.

“The first time they didn’t stay many days. They only stayed four days. The difficulties we faced were that we had no food or water. When four days had passed, we heard that the terrorists had left, so we returned home, but, out of fear, we stayed at home only during the day, and at night we returned to the bush. We spent a week like this,” Marta relates.

After returning to their homes, normal life lasted only half a year, until October 30, the day the terrorists “re-entered” the district.

“That war was very big. They entered, we fled into the bush and stayed there for a week. We had nothing – neither food nor water,” the young woman explains calmly.

After this second attack, Marta and her family had to flee and had not returned to the house they had always lived in until this Wednesday.

“We lost everything. My mother’s house, my family’s houses, they burned everything. Even our parish [church], they burned. There is nothing. They burned everything. This war has been going on for more than five years and it is not over yet,” Marta says, hoping that her testimony will serve to draw attention to the war in Cabo Delgado.

The young tourism student will also take the opportunity to deliver a message: “When we are in a difficult moment, we cannot lose faith. We always have to pray, pray a lot, for that moment to pass. We cannot lose our faith.”

In addition to Marta Luís, the group of young people from Pemba going to Braga includes Esmênia Nevila, 20 years old and a nursing student, David Joaquim, 21 years old, a teacher, Ernesto Vanomba, 24 years old, a student, and Rodrigues Watita, 35 years old and also a teacher.

Accompanying them from Mozambique are Father Beato Jaime, 47 years old, Fátima Castro and Manuel Faria, a Portuguese missionary and a priest from the Archdiocese of Braga.

David Joaquim wants to take advantage of his presence at WYD to pass time with young people from other countries and cultures.

“I hope to find many experiences from different cultures, because at WYD there will be many traditions, many cultures. I hope to adapt to the cultures of other brothers and sisters, and I also hope to represent my culture,” the teacher says.

Esmênia Nevila, 20 years old, is also going to Portugal for the first time, giving thanks for the opportunity and to the missionary team who took care of the documents.

“At World Youth Day I hope to have a good experience with the Holy Father and with other young people, so that I can then share them with my parish in Mozambique,” the nursing student explains.

Source: Lusa