On Wednesday, July 3 at the Church of Santa Chiara in Catania, about 250 people gathered together to pray for all those who have died trying to reach the European countries. The prayer, which is part of the initiatives of the Community of Sant'Egidio entitled "Dying of Hope", was attended by the Associations that work with immigrants and the immigrated communities in Catania: the Mauritian community, especially, with the second generation young people "The Catania Children", the Eritrean community, the community of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church in Catania together with their priest Bola, Imam of theSicilian Islamic community Kheit Abdelhafid. There were also some unaccompanied foreign minors of Tunisian, Egyptian and Ghanaian nationalities. There were many immigrants from the Asylum Seekers’ Centre "CARAMineo", about 100, representing the various nationalities present at the CARA: Somalis, Eritreans, Ivorians, Nigerians and Pakistanis. During the prayer Assan, the representative of the nationalities present at the CARACentre read a message prepared especially for "Dying of Hope”:
"This prayer vigil is a gift to all of us, it is a gift ofhumanity and a symbol of piety and humanity for the whole world, he continued, we are the witnesses of thehope trips, journeys of pain and suffering, but today we are here to say that we are united with all of you and thatwe, Italian and foreign citizens, can work together to improve our society, many have died of hope but their ideas and their actions will remain forever, today the Community of Sant'Egidio gave voice to many immigrants that no longer live, but today they are here with us and we join them, so that together we can dream of a world unitedand in peace, I thank you all and let us always unite in prayer". |