DYING OF HOPE/ITALY

27 Jun DYING OF HOPE/ITALY

For the World Day of Refugees, some Sisters of the Curia participated in the prayer “Dying of Hope,” an ecumenical religious service held in memory all the people who lose their lives on the journey toward Europe.

With the Cross of Lampedusa presiding, a community diverse in races and creeds, we opened our hearts to the suffering and to the compassion and hope to which we are committed.

We share with you the “litany” that was central to the celebration:

• We remember the 3,200 refugees that since January 2021 have lost their lives in the Mediterranean and over the land routes, attempting to reach Europe in search of a better future.
• The 903 refugees from Libya who died in the past year in Libya, Malta or off the coast of Italy. Among those we remember Gherghis, for example, an Egyptian, Abdurohman, Ayoub and little Adam, Sudanese, together with 70 others who have disappeared from sub-Saharan Africa, drowning overnight between May 22 and 23.
• The 323 children who have died in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, the majority of these in the regions of Donetsk, Jarkov, Kiev and Chernihiv. With them we remember all the victims of the war from February 24 to the present.
• Mousa from Mali, little Omar from Gambia together with other young people whose bodies were recovered between the 3rd and the 17th,of April, in the Kupa River on the border between Croatia and Slovenia, while they were trying to reach Italy. With them we remember Ali Reza, Michel, and the 78 Syrian immigrants, Afghanis, Pakistanis and others who lost their lives along the Balkan route last year.
• The 31 refugees who drowned between the 21st and 24th of December, 2021, between Greece and Turkey. Among them we remember Khadija, a Somali girl, Marcel and Patrick, young Congolese, Marina and Blandine, 20 year olds from Cameroon, and Rasha, a little Syrian girl who died on a barge that sank on April 24, 2022 near Cyprus. Together with them we remember another 118 refugees who drowned in the waters of the Aegean Sea last year.
• Hiwet and Selamawit, Eritreans, together with Saadia and Fadumo, Somalis, with their sons Henok and Hassan, drowned near the coast of Sfax in Tunisia, on April 9, 2022. With them we remember Mizanur, from Bangladesh, Joyce, a Nigerian, and the more than 576 refugees who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea last year between Italy and Tunisia.
• Little Naim, a Syrian, Ahmed, an Iraqi Kurd, and Dawood, an Afghani, together with 17 other men and 7 women, drowned while they were crossing the English Channel, in November of 2021. With them we remember the 63 immigrants who died on this same route, among them Iraqi Kurds, Afghanis and Syrians.
• This year, many people have died trying to cross the border between Belarus and Poland. These include Zeinab, a pregnant Iraqi woman, with Nasser, a Syrian pastry chef, and Mohammed, a Yemeni, who died in a Polish hospital on December 3, 2021, after a long journey on foot. With them we remember little Mahfoud, a Syrian and the other 58 refugees who died along this land route.
• Souhila, a 30 year old Algerian, whose body was recovered by the coast guard in the waters of Fouka, Algeria, on May 15, 2022, together with another 10 refugees who were heading to Spain. With them we remember the young Algerians Mohammed, Soufiene, Larbi and the more than 161 refugees from sub-Saharan Africa who lost their lives in the stretch of sea between the coasts of Algeria and Spain in the past year.
• We remember the more than 62,390 who died and disappeared since 1990 while attempting to reach Europe. Of these, at least 21,000 have lost their lives since 2015. Together with those who have died on other continents, we remember all those whose names and stories are in the heart of God, even though they are unknown to men. Inés Oleaga, aci