There are stories that leave one speechless. This is one of them, masterfully told in the documentary “Love.”
It begins one night, when a group of Salesian missionaries goes into the streets of Freetown in Sierra Leone to help abandoned boys and girls.
JORGE CRISAFULLI
Missionary, Don Bosco Fambul (Sierra Leone)
“Going out into the streets to recover children, we began to discover there was a large number of girls being prostituted. Generally, the biological parents, when they find out their daughter has been a prostitute, due to African tradition, don't want to take her back in.”
These little girls don't have anyone or anything. Thus, this is the only way for them to survive.
To assist them, the missionaries give them a medical checkup first. Many are very ill.
Later, the missionaries recommend they live in the “Don Bosco Fambul” shelter and help them begin a new life. Not every girl accepts the offer.
JORGE CRISAFULLI
Missionary, Don Bosco Fambul (Sierra Leone)
“We face the issue of trying to convince them to leave the streets. The idea came up: let's make them dream. About what? With something that puts their past life into perspective, everything they've suffered; something that moves them, that attracts them, a value, something that moves them from the streets because it's something they wanted to obtain in their lives. For some of them, it's going to school and finishing.”
“Love” shows how Aminata made it out thanks to her dream of being able to hug her grandmother again and starting a hair salon.
Augusta did, too, and now has her own catering business.
In a year and a half, they've helped 125 girls with the aid of various people.
JORGE CRISAFULLI
Missionary, Don Bosco Fambul (Sierra Leone)
“There are doctors who have finished, have retired and are now volunteering with us. One of them, a German, told me, 'I don't want to go through life eating dinner in front of the TV and drinking beer with my friends. Would you welcome me? I tell him, 'Wonderful!' He came for three months. The most beautiful thing and what makes us happy in life is when we make others happy. What gives purpose to our lives, and I tell you from personal experience, is absorbing the children's pain, introduce one's self to Jesus in the tabernacle and tell Him, 'Alright, it's now Your mission to transform that pain into hope.”
“Love” was produced by prestigious Spanish director Raúl de la Fuente.
It's a story of the love and hope that is so evident in Salesian Missions.
