The UNHCR estimates that one in every three displaced women have been victims of physical or sexual abuse. It's the crude reality for women fleeing from war and poverty.
For many, missionaries are the only source of comfort. They are the only people who welcome them and offer them help.
That's why Anna Moccia and Claudia Giampietro decided to publish this book: “Women authors of another story.” It's a compilation of the experiences of missionaries who have helped girls, young women and mothers in countries battered by violence.
ANNA MOCCIA
Author, “Women authors of another story”
Claudia and I carried the mission in our heart. I myself have been in Africa several times, in Malawi. I've also been to Romania. So the idea was to communicate a message of hope by telling the stories of different missionaries around the world. We set out to collect these stories and realized that the women's stories were particularly rich.
They also discovered the heroic stories of other, non-missionary, women who help communities in need in poor countries.
ANNA MOCCIA
Author, “Women authors of another story”
For example, there's the story of an Italian woman, Dominique Corti, whose parents went to a hospital in Uganda run by the Comboni missionaries. They took over the hospital and today it's one of the most famous. It provides the best care to poor people. And she continued to carry out this project that her parents started.
The book is a tribute to people who work in foreign countries to help those most in need, even if that means risking their own lives. It's a reality Anna Moccia knows well, as she has spent several years collaborating with Talitha Kum, a network of religious congregations fighting against human trafficking. The victims are usually women who were deceived while trying to migrate.
The goal of this book is to raise awareness about the plight of women in poor countries and about the problem of trafficking, which Pope Francis has strongly denounced.
JRB
TR: CT
