He wears the white mane of an old lion, which, between his beard, hair and eyebrows, forms an ancient face of Christ, who survived the cross. Some jeans, some sandals, a crystalline voice that is not at all common. The gnarled hands of an old metalworker. The eyes are clear but blurred by half a century of Africa. Between post-colonial Nairobi and the distant Nuba Mountains, between Zambia and thousands of corners of the continent, a new life miraculously escaped, marked by adventures, successes, disappointments, prestigious awards and attacks. Adored by many, betrayed by more than a few. An obstacle for many superiors and colleagues. But a legend in the slums of the forgotten. Father Renato “Kizito” Sesana has reached 80 years of age and is a living monument, one of those who changed the lives of thousands upon thousands of people, especially young people who were taken off the streets and “stopped” – one of his favorite expressions – Give them a dignified future. He didn't do it in silence.
As a former Kombonian father, he was accused of pedophilia and completely acquitted. He escaped several attacks – Little orphans in the Mthunzi Center (Photo Valerio Bispuri) THE TESTAMENT OF “DOING” – “SPIRITUALITY WITHOUT “DOING” IS A DECEPTION.” Christianity without love and concrete service to our neighbors, to the poor, is an esoteric teaching that is alien to the teachings of Jesus.
From Kenya, a country from which several people tried to expel him, he took stock of his extraordinary life in Famiglia Cristiana and removed a few pebbles from his shoes. A kind of testament in which the verb “do” inevitably appears in the first lines: “How come I still have dreams for the future?” It's just that every morning when I get up, I put things in a series of things I want to do that day, and there are always too many.” This missionary, who resembles the portrait of the missionaries of the past, those who set out from the cities of the Italian provinces to distant lands and unknown peoples, is in fact someone who believes in concreteness, in structure. Meeting him is an experience that leaves a mark. And even more so the fact that he then writes you an email saying, “As I was thinking about the interview, it occurred to me that I hadn't fully answered the question about 'do' because I had digressed , as often happens to me. A spirituality without “doing” is a delusion. A Christianity without love and concrete service to one's neighbor, to the poor, is an esoteric teaching that is alien to the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. He told us the truth about the Father, but also about us, about the meaning of our lives. We base our “final verdict” on this. Then everyone refuses to do the best they can given their gifts and the circumstances of their lives. But if love does not produce life and is not visible, it is an illusion.”
– Young guests of the Home of Happines, which welcomes disabled children (Bispuri). These books are read under the counter
Digress? In his 80 years, Father Kizito has done anything but wander. He started as a mechanical expert at the glorious Moto Guzzi, which employed 1,500 people in Mandello del Lario, near his Lecco. “After three months of training, I was immediately hired and transferred to the time and method analysis department. Nice work”. But he was a restless soul. “My parents sold books. At home I was surrounded by BUR classics. I hid under the counter in my father's shop and read. At the age of 8, “The Fiancée”, then “The imitation of Christ” and so on. I was fascinated by spirituality and religiosity,” says Kizito. So the worker Sesana writes a letter to the Vicar General of the Comboni Missionaries, who immediately calls him to the novitiate. Renato goes to the human resources manager and tells him that he is going as a missionary. The Gospels instead of engines.
The missionaries who were credible
“I was 21 years old. At that time the missionaries were respected and credible, and he doesn't even try to stop me and tells me: “Go, do well, we will find you wherever you go.” Sesana already has his sights set on Africa. In fact, the Comboni Missionaries are the heirs of Daniele Comboni, who, after leaving the Kingdom of Lombardy-Veneto, founded the first Apostolic Vicariate of Central Africa in 1858 in the Ottoman Egyptian Sudan. Comboni died in Khartoum in 1881, having founded Nigrizia, a magazine intended to write history (it still exists), and revolutionizing the paternalistic thought that sought to Europeanize the so-called Black Continent. Comboni's famous motto actually suggested the opposite: “Save Africa with Africa.” For Father Renato Sesana it was the beginning of a brilliant career. Ordained a priest in 1970, two years later appointed director of Nigrizia at a very young age (“I have been a journalist for more than 50 years!”), his first trip to Africa in 1971, and in 1973 he went with the guerrillas of Guinea-Bissau. Then they send him to Kenya to set up radio stations and magazines published by the Comboni missionaries, who are a power in Africa by every measure, training generations of the ruling class.
The calling of the builder
He writes books (14 so far). Then he discovers that his calling is not only that of a communicator, but also that of a builder. Like Guzzi. Instead of motorcycles, hope. As? By directly helping the weakest of the poor, the children. It begins with the “construction” of houses that accommodate them, offering studies, a roof, vocational training, in short, a future. There is construction, welding, repairs, land purchased and expansion. Koinonia is born, a community inspired by the Acts of the Apostles, where volunteer adult parents, together with their children, raise children from broken families.
“We never take in street children individually; they have to live with their companions. NOBODY SAVES THEMSELVES” – A boy at the coal market in Lusaka (Photo Valerio Bispuri)
“The Church once urged missionaries: “Go and save a soul.” But how can one not understand that in Africa the community, the group, the common identity is the most important thing? We street children never take them alone, we welcome them with their companions: they already have a hierarchy within them, the one who abuses them, the preacher, the leader, the submissive, we do not choose them, we welcome them, they become blocked because they are only saved in communities and learn to use the gifts and powers that are within them in a positive way,” says Father Kizito. At some point he begins a journey into the Nuba Mountains, where no one dares to go.
The ingratitude of the brothers – it was with great pain that I left the order because it was the only option for me to stay in Africa. THEY TOLD ME TO REPATRIATE AND SPEND THE REST OF MY LIFE IN A BEAUTIFUL RSA FOR RETIRED MISSIONARIES» – A group of boys on a soccer field in Lusaka's Mhtunzi center (Photo Valerio Bispuri)
His passion for the Nuba makes him one of their leaders and he experiences the political tragedy of Sudan and its endless civil wars. And he brings the Comboni missionaries back to Sudan years after their expulsion. But the brothers are not always grateful. In fact, Father Sesana is no longer a Comboni missionary today. “It was with great pain that I left the order because it was the only option for me to stay in Africa. They would have forced me to repatriate and spend the rest of my life in a nice RSA for retired missionaries. But what do I do in Italy? Who do I serve in Italy? That's why I asked the Bishop of Ngong, my diocese here in Kenya, to make me one of his dioceses. The Comboni authorities have tried to stop me, but I'm sticking with it. Koinonia is managed by the community founded in 1982, supported by the Amani for Africa organization led by Gian Marco Elia, to whom we owe a lot.”
The accusations, the trial, the acquittal
The forced repatriation attempt may also be linked to another equally painful episode that marked Father Sesana's life: the attempt in 2009 to destroy his reputation by accusing him of pedophilia. “I spent months of absolute hell,” is how he describes it today. It is a complicated story made up of dark episodes that originate both within and outside the church hierarchies. This was an attempt to drive Father Kizito out of Koinonia, seize the land and buildings of the beautiful Shalom House, his headquarters in Nairobi, and sell them to real estate speculators. The accusers also included two trustees and administrators of his own organization who were paid by the directors. Two of his former street children. A very bitter betrayal. The fact that a year and a half later he was exonerated by the police, the church and a host of witnesses and supporters who protested his innocence does not change this. “I don't know how he managed not to collapse morally during that time.” The fake scandal was accompanied by several attempts to eliminate him with weapons in hand, which he escaped thanks to fortunate circumstances that are more likely to belong to the criminal chronicles of Nairobi nicknamed “Nai Robbery” as one of the diaries of a missionary.
“The credit we wasted”
Father Sesana feels further bitterness towards the world from which he comes. “We had unlimited credit. Even for those who felt distanced from the Church, we missionaries were worthy of support. Now this loan has been used up. Not only, as Cardinal Martini said, is the Church 200 years behind society, but the missionaries are now behind the Church! The admonitions of the great, mighty Pope Francis were not enough.” And even the beloved South Sudan was disappointing: “This country is a disaster, the West has rewarded the warmongering leaders who are in power today.” Despite many disappointments, Africa remains and its people exist. “Let me be clear,” says Father Sesana, “‘Africa’ for me is not a geography, but the people, the African brothers and sisters who have welcomed me, loved me, converted and regenerated me in recent years.” What Comboni called Nigrizia. There also remains the tangible, living legacy of the Koinonia centers, their classrooms and dormitories that free children from the streets, drugs and violence. “It would not be enough for me to be a living example of poverty as my brother Father Alex Zanotelli lived in the slums of Nairobi. I want to leave something concrete because as Cardinal Otunga, the first Kenyan to become a bishop and cardinal, said: “We don't need you foreigners coming here to teach us to be poor.” We already know poverty very well .” That means: “If love does not produce life and is not visible, it is an illusion.” Like the old Guzzi, it must be expertly crafted.
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