During his sojourn in Madagascar on Sept. 8, Pope Francis will drive six miles from the center of Antananarivo, the capital city of this country of 27 million people, to visit the cooperative association Akamasoa. This amazing venture was started 30 years ago by the Rev. Pedro Pablo Opeka, 71, an Argentine missionary priest, to combat extreme poverty.
Though they were both born and ordained priests in Buenos Aires, the two men only met in May 2018 when Father Opeka visited Pope Francis at the Vatican and told his inspiring story.
On the eve of the papal visit, America interviewed Father Opeka via email about Madagascar, the Malagasy people, the social and political situation in one of the world’s poorest countries and his work there.
He began by recalling how this island off the southeast coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean “captivated” him when he first arrived there on Oct. 26, 1970. “I was 22 years old, and I wanted to know close up the Malagasy people…. I wished to go [to Madagascar] later on as a missionary of the community of St. Vincent de Paul, who in 1648 sent his first priests to evangelize ‘the red island,’” he said.
Though they were both born and ordained priests in Buenos Aires, the two men only met in May 2018 when Father Opeka visited Pope Francis at the Vatican and told his inspiring story.
Father Opeka described Madagascar as “a precious island, with much natural riches and a very happy and welcoming people that live solidarity and mutual help with great respect.”
“From the beginning, the wisdom of its ancestors surprised me as well as the richness of its culture, and in its proverbs the presence of the Creator God is always present,” he said. “The Malagasy people are very religious, and one grows attached to them very quickly.”
He said much has changed since he first arrived. “When I came to this island it was an extraordinary discovery to live in the midst of a people that have an immense enthusiasm to live, to exist, to share. They had respect for persons and for goods, there was almost no delinquency, no robbery or violence.”
Looking back, Father Opeka notes that after the island gained independence in 1960, its socioeconomic and political situation began to deteriorate, while its population continued to increase. “From year to year, we were sinking into poverty without there being any reaction on the part of those governing. All those who took power ended up defrauding the people.”
“When I came to this island it was an extraordinary discovery to live in the midst of a people that have an immense enthusiasm to live, to exist, to share.”
“The greatest loss was of the [spirit of] solidarity and mutual help that existed when I came to this island,” he said. “Today, sadly, each one fends for him/herself as best they can. The common good falls into oblivion.”
Since Jan. 19 of this year, however, Father Opeka began to see a glimmer of hope for the nation because “a young president has come to power who seeks to change and to bring peace and social justice to his people.”
In this context, he believes “the visit of Pope Francis is very important because he can give great encouragement to the nation and to the new president, Andry Rajoelina, who has begun decidedly to attack the corruption and the whole class of favoritisms that impede the country’s economic growth.”
“The new president is Catholic and does not hide his faith,” Father Opeka added. “And for many years now he has come to celebrate Christmas with the poor families of Akamasoa.”
Asked to describe the situation in Madagascar today, Father Opeka noted that according to the World Bank, 92 percent of the population today live below the poverty line. “One sees the poverty in the streets, the city is abandoned, nobody cares or fixes anything,” he said. “Malnutrition is a very grave problem for many children born in the interior of the country, in places far from all progress. Human rights are not respected. Money can do and buy everything. The lies and corruption gain at all levels of national life.”
“The visit of Pope Francis is very important because he can give great encouragement to the nation and to the new president.”
Insecurity and access to health care are major challenges. Education is a grave concern, too, in a country where 50 percent of the population is under the age of 18. “At least 30 percent of children do not attend school, especially in the interior of the country where there are no roads, no communication and no presence of the state that can make people respect the laws and the rights of the child,” Father Opeka said.
Responding to a question about the role of the Catholic Church on the island, Father Opeka said, “The church has played an important role in the history of Madagascar. It was the cradle of the education of children in the whole national territory. Indeed, the missionary presence was very important because it brought education, health, dignity.”
“The force of the Gospel was what kept the hope of the poorest,” he said. “Without the presence of the church, Madagascar would be very much poorer.”
Ever since independence, he said, “the bishops have always raised their voice to defend justice and the rights of the poor and those who are forgotten from all progress.” Nonetheless, he recognized that the church, too, needs “to renew itself” and not allow itself to sleep after having “won some battles against poverty.”
“The force of the Gospel was what kept the hope of the poorest. Without the presence of the church, Madagascar would be very much poorer.”
“The struggle for justice and peace are permanent ones,” Father Opeka said.
“One cannot overlook the great ecumenical movement of the churches in Madagascar that have defended the poor,” he added. “There has been much evangelical solidarity among the Christian churches.”
Following his priestly ordination in 1975, Father Opeka, the son of refugees, was sent to work in a rural parish in southeast Madagascar, where he saw great poverty. Yet it was only when his religious superiors assigned him to head the local seminary in Antananarivo in 1989 that he had an experience that changed his life. It happened when he saw people, including many children, scavenging for food, competing against wild dogs and pigs, in one of the city’s garbage dumps. Deeply disturbed, he prayed that night to God to show him a way to help the children. The next day he decided to talk with some of the local people in a shanty hut and convinced them to work with him to change their situation and give their sons and daughters a future. He then borrowed $1,000 from local missions and established a project called “Akamasoa,” which means “good and faithful friends.”
Father Opeka’s Slovenian-born father had taught him to build houses, and he shared this skill with the local people as part of the Akamasoa project. Pope Francis will see the results: They have built over 3,000 brick homes in 18 villages (they call it “a city”) for some 4,000 families. Ten thousand children are now educated in the 37 schools they constructed over the past 30 years. The Akamasoa project also includes building clinics, creating jobs and providing food and clothing in “welcome centers” to almost one million people. Contributions arrive from all over the world, including Argentina and Slovenia.
The Akamasoa project includes building clinics, creating jobs and providing food and clothing in “welcome centers” to almost one million people.
Though Akamasoa is now almost 75 percent self-financing, Father Opeka insists that “it is not money that has built our city of Akamasoa. It was love, faith, perseverance and the fraternity that we are living day by day helping each other. Among the poor, you do not have theoretical strategies. You only have heart, comprehension and long-term commitment.” He emphasized that “this was the fruit of the strength of living the Gospel in a practical way every day.”
“We built a city with all the necessary buildings and households,” Father Opeka said, “but only God knows the scaffolds that we had to build around each person or family so that they could remain on their feet and not fall again into drugs, alcohol or prostitution.” Alluding to the fact that some 10,000 people attend the open-air Sunday Mass he celebrates in Akamasoa, Father Opeka said, “the strength of the Sunday Eucharist has united us in the most difficult and dramatic moments to follow this struggle that has no end.”
The dynamic, gray-bearded Father Opeka refuses to speak of success. “We only say that we took the right direction. Those who before begged on the streets are now working and living dignified lives. The children and young people who previously scrounged among the rubbish to survive are now in schools and lyceums. Those who lived in a generalized anarchy are today living in community and mutually respecting each other. They have encountered the self-esteem that permits them to progress. Peace has been established in our zones when before there was much violence and insults that resulted in fights without end.”
“It is not money that has built our city of Akamasoa. It was love, faith, perseverance and the fraternity that we are living day by day.”
He recounted all this to Pope Francis when he was received at the Vatican in May 2018 and then invited the pope to visit Akamasoa. Looking forward to that visit, Father Opeka said, “the presence of Pope Francis in the city that we have built with the poor will be a strength and enormous encouragement for all that we have worked for over 30 years…. The fact that he will walk on our streets that were in former times places of death, of fights, of hate, of envy is a confirmation that Jesus was with us from when we first began and also today.”
Father Opeka went on to affirm that “the Malagasy people have great respect for the Holy Father Francis. They know he is an open pastor and defends the poor, and he desires a poor church that is open to the poor…. He is much loved by the Malagasy people [and] also by those who do not share our faith.”
“The people hope for a new spirit in the whole country, and for the new rulers who have come to power that they may full their promises to eradicate poverty,” he said.
Father Opeka hopes Francis will also emphasize the need for all the local churches “to be converted” and “allow ourselves to be penetrated by the Gospel.”
“We often settle ourselves in comfort in the system,” he said, “and we sleep and allow the word of God and the faith to sleep when they should call on all rulers to get rid of the injustice, the exclusion and the extreme poverty that causes suffering to the abandoned people of Madagascar.”
Asked what he personally thinks of Pope Francis, Father Opeka responded: “He is a prophet for our time.”
“[Francis] goes before us and invites us to conquer and reject all that is mundane, such as careerism, appearances, the thirst of triumphalism and privileges,” Father Opeka said. “He instigates us to be humble and more sincere with ourselves, with the church and to be more brothers among everyone, so that we may be true witnesses of the love of God for all the persons in the country in which we live.”
Father Opeka concluded: “Pope Francis is a pastor in a class of his own, from whom we expect much and who is able to make the young people love the Gospel because of his authenticity and his courage.”
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