“We never had no hopes of returning to our motherland!” This was the spontaneous reaction of Fr Jerome Sequeira SJ who returned to India from Afghanistan recently amid anxiety and uncertainty.
He was the guest at Thaallo Umaallo Konkani live programme on Monday, October 4 at Radio Sarang.
Fr Sequeira said that though alphabetically Afghanistan is at the top of the world list, economically and educationally this country is backward in all scenarios. “On August 14, the president of Afghanistan escaped from the country and left the citizens in trouble. Taliban is a very strong terror organisation and they took total control over the county on August 15. It was a tough time to come out of the snare of the terrorists. Between 16th to 23rd of August was like a Holy week for Indian and other citizens,” he said. Fr Jerome and 180 other Indians were caught by the Taliban in eight vehicles. However, it was due to deliberations at various levels that helped them come back to India.
On August 16, citizens did not want to live in this country anymore. They all rushed to Kabul international airport. Many broke the fences and security walls and tried to only save their life. Over 10,000 people assembled in the airport. By any chance, they wanted to enter the flights; few died by sticking inside the flight engines. “Now life is miserable there and many have travelled to various other countries,” said Fr Sequeira.
Fr Sequeira said that this drastic change in Afghanistan shall affect world economy too. “Due to this sudden change, the Jesuit mission in Afghanistan has been affected. It’s difficult to continue there. Taliban is anti-women. They restrict girls only to giving birth and to staying inside the four walls. Humanity is hidden,” he added.
He thanked all for their constant prayers. Few listeners called and asked questions.
Fr Sequeira was born in Siddakatte and ordained as a Jesuit priest in December 2005 for Jamshedpur Jesuit province. He was interested in missionary work. Thus, he opted to work among the refugees. His superiors asked him to go to Afghanistan in 2006, and he willingly accepted it. Since then, he worked in Afghanistan as a teacher to teach English and moral education to Children.
Fr Sequiera was felicitated by the secretary of MJES Fr Cyril D’Mello SJ. Vinod Gangolli, proprietor Divyavaani Live You Tube chanel, presented the certificate. Edward Lobo, Abhishek Shetty and Patson Pereira were present.
Later he interacted with Jesuits at Fathers residence in the campus.
- Roshan Crasta, Radio Sarang
