– Marco Carvalho
More than two hundred Houses of Mercy of all over the world have recently discussed in Macau the challenges they are faced with and aging is, for most of them, one of the most pressing issues. That’s not the case with the Holy House of Mercy of São Tomé and Príncipe, a small, impoverished archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean where children and youth are the majority. São Tomé’s Holy House was the first one to be founded outside Europe, five hundred and fifteen years ago. O Clarim spoke with Acácio Bonfim, the head of Africa’s oldest House of Mercy.
Having in mind the challenges that São Tomé and Príncipe still faces, did the 12th International Congress of the Houses of Mercy meet your expectations? The Congress ended on a high note, with the so-called “Declaration of Macau.” Will this document strengthen the role of the Houses of Mercy and of the International Confederation itself?
I am quite satisfied. My expectations have been exceeded. It was the first time that I took part in the International Congress of the Houses of Mercy. I came to Macau with the aim of finding some answers to the various problems and challenges that we face. I had the intention to see, to listen and to talk to experienced people, but also to establish connections in order to understand how the other Houses of Mercy have been able to overcome the difficulties they were facing. The challenges that we face are becoming increasingly overwhelming and we can’t find a way out by ourselves. To take part in this sort of events, to exchange experiences enables us to understand how did the other Houses of Mercy overcome similar challenges. The “Declaration of Macau” is a new development, but one that fits perfectly into today’s needs. National and international authorities should increasingly see the Houses of Mercy as a sort of right arm of the State in the conception and resolution of social policies. Mercy congregations all over the world have already shown their capacity to fulfill those policies and it is absolutely necessary that the States accept them as true partners. In São Tomé and Príncipe this already happens. The State already recognizes how important is the work we do. We operate São Tomé’s largest social protection network, and this “Declaration,” as the text itself recommends, I will deliver it to the São Tomé authorities. I believe this document will help to improve the relationship we have with the local authorities. I hope it can help to reinforce the partnership between the Holy House of Mercy and the São Tomé’s Government so that we can fulfill our mission ever better.
São Tomé and Príncipe is a small, impoverished island nation. What challenges do these contingencies pose to the Holy House of Mercy of São Tomé and Príncipe?
The challenges, as far as I could see in Macau, are common to most of the countries, whether they are richer or poorer. We have, however, some specific problems in São Tomé. In our case, those specificities are mainly related to two aspects. Aging is not yet an issue. We do not yet have the sort of problems that are beginning to emerge in developed countries, especially in places like Europe and Asia. In São Tomé, aging is not yet a challenge, despite the fact that we are beginning to notice certain age-related trends. It is not a problem, but it will be in a few years and we have to be prepared. How do we prepare for something like this? By investing in new technologies, by foreseeing the impact that aging might have on our archipelago so that we can be properly prepared. As far as children and youth are concerned, São Tomé and Príncipe is, as you know, a very young country. Even though we don’t have aging problems, we have the reverse. More than half of the population of São Tomé is not yet of working age. We have a very strong percentage of children and this characteristic is very visible everywhere you go. You will see children by the hundreds surrounding our schools, but this is a scenario that doesn’t make us rejoice all that much. It reminds us of the responsibilities we have towards them. What will we do with these children tomorrow? The future of these young people is one of our major concerns, mainly the reinforcement of the relationship between different generations, young and old. We want to cultivate in our youth the availability to care for the elderly, to take care of those who already took care of them when they were smaller. We are trying to instill this message and these perspectives into the minds of our youth and our children. We are being successful, thanks God.
The Holy House of Mercy of São Tomé and Príncipe is even older than the Holy House of Mercy of Macau. It was one of the first institutions of its kind to be founded outside Portugal. Does it feel the weight of history? Or was it able to reinvent itself over the centuries?
The Holy House of Mercy of São Tomé and Príncipe was the first to be founded outside Europe. We have celebrated our 515th anniversary a few weeks ago and this circumstance attests to the longevity of the Holy House of São Tomé, which is in fact a very old institution. We don’t necessarily feel the weight of history, but we do feel the reverse of it. Being one of the oldest Houses of Mercy, we feel that we should be more evolved; we should have more concrete social policies already. The vicissitudes of the São Tomé’s own history, the evolution of the political issues that we have endured took a toll on the Holy House of Mercy of São Tomé and Príncipe, made it experience many ups and downs. We lost some assets for political reasons. We have been trying to understand how we can eventually recover them, both from a patrimonial and a financial point of view. In São Tomé, given the political vicissitudes, the Holy House even lost its own space of action. Fortunately, we have been able to recover it. Over the years, the different Governments became more aware that the Holy House of Mercy is, in fact, a vital and indispensable partner in terms of the implementation of social policies. As I mentioned earlier, we are the largest social protection network in São Tomé and Príncipe. Portugal supports us a lot. The Portuguese Ministry of Labor and Social Security helps us financially. They fund most of our budget and this has an impact on the way the national authorities look at our institution.
Everything that we have today, everything we managed to achieve is the result of the very journey we have made. We have learned from the ups and downs, the falls that we had. Today, we can say that we are already settled. We have reached a position of solidity and we will solidify it more and more so we can improve our action. We expect to do that with the support of the other Houses of Mercy, We have established contacts in Macau that will allow us to make this journey better.
This kind of initiatives … Are they a good opportunity to exchange experiences? Or to learn from the work being developed by other Houses of Mercy?
Certainly. To come to an event like this and return home without having learned anything, it would be nothing less than wasting time. We leave Macau with a lot of new knowledge, with additional information on how to act and proceed in certain circumstances. The themes that have been discussed in Macau already indicate by themselves that we need to share. Sharing is a resource that is already inscribed in the DNA, in the philosophy of the Houses of Mercy: it’s this spirit that has allowed us to exchange experiences, to listen and to learn. We take home new ideas that we will try to implement in our institution in São Tomé and Príncipe.
You have mentioned more than once São Tomé and Príncipe’s Holy House of Mercy is responsible for São Tomé’s main social support network. Do you have an idea of how many people do you help?
We support as much as 3,000 people, between 2,000 and 3,000 people. Directly and indirectly. It is a quite significant number, if we have in mind the reality of São Tomé and Príncipe. We are talking about a rather poor country with a population of 190,000 people. Across the country, about two-thirds of the population lives on less than two dollars a day. The challenges are great, but the truth is that we can’t achieve much more than we have already achieved with the means we have.
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