It is with huge relief that we are able to report that we have at last heard from our contacts in Tigray, Bishop Tesfeselassie and Sr Letteselassie in Adigrat. The Bishop, those members of his staff who we know, and the community of the Filippini Sisters are safe. The story is best told in the words of our correspondents (only slightly edited) below, beginning with the message from the Bishop:

“I praise God to have brought me to this hour against all sorts of odds and risks and indeed periods of ‘hell on earth’…. God must have some definite purpose for our lives as so so many lives have perished with all kinds of atrocious ways by combined federal armies and from abroad with drone technologies included, from rampage of incredible cruelties of gender violence massacres, destruction of homes and infrastructures, industries, lootings, and what not!!! All this under complete siege and total blockage of all basic services to this region of 6/7 million population.

The recent peace agreement has silenced guns and some very very little services starting, but still commodity flow from other regions in and out are not yet, so are the banks only starting and with so little service…… so a lot has to be done before life and functions come back to order. Eritrean armies have to leave the places so that the displaced millions internally and to Sudan can return home – if they can find homes. Schools (must be) repaired, furnished, unpaid teachers settled, a lot of trauma healing work required….. ALL THIS but with God’s help and our friends close and far, like yourselves, peace has to come some way, challenges and life to continue, with restorative works.

The current situation priority is almost all needs and engagement emergency reaching out for food, medicine, shelter, …. Our Catholic church has remained accompanying the suffering population in all the locations of our missions in the Eparchy which covers all Tigray. Extraordinary witness of suffering Christ with his souls, trying to give hope and helping with whatever little we could get.

We thank you and all in the Jean Grove Trust. My prayerful best wishes for God’s blessings in abundance”

Sr Letteselassie writes:

“Thanks to the prayers of good people like you we have seen miracles. Things could have been worse otherwise. As a community we are ok. Although especially at the beginning, two years and two months ago, our 2 sisters were in Zalambessa and really they were in the middle of the shooting but thank God they remained safe.

Within these past two years many things happened – we really lived day by day. The people of Zalambessa have been moving from place to place and few remained there all the while. Our school as a whole was accommodated in Adigrat with the staff and pupils mixed together with the school we have for the school year 2021-2022 now we didn’t even start.

We didn’t go but people are going back and forth to Zalambessa now. Our School is looted and damaged. One block, the pedagogical center and science lab, was badly destroyed at the very beginning, but now we hear that the roof and everything of the whole school is not there. Only the walls exist.

Most of the people are in Adigrat; we do meet them but most of them are not together as a family. We hope things continue for better and things come back to normal.”

Finally the link below contains a fascinating update from Sr Perpetua (Dawhan) on how her life has been in Ethiopia for the last while:
https://sistersofstlouis.newsweaver.com/Newsletter/10oda7msnodjbh9p0vda8c?lang=en&a=1&p=62499311&t=19890245