On the Calendar of the liturgy of the Catholic Church we remember and celebrates today February 8th Josephine Bakhita, a former slave who as a child was sold by her kidnappers to Arab slave traders. Josephine Bakhita was born in the village of Olgossa in the Darfur region of Sudan. As a slave she was sold many times including to the Italian Vice Consul, Callisto Legani in 1883 who later brought her to Italy. Like the migrants from Sub-Sahara Africa her journey to Italy took her through the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean. She became a nun and was proclaimed a Saint by Pope John Paul II in 2000. You can learn about her amazing journey to freedom and life as a slave here.
Unfortunately, out of the public eye and far from camera crews, black people in Africa are still being enslaved, held against their will, auctioned like animals for all kinds of purposes including farming and sex slavery. Collectively, we must work to end this madness.
Unfortunately, out of the public eye and far from camera crews, black people in Africa are still being enslaved, held against their will, auctioned like animals for all kinds of purposes including farming and sex slavery. Collectively, we must work to end this madness.