Dear President of the Brotherhood, Mr Sotirke, I would like to congratulate you on your well-deserved election to the position of President and successor of the work begun by Fr Chrysostomos Papasarantopoulos and dedicated their entire lives by the late Panagiotis and Elli Papadimitrakopoulou. I would like to thank you for the opportunity you gave me to visit the Brotherhood on Sunday, May 10, and to talk about the course of the missionary work in West Africa, and at the same time to present the book-tribute to the late Patriarch Peter VII. The event was indeed magnificent and worthy of the memory of the late Patriarch. I would like to inform you that here in Guinea we are struggling to support the victims of the Ebola virus by distributing food and medicines. Our Metropolis is the worst affected by the epidemic and the only one that continues to be affected for the last 1.5 years. One of the most serious problems we face in Guinea is the lack of clean and running water. This shortage contributes greatly to the transmission of the deadly Ebola virus, since constant hand washing is the best protection against the virus.
There is an urgent need in at least two areas of the city of Kindia to give residents the divine gift of access to water. I visited these areas during my last pastoral visit, and my mere presence in the area for our desperate neighbours is seen as a commitment to respond to their request. Also, distribution of soaps and other antiseptic liquids is necessary to protect them from Ebola. For the implementation of the above we need about 5,000 euros and you are the only ones who raise awareness of our work and always respond positively and promptly to our requests. Despite the difficulties, we are continuing with the construction of the Church of Saints Parthenius and Charalambus in Guinea, for which your Brotherhood participated in the purchase of the land, but we are still short of 5,000 euros. Also pending is the construction of the Orthodox Academy on the same site. For the completion of the ground floor with 3 classrooms, a teachers’ office and a library, 10,000 euros are needed.
It would be a great blessing to find a donor to support these projects, which will be a living testimony of our Orthodox faith in this Muslim country.
George Guineas
