Mussie Zerai

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Mussie Zerai, 2013

Mussie Zerai (* 1975 in Asmara , Eritrea ) is an Eritrean Roman Catholic priest .

Life

Zerai was born as the fifth of eight siblings in Eritrea, which was then occupied by Ethiopia . He grew up in Asmara, which was marked by the civil war . His father fled to Italy in 1979 after incarceration without his family , his mother died in 1982, and Zerai and his three sisters and four brothers lived with their grandmother from then on. At the age of 14, Zerai decided to become a priest. Living in Rome since 1992 , he joined the Scalabrinian Order in 2000 and lived for three years in Piacenza , the home of the Order. From 2003 to 2010 he served in Rome in the Scalabrinian Mission. He received in the Church of Santo Stefano degli Abissinithe priesthood and since 2011 works in Erlinsbach , from where he the pastoral operates for living in Switzerland Catholic Eritreans.

Zerai became known for his support for refugees stranded in the Mediterranean , mostly from East Africa (especially Eritrea, Somalia ) and Syria , tens of thousands of whom have drowned since 2000 alone. Zerai's cell phone number, which he gave his grandmother in the mid-2000s, spread over time among refugees, who contacted him more often when their boat was in distress in the Mediterranean. Zerai gives her GPS coordinates to the Italian coastguard and was able to save the lives of thousands of refugees in this way.

In Rome, Zerai founded the non-profit Agenzia Habeshia per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo . In 2016, Time magazine listed him among the one hundred most influential people in the world .

Zerai received the Pro Asyl human rights award for his commitment to refugees .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tim Bouquet: The Good Father . timbouquet.com, 9/2015.
  2. ^ Mattathias Schwarz: The Anchor: The Africans who risk all to reach Europe look to an exiled priest as their savior . In: The New Yorker, April 21, 2014
  3. ^ Mattathias Schwarz: Emergency call from the Mediterranean: Father Zerai's number knows half of Africa . In: Der Standard , December 20, 2014
  4. ↑ Mussie Zerai , Time 100, April 21, 2016
  5. ↑ PRO ASYLUM human rights award goes to Father Mussie Zerai
personal data
SURNAME Zerai, Mussie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Eritrean Catholic priest
DATE OF BIRTH 1975
PLACE OF BIRTH Asmara , Eritrea, Ethiopia