One of the main evils afflicting Africa is chronic famine. What can education do to solve this problem?
Education is indispensable in various fields. The main problem, common to most African countries, is subsistence farming, which cannot meet all the needs of the family or of the nation. When a subsistence farmer needs money he must sell some of his produce and is unable to feed his own family. These farmers must find other sources of income with the help of proper schooling and training. Very often subsistence farmers find precious stones in their fields and our agricultural courses teach them how to polish the stones and sell them.
There is then the problem of creating infrastructures, roads to wells, indispensable for passing from subsistence farming to commercial farming and to be less dependent on the freaks of nature, drought, floods etc. In this case too schools and universities can form local technicians able to deal with specific local conditions and meet the needs of the people. The developed world can help Africa not only with donations but also by helping Africans to help themselves with joint initiatives for effective development in our countries. Aid alone does not produce development. We need entrepreneurs willing to invest here in businesses that bring profit for us and for them. The West has changed, it is less generous, but Africa too has changed. There are people here willing to take any risk to start enterprises, which can act as a motor for the country's development.

Ten years ago Mozambique saw the end of twenty years of war which left deep scars. What is the present situation and what results have been reached in this past decade?
To say that all is well would not be exact, but neither is everything wrong. Many problems remain, but the country has made progress in these ten years. I would underline the freedom of expression hitherto unknown that we enjoy today. There are now newspapers which openly criticise the government, without fear of penal consequences. This is an important achievement if we remember that we have behind us a very bloody civil war. It means we have reached a good level of democratic maturity. However there is a serious problem of public morality: widespread corruption, especially in the public sector. Of course as long as salaries are low people will be forced to find other sources of income. Thank God this problem is being examined and let's hope for some positive result soon.

So what is the role of Catholic education in Mozambique?
The Church in Mozambique has a long tradition of education. As soon as the first missionaries arrived here they built schools and committed themselves to educating the people. Their role was recognised by Portugal, which administered the country at the time, with a law in 1940 which entrusted primary schools in rural areas to the Church. Many Mozambican learned to read and write at mission schools. After independence in 1975 the state took over most schools. In the early 1990s we began to realise the enormous contribution that the Church can still make in this field, not only in primary education but also secondary and higher education. In 1996 we made a jump in quality and opened the Catholic University of Mozambique, which depends on the Mozambican Bishops' Conference. Seven years after its establishment the Campus has two thousand students and six faculties in various parts of the country: medicine and economy at Beira, in the north; law, education and social communications, agriculture, tourism and computer studies in various parts of the south. In this way we are able to serve the entire country. The University accepts also non-Christian students. Our university is in contact with the Catholic University of Milan and the Catholic University of Portugal and with state universities in various countries of Europe and Africa. This helps us to have a vision open to the world, and ensures that we are truly Catholic, that is, universal. (Fides Service 10/1/2003)