logo english transparent 500px
  • About US
    • Who we are
    • Our Spirituality
    • History
      • Cardinal Lavigerie
      • Mother Marie Salomé
      • Our Lady of Africa
      • Our first sisters
    • Past & Present
      • Bicentenary of the birth of Caridnal Lavigerie
      • Our Lady of Africa family
      • General Chapter
      • 150th Anniversary
    • Contacts
  • Mission
    • Women with women
    • Education
    • Pastoral work
    • Justice & Peace
    • Health & social work
    • Our Apostolic Orientations
      • Interreligious and Intercultural Encounter -Dialogue
      • Migration, refugees, and internally displaced persons
      • Modern slavery and human trafficking
      • Care of the environment
    • Our Projects
  • Vocation
    • Missionary vocation
    • Join us
    • Stages of formation
    • Forms of belonging
  • Agenda
  • Resources
    • Extraordinary life stories
    • Prayers
    • Library
    • Jubilarians
    • Entered into eternal life
    • Links
  • French
Menu
  • About US
    • Who we are
    • Our Spirituality
    • History
      • Cardinal Lavigerie
      • Mother Marie Salomé
      • Our Lady of Africa
      • Our first sisters
    • Past & Present
      • Bicentenary of the birth of Caridnal Lavigerie
      • Our Lady of Africa family
      • General Chapter
      • 150th Anniversary
    • Contacts
  • Mission
    • Women with women
    • Education
    • Pastoral work
    • Justice & Peace
    • Health & social work
    • Our Apostolic Orientations
      • Interreligious and Intercultural Encounter -Dialogue
      • Migration, refugees, and internally displaced persons
      • Modern slavery and human trafficking
      • Care of the environment
    • Our Projects
  • Vocation
    • Missionary vocation
    • Join us
    • Stages of formation
    • Forms of belonging
  • Agenda
  • Resources
    • Extraordinary life stories
    • Prayers
    • Library
    • Jubilarians
    • Entered into eternal life
    • Links
  • French
Search
Close this search box.
Youtube

Embracing the past and the present

chemin palmiers

On the way to Banzo

 

 

 

It looked like 15 August would be a beautiful day for the Bobo Dioulasso novitiate community… First we had to get up earlier than usual and be on the road before sunrise. Besides the dirt road and deciding which pot-holes to avoid… After two hours of travel, well shaken, we arrived at Banzon, where this year would take place the feast of the Assumption. Also celebrated in our diocese is the feast of the Association of Catholic Women of the diocese (LAFCD). We were warmly welcomed by the parish priest of Our Lady of the Valleys, Father André Baro. He impressed us with his simplicity and openness.

 

Iwona CholewinskaUnder a tree, the first White Sisters to Banzo

After greetings, he spoke about the history of the parish and the place of the White Sisters in it. “You see the little house below the tree over there,” he said pointing with his finger – ” this is my office now but it was one of your sisters who built it to spend the night when she came from Bobo to give catechesis and to instruct the village women. She came by motorbike and stayed a few days. The roads were not as good then as they are today “Gosh! Sister Gertrude congratulations to you and to the other pioneers!

Maman Marie Ouagadougou

“Mother Mary” celebrated in joy !

We would have liked to ask more questions but it was already time for the Mass to be celebrated outdoors in tents and presided over by the Archbishop of Bobo-Dioulasso, Bishop Paul Ouedraogo. We sat with the crowd, mostly women from different parishes of the diocese. We gave thanks for “Mother Mary” and her total availability to the will of God. There was joy, prayer, singing, dancing without worrying about the passing of time … the beautiful women, proud to have a patroness like Mary showing their great enthusiasm; and we rejoiced with them fully “women among women” …

 

After sharing the Eucharistic we went to another table to share a good meal together. Time passed and we had to resume our pot-holed road back home. During this trip Banzon to Bobo-Dioulasso there came the thought that the history of Burkina is marked by the presence of former MSOLA and we had the chance to put our feet there today for a short moment which tomorrow will be part of our history …

Iwona Cholewinska

 

  • September 8, 2016
  • 7:31 am
  • Actualities, Past and Present, Women with Women
  • Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, Missionary vocation, MSOLA, The Gospel in everyday life, White Sisters
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp
RELATED POSTS
25th May 2025 with Cardinal Lavigerie
May 24, 2025
24th May 2025 with Cardinal Lavigerie
May 23, 2025
23rd May 2025 with Cardinal Lavigerie
May 22, 2025
50 years of MSOLA presence in Mauritania!
May 22, 2025
22nd May 2025 with Cardinal Lavigerie
May 21, 2025
21st May 2025 with Cardinal Lavigerie
May 20, 2025
Copyright 2022 - All rights reserved
Privacy Policy
Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
Facebook