Young Tunisian girls and French Scouts with Sr. Speciosa (between the girls and the Scouts) and Sr. Rekha, a Missionary of the Immaculate on the far right.
From our Sr. Spéciosa Mukagatare, Director of Caritas Tunisia
“Sharing the path,” a place of collaboration and growth
It was Palm Sunday, just after the celebration ushering Christians into Holy Week, while believers of Islam were halfway through the holy
month of Ramadan. As a Lenten effort, the faithful of St Cyprien de la Marsa had collected non-perishable food items over the weeks, thinking of the poorer families in our working-class neighborhoods. The priest, Jawad Alamad, then proposed sending the young scouts on a mission to distribute to needy families the food collected during the Sundays of Lent.
He contacted Caritas Tunisia to direct these young scouts towards the most needy families. The Caritas Tunisia team responsible for
listening and supporting families in the neighborhoods decided to give this gesture of parish sharing its full meaning as the “Sacrament of Meeting”.
She invited young people from poor families in these working-class neighborhoods to open their eyes and their hearts to
identify the families most in difficulty in their environment. These young people also had the mission of welcoming the young scouts and with
them, distributing baskets to needy families.
The volunteer sisters of Caritas Tunisia with a Missionary of Africa, friend of the young people of the St Cyprien parish, loaded the baskets into
the trunks of the cars and led the scouts to the neighborhoods where several families live in precariousness, in the commune of Hammam Lif,
southern suburbs of Greater Tunis.
It was a great opportunity for the members of Caritas Tunisia to update the experience of “sharing the path”, which has become transversal to
all our actions, since the march launched by Cardinal Tagle, president of Caritas internationalis, on October 21, 2018 in Rome, at the call of Pope Francis.
It was a global appeal, a heartfelt cry from the Pope to combat stigmatization and fear of migrants and refugees.
Indeed, the “Share the Journey” campaign launched by Pope Francis aims to bring migrant and refugee communities closer together, by
organizing spaces and opportunities to cultivate a spirit of encounter.
“By walking together and talking with each other, we recognize a sister, a brother, a neighbor and we recognize ourselves,” said Cardinal Tagle.
It is in these dispositions of heart, in this desire to meet the other who is different and to share, that the young scouts set out to join the young
people of Hammam Lif, who were waiting for us in the community of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate, two members of which are
full-time volunteers within Caritas Tunisia.
Ameni, one of the young people waiting for us, a first year Master’s student in the field of renewable energies, presented with precision
and joy to the young scouts the historical evolution of the commune of Hammam Lif, which formerly housed the palace of the “Bey”.
