Sharing the “Come and see” in Burundi
“Come and see” is an invitation that God launches to anyone who wants to know his plan of Love. In our community in Burundi, this summer 2022 we organized two missionary sessions for girls who feel attracted by our missionary vocation and who seek to know for what project God created them, and how they can engage in his life, to respond to the Will of God. From July 12 to 15, the session was for students studying at the second level, we call them “pre-finalists”, there were 4 girls, plus Evelyne, our young postulant who came from Congo for her leave and who is preparing to leave for Burkina Faso. From August 8 to 12, the missionary session was for girls who have finished high school and who have many questions about their future. There were 9 girls from different regions of Burundi. The sisters of the community,…
Missionary vocation camp in Deli, Chad
This month was marked by a missionary vocation camp where we welcomed 20 girls coming from different parishes of our diocese of Moundou and wishing to know our congregation. They are interested in a missionary and apostolic life. The session was from August 7 to 12. The themes were: “Ecological conversion with Jesus” and “What are you looking for?” Each of us participated in the session and gave our part according to the proposed themes. In these two themes, we find that what marked the young people is that ecology is a question of loving and taking care of creation, starting with oneself. And for the second theme, vocation is to live a happy life with others and for others. We had the joy of sharing with them about our congregation: charism, spirituality and why we were founded by Cardinal Lavigerie. After that we had a day of sending on…
The Earth is for all… be happy!
Each year in Nouakchott, the “Maison du Quartier” organises a summer camp for 3 weeks. This year’s theme was: “The Earth is for all… be happy! “. This camp aims to help children improve their knowledge by doing several activities with them. This year, we were lucky enough to experience this event because in previous years, it had been cancelled due to Covid 19. The “Maison du Quartier” committee, in collaboration with our community, organised activities that could help these children. There were volunteers who offered to give the children various activities such as: embroidery, crochet, computers, decorating bottles, singing and patchwork. Everyone contributed where they could. We welcomed about thirty children and we put them in groups so that they could participate in all the activities in turn. Through these activities, we taught the children to save nature by recovering and using everything that had to be thrown away,…
2022 Season of Creation Prayer
Creator of All, From your communion of love your Word went forth to create a symphony of life that sings your praise. By your Holy Wisdom you made the Earth to bring forth a diversity of creatures who praise you in their being. You called human beings to till and keep your garden. But we turn in on ourselves and away from our co-creatures. We fail to listen to the cries of the poor and the needs of the most vulnerable. We silence the voices of those who hold the traditions that teach us to care for the Earth. We close our ears to your creative, reconciling and sustaining Word that calls to us through the Scriptures. Creation cries out as forests crackle, and animals alike flee the fires of injustice that we have lit by our unwillingness to listen. In this Season of Creation, we…
Presentation on Integral Ecology
Sr. Francine Maas, Winooski community (USA) On May 17, 2022, I gave a presentation, on Integral Ecology, to some of the staff members of Our Lady of Providence (OLP) Residential Care Home, in which our community resides. Last November, our nursing director asked me if I could help the staff learn about the importance of recycling, etc. Right away, I agreed to this request if it would be for the springtime. This delay was providential as in the meantime Sr. Begoña sent us more information on Integral Ecology and Ecological Conversion. This information helped me tremendously as this was my very first experience in doing something like this. Begoña sent me her PowerPoint on Integral Ecology and the video on Ecological Conversion agreeing that I would adapt the material to fit our multicultural and multi-religious staff. Working with the PowerPoint I learned a lot and had fun in the process,…
Advocating for teenage girls’ education in Uganda
Uganda, like all other countries, was very much affected by the Covid 19 pandemic. Among those who suffered the most are the nearly 15 million children and youth who did not attend school for almost 2 years due to the pandemic strict lockdown. Some of its consequences are a big number of early marriages among girls and teenage pregnancies. The government issued a policy allowing all children (pregnant ones included) to go back to school, once it was opened in January 2022. The Church in Uganda saw how much the girl child was affected by the Covid lockdown and her education challenge in post-covid period. At the end of April 2022, I participated in a workshop organized by Africa Faith and Justice Network, Association of Religious in Uganda and John Paul II Justice and Peace Centre, entitled “Education and decent work for all: Address the impact of Covid-19 on teenage…
Woman of faith and hope meeting the refugees
Sr. Agathe Mukamuligo, Lilongwe community (Malawi) Who are they? Where do they come from? Where are they going? They are men and women, young people and children who live as a family, not having their own family nearby. There are many widows and single mothers. They come from the Great Lakes countries in Central Africa, and are now in the Dzaleka Refugee Camp in the Dowa district of Malawi. Where are they going? They are here, waiting for a host country or continent. Most dream of the USA, Canada, Australia and Sweden. They form the community of life and faith of St Ignatius of Loyola. They have the right to refugee status, but some of them have been waiting for a long time: 21 years for some, 20 years for others, 5 years, 3 years or 1 year for the last arrivals. And they continue to arrive. Although they have…
A visit to the Pambila centre
After Mass one Sunday in Lent, Sisters Agnes, Celina, Emmily and Ancila, left for Pambila, a reception centre 15 km. from Ouagadougou, for young women in difficulty, pregnant, mothers, or fleeing from home. The centre is run by a Protestant pastor and our young postulants have sometimes gone there for their apostolate. For weeks we had prepared the meeting with these young women. We had collected bottles and magazines and found pictures to stick on the bottles. Sr. Leticia had lent us brushes. The girls were very happy and received us with joy. We had prepared some food from our Lenten fast to share with them: rice and fruits and we added some peanuts that we had received. We started our meeting by learning new songs, and together we sang and danced. Then, divided into groups, we colored mandalas. They took time to do it, they were very concentrated and…
Volunteer experience of Marie and Eugenie
In the Dar-es Salaam community, Tanzania “We are Marie and Eugenie, two young French women, and we have been living in Dar es Salaam, in the MSOLA community, since the beginning of March. Everything started in January, when we decided to take part in a volunteering mission in Tanzania. After completing our studies, with a specialization in social entrepreneurship, we wanted to help women who want to launch their own enterprise in order to have a positive impact on their communities in Africa. We turned to the French association “Follow ‘Her”, which offered us the opportunity to support four underprivileged women in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar to help them to ensure the sustainability of their projects. When we started to look for housing for four months, we found randomly on the internet the contact of Sister Cecylia, who lives in Dar es Salaam MSOLA community, who connected us to…