The story of the bird
From Sr. Càrol Garcia Murillo, Spain I still remember when a few months ago, Sr. Carmen Sammut invited me to participate in our General Chapter. I couldn’t believe what this offered to me and, at the same time, I was invaded by a big emotion. It was not easy to negotiate with the doctor to be able to spend three weeks in Rome, but I managed no less than eight days! Although I would have preferred it to be more, I was happy and very grateful. Many of you were able to see it. However, I’ll be honest with you: due to my physical fragility, I don’t think I would have been able to stay in Sacrofano for three full weeks, following your intense and fruitful pace of work, which I undoubtedly admired. The days before my departure I felt great uncertainty, fear of the unknown, excitement for…
Experience of the world: the World Youth Day at Lisbon
A report from Sr. Lucy Nabweteme, Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa in Lublin, Poland On the 24th of July we left Lublin, Poland for Portugal for the World Youth Day. We were 20 participants, with Fr. Mateusz Wójcik who was responsible for the group. We all set off for the pilgrimage with our personal desires or mission. Sr. Victoria Gaa and I were sent by our Congregation specifically to do Missionary Vocation Animation. I also had my personal desire which was to love the people I will meet and to go to Fatima. On the 26th we arrived at Marco de Canaveses, in Porto diocese, where we spent four days. We were all touched by the love, care and generosity of the families that welcomed us. We were also very grateful for all the organisation that had been done at the parish to enable us to have…
Impressions from the General Chapter 2023
From Sr. Margret Tovar, in Trier in Germany On April 29, I arrived in Rome knowing that I would be the oldest delegate at the General Chapter. I felt hesitation, a little fear and a certain insecurity. From the beginning, I tried to remember the names of my younger sisters, unfortunately without much success. At the opening of the Chapter, each was invited to a commitment, and mine was to listen with all my being, all my intelligence, all my heart. I experienced day by day a transformation in myself and in all of us through respect and true and deep sharing. The times of silence, the fact of letting emotions come and appear without embarrassment, helped us to go further and to experience this transformation. Working and sharing in a group favored this journey as well as the prayers and Eucharists so well prepared. “At my age”, I am…
Dare to dream of a new creation!
This is the Letter of the General Council on the 154th anniversary of the birth of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Our Lady of Africa. Rome, 8th September 2023 Ladies! If it’s just us to get started, it’ll be lovely! Dare to dream of a new creation! Dear Sisters, Happy feast day of the birth of our Lady and our Congregation! From the very beginning our Congregation has been on a journey of transformation within itself and within the Church. Our first heroic Sisters from Brittany, responding to the call of Cardinal Lavigerie, embarked on an adventure…
Life is beautiful! Let’s live it.
The community of Nouakchott reports on a joyful occasion: The summer camp From July 10 to 27, Sister Elyse Uwanyirigira and her team organized three weeks of activities for the children of the Maison du Quartier and for those studying in other schools. What is unique to this colony is the number of children enrolled: 78! Other children kept knocking on the door after a week of activities, but the limit was reached: sorry, what to do? The supervisors consulted each other and decided to welcome them anyway, because even if they said “no”, a young girl had already said that she was going to sit next to the others and watch what they were doing instead of going home. Three volunteer supervisors, including a retired doctor and a student from the Lycée Français who came with her friend, showed up to lend a hand. Two people passing through…
Season of creation prayer 2023
Creator of All, From your communion of love life sprung forth like a mighty river and the whole cosmos came into being. On this Earth of overflowing love, the Word was made flesh and went forth with the life-giving waters proclaiming peace and justice for all creation. You called human beings to till and keep your garden. You placed us into right relationship with each creature, but we failed to listen to the cries of the Earth and the cries of the most vulnerable. We broke with the flowing communion of love and sinned against you by not safeguarding the conditions for life. We lament the loss of our fellow species and their habitats, we grieve the loss of human cultures, along with the lives and livelihoods that have been displaced or perished, and we ache at the sight of an economy of death, war and violence that we…
Youth, be a witness to the hope of Christ
Sister Joselyne Nisingizwe of our Tchad community, accompanied the young people of the vocation group to the Diocesan Vocation Camp in Doguindi. Here is what she shares with us about this experience. This year we had 116 young people! The theme of this camp was: ‘Youth, be witnesses of Christ’s hope in today’s world’. I thank God for this experience with young people. After noticing the evil that invades the world, we saw together how we can live in hope. By referring to the Holy Scriptures, we have seen some characters who are models of hope. Abraham is an example. The book of Genesis retraces the significant events in the life of Abraham before the sacrifice of his son. In the New Testament, the story of the widowed woman who had only one son (Lk 7:11-12), shows us that even if evil exists in the world, it does not…
Golden jubilee celebration for Sister Bijundi Bashige
Report by Sister Mariette Macozi, for the Kinshasa community Following the announcement of Sister Bijundi’s appointment to Bukavu, we were looking for a simple way to say goodbye. The conditions being right, we combined her farewell with the celebration of her 50 years of religious consecration as MSOLA. The small number in our community was not an obstacle for us to mark this important day for our sister. Given the limited space available to welcome a large number of guests in our home, we approached our brothers the Missionaries of Africa to welcome us to their home for this important celebration. Once we had obtained their agreement, we asked their young people to help us lead the mass. Many people responded positively to our invitation. We had initially asked Father Ange Kufwakuziku, SVD (Director General of the organization for the Reclassification and Protection of Street Children – ORPER) to…
Opening the Season of Creation
The Season of Creation starts on the 1st of September and our Congregation and our brothers Missionaries of Africa are starting the celebration with a letter from our superiors Here is the link to download the PDF 2023 0729 SoC_En
We gave what we received
Clémentine Mukampabuka, of the Oran community, reports on her participation in this year’s summer camp. The Diocesan Centre Pierre Claverie (CPC) in Oran organized its 16th summer camp in the first half of July. This is a two-week summer camp for children aged 7 to 13. This year there were 60 children and a dozen animators. The children were divided into two main groups: the lions, aged 11 to 13, and the fennecs (desert foxes), aged 7 to 10. These names symbolize the city of Oran, Wahrân in Arabic, which means two lions, and Algeria’s national animal, the desert fox. The children wore these names with pride. There were 5 workshops: drawing, cooking, crafts, games and dance. Everyone had the opportunity to take part in all the different activities. The first week ended on a high note with an outing to a farm called “My Rose”. Roses, a…