Ministry of JPIC
From our sister Maamalifar Poreuku, Executive Co-Secretary of the JPIC Commission USG-UISG My vocation is a childhood dream come true. Around the age of 6, some sisters called “mooda pele” often visited our village and my family. Mooda pele means “White Mothers”. I was so captivated by the name and their activities in the village that I wanted to be like them. This was what motivated me to want to go to school. When I reached the age of reason and went to school, I did not see them anymore, so I thought they had left the country. I met other congregations, but did not feel attracted to them. After completing my secondary education, not knowing if the mooda pele were still in Ghana and not being attracted to any other congregation, I thought my dream to become a white mother was an illusion. So, thinking of other plans,…
Encounter with the other
Our sister Margaret Kibola from Gumo, Ghana reports from Germany. From 24th August to 7th September, I was invited together with three others from the Holy Cross congregation to visit our partner parish and school in Germany, in the Diocese of Münster. We travelled from Ghana with Turkish Airways and on arrival, discovered that our bags were left in Istanbul. Our hosts communicated with their friends and we had already the first gesture of hospitality by going to a shop to choose what we wanted to wear. It was very touching. Then, my three friends were sent to one family and I was to live in the family of the headmistress of our partner school St. Lambert School. The program was very special as it was to expose us to different realities of parish life, society and school life. We visited many beautiful places and churches. The idea of volunteering is…
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…
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…
Tikondane Silver Jubilee, Malawi
By Sr. Marie Sakina Kataluka, community in Tikondane, Malawi As you are all aware Tikondane care for Children on/off the streets is one of our MSOLA projects which we are proud of. It was started in 1998 as a response to a new development in Malawi of the growing number of children living and beginning to live in the streets. Tikondane aimed at protecting and empowering vulnerable, marginalized children who are living and exposed to street life as well as those living in a hostile social environment. We advocate for their cause in fostering a spirit of justice, healing and reconciliation; thus, promoting children’s development to their full potential as persons created in the image of God. This year Tikondane is celebrating 25 years of service to vulnerable and marginalized children. Tikondane staff and the board of governors has planned to celebrate the 25th anniversary throughout this year. Indeed,…
My experience of learning Kiswahili language
By Sr. Sylviane Rouamba, community of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania As our Founder said, “To learn the language and culture of a people is to belong to that people”. This invitation from Cardinal Charles Lavigerie gives me the courage to learn Swahili with joy and love. I am delighted to share with you my experience of learning Swahili in Tanzania, in our community of Dar Es Salaam. This experience has filled my heart with happiness because it has helped me feel part of this country as if I were in my own country. I started learning Swahili on January 9, 2023. I started by learning the basics, i.e. greetings such as “Tumsifu Yesu Kristu”, the greeting used by Tanzanian Catholic Christians, “Habari za asubuhi” (good morning), “Habari za jioni” (good evening). Then I learned verbs, grammar and vocabulary. Little by little, I was able to speak, follow the conversation…
The wind blows where it will
It has been almost a year since I arrived in Malaga and I have not stopped discovering the wealth of faith and self-giving that many Christians here have. It suffices to approach the parishes, to meet the people in, after and during the liturgical celebrations, in order to feel in a number of them, the strong Christian roots which inhabit them. Yes, these people still have a thirst for God that only needs to be quenched. Wanting to integrate and create relationships, I chose to be part of the groups that already exist and that have their own facilitator. These are: life-sharing groups, Bible formation groups, gospel sharing groups, couples groups, Caritas groups, social pastoral groups, marriage preparation groups, etc. These groups meet faithfully every week. I admire their sense of belonging to the parish. The fraternal relationships between the members show that they have known each other for a…
Sharing our charism
Our community in Nouakchott, Mauritania, shares our charism with our collaborators and friends For some years now, we have been encouraged to share our MSOLA charism with lay people interested in getting to know us. Last year, our community in Nouakchott had already gathered some friends and collaborators around this theme and this year again, we thought of the feast of Our Lady of Africa to meet together. Long before, we had met as a community to reflect on this important event in our working year. The idea came to us to focus the reflection on our four apostolic orientations. Finally, the long-awaited big day arrived! On Saturday 29 April, about twenty of our friends and collaborators met in our house: the supervisors of the Maison du Quartier, people who have planted trees with us in different neighborhoods, members of the Islamic-Christian dialogue group, neighbours, students from the hassaniyya…