We are initiators
By Sr. Georgette Ouedraogo, Lilongwe community, Malawi Our founder Cardinal Charles Lavigerie and Mother Marie Salome as well as our sisters who preceded us in the mission, taught us to be initiators. Our history reveals how we have been initiators in the mission. So many schools, hospitals, parishes and centres have been initiated and passed on to others. Even though we are not initiating many institutions nowadays, let us not lose the focus, we still are initiators in various ways. When thinking about environmental care, we are called to reinforce our role as initiator. Have we ever witnessed rubbish (water bottles, takeaway containers, tissues, cobs of roasted maize, banana peels) flying out of posh cars, buses on the highway? Are these people not educated? Some of them are very highly educated, but they have not been initiated. No one has ever supported them with the awareness of disposing…
Enjoying little things: a trip to Antwerp Zoo
Written in July 2024 by Ludovica Hofmans and Reninca Van Elzen Summer was slow in coming to Belgium and rather temperamental … We did decide on a date for a visit to Antwerp Zoo, and on that day, 19 July 2024, the weather was very fine, even a little too hot (30°C). But, equipped with hats and bottles of water, we went ahead with our trip to the zoo. We (Anna Hendrickx and ourselves) were lucky enough to be accompanied by Claire, our coordinator, and Sr Marcelline and Sr Maïté, our leaders, who were visiting Belgium! Pauline, a friend of Sr Mia Van Looy, was also on hand to help transport us as all three of us were in wheelchairs. We thank her again very much! I, Ludovica, really admired Pauline, Marcelline and Claire, who pushed us all the way. Thanks to them, I had a great…
Tree planting in Mauritania
On Saturday, October 26, we organized a planting of twenty trees in a neighborhood of Nouakchott called Basra. There were 19 of us, including, among others, 6 people from the Islamo-Christian Group including Sr. Mia and Sr. Elyse, three priests, the president of a Mauritanian association for Education and Culture, the president of the association Soleil des Enfants, the president of the association Ensemble Pour un Avenir Meilleur and his team. We went to get the trees from the gardener to bring them to the neighborhood of Basra where the action took place. The young people from the association had raised awareness among the families in the neighborhood about the benefits of trees and some of them asked for a tree. Each family had already dug a hole in front of their door and had prepared the manure and the fence to prevent the sheep from damaging the young…
Cleaning up the Indian Ocean – a gesture to our Mother Earth
“Laudato si’, mi’ Signore” – “Praised be you, my Lord”. In the words of this beautiful hymn, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our Earth is like a sister with whom we share our life, and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.” Caring for our Mother Earth should be our priority every day, because all our actions, good or bad, have an impact on Her. We are called to be responsible for what we do and to take care of our Mother Earth. I am happy to share with you the way we helped to clean the Indian Ocean because it was really a beautiful experience to do such a gesture. We in the Dar es…
“Thank you for everything”
From our Srs Franceline Hien and Valérie Sibdou Kaboré of Hydra-Parmentier “Thank you for everything” This word was spoken a few days ago by the little girl, barely 3 years old, of a work colleague. We were returning from a beautiful day spent in the mountains, in the middle of the forest. That evening, while reviewing my day, I was challenged about my capacity to live gratitude in depth. Am I able to say, at the end of each day: “Lord, Thank you for everything”? At the end of this month of September, I take the risk of saying “Thank you for everything” Spiritual retreat Thank you for the time of spiritual retreat lived at the monastery of Thibhirine with our brothers the Missionaries of Africa. Led by the brothers and sisters of the Chemin Neuf, it was an intense moment of personal and community prayer…
Back to Teichott after 12 years
Sr. Mia with Srs. Marie-Ange, Elyse and Olive From Sr Mia Dombrecht in Teichott, Mauritania July 1 to 31, 2024 Dear sisters and dear readers, It is with great joy that we share with you this experience of meeting our Muslim brothers and sisters. “You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.” This sentence from the Acts of the Apostles has touched me since my childhood. It is undoubtedly at the origin of my missionary vocation. In 2011, during my first stay in Mauritania, with my sisters, we had the joy of discovering one of these ends of the earth, in the villages of the Imraguen, along the Mauritanian coast between Nouakchott and Nouadhibou in the Banc d’Arguin National Park. With our sister Marie Cécile Baffier, we stayed there for two months. She was in Rgeiba, to teach sewing, myself in Teichott, to teach…
Faith leaders invite you to the Season of Creation
Here is a link to the video of Faith Leaders inviting you to the Season of Creation 2024
Season of Creation Resources
Here is the link to the website with all the resources for the preparation and implementation of the Season of Creation activities: promotional, liturgical, etc… Deepen your Season of Creation experience by taking advantage of these free resources. Your event will have a bigger impact if the community is engaged and inspired. We invite you to use these resources to share the word with your church, invite the bishop or other regional authority to join the celebration, and even take the word to audiences outside your church by reaching local news outlets. Please feel free to use and adapt these materials any way that suits you. Resources
The art of collaboration
From Sr. Maite Oiartzun – Nshimirimana, Burundi Based on my experience, collaboration is an art. In the Trinity, source of inspiration and creativity, we are invited to contemplate the collaboration between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The bond that unites them is Love: “As the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my Love… so that you bear fruit and your fruit endures.” John 15:9-16 Collaboration solely focused on human strengths is faced with fatigue, discouragement and sometimes the temptation to resign because collaboration can become a difficult mission. To persevere, I need to be rooted in the collaboration that Jesus of Nazareth developed with the disciples and with all of Creation. I note that three conditions are important for good collaboration: having a common objective, personal and group motivation and the deep desire to engage in a dynamic of giving…
A Tree Planting Holiday
The children in the Pope Francis Home were excited about planting trees (Their faces cannot be shown in order to protect their identity) From the Malindi community, Kenya The Kenyan government announced a surprise public holiday on 13 November 2023 for a nationwide Tree Planting Day. In a gazette notice dated November 6, Prof Kindiki said President William Ruto would lead the country in the tree-growing exercise in line with his administration’s ambitious plan of growing 10 billion trees by 2032. This is a government’s response to the climate change crisis which is a global issue and which is, in particular, causing worsening droughts in the Horn of Africa, including Kenya, where rains have failed for five seasons in a row. Kenya has lost nearly half of its forest cover since independence. Several factors, including agriculture, logging, and charcoal production, drive deforestation. The loss of forests has contributed to…