An apostolic tour looking to the future!
Sunday September 17, 2023, Spéciosa, Celina and Cécile left early in the morning for a 195 km drive. This little one-day trip was born first of all from the desire to share with Celina what our community experiences with Muslim women in the city of Kef. Also, we felt certain about something, without really knowing why and what awaited us: the certainty was that it was God who called us to take this path. Driven by this inner conviction shared as a community, we hit the road. We entrusted it to Mary through hymns and prayers, then we listened to this text: “Transformation involves listening to our deepest longings and greatest aspirations to create a new vision for the future. It requires letting go of what is no longer true, real or life-giving and listening to God’s call to new life. It is an organic, emergent, and continually itinerant…
Embracing the call
Sr. Theopista Nakamya Mbabazi, in the community of Nairobi South B, Kenya, shares her experience in the slums of Nairobi: in two encounters with women she shares how the transforming love of the Risen Lord called her to be humble and little in order to raise others up… Clementine, from Rwanda, found herself in a stressful situation in Kenya after being tricked by a stranger. She was brought to Kenya in 2017 and she has three daughters: one she left in Rwanda, another she came with to Kenya and another she gave birth to while in Kenya. Clementine had been approached by someone in her village with the offer to take her to Kenya and marry her to a well-to-do man. She agreed and once in Kenya, she was taken to Nyeri (Othaya) and joined a man in a cohabitation relationship. The man spoke a foreign language which she did…
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…
Decoration
On January 31, 2023, Sister Vickness N. Muleya, in charge of the Delwendé Center in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, was decorated for her commitment and dedication in the apostolate with vulnerable women. The Burkinabé State thus wanted to express its gratitude to the Church for its participation in the development of the country and the Burkinabé people. Sr Vickness was made a ‘Knight of the Order of the Stallion’. The ceremony took place at the Grand Chancellery in the presence of His Eminence Cardinal Philippe Ouedraogo, Metropolitan Archbishop of Ouagadougou. The decoration was presented by the Chancellor. The Cardinal thanked the State and all its collaborators for having recognized the effort of the Church throughout the history of the country. He is grateful to the daughters and sons of Lavigerie for their role in the evangelization of the Burkinabe people: he recalled that it is thanks to them that the Church…
Being women with women
This important aspect of our charism makes us attentive to everything that affects women in general, and African women in particular. Thus, in 2022, thanks to the aid received for apostolic activities, our Congregation supported the Spanish association: “Karibu – Friends of African Peoples” which tries to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable immigrants and refugees from sub-Saharan Africa. The activity of this association is in the field of humanitarian aid and integration assistance. It also carries out actions in favor of the recognition of fundamental rights of immigrants and refugees. By supporting Karibu, we encourage social entrepreneurship led by women. We strengthen their various professions and their creativity by providing development spaces, events and markets where they can promote their products. We encourage the creation of projects and businesses, and support their ideas. In 2022 through training for employment and promotion of entrepreneurship for sub-Saharan…
The most beautiful day!
Sister Nicole Robion in the community of Sceaux, France, shares her apostolate with migrant women. In 2012, the CORREF (Religious Conference of France) was looking for volunteers for the “Champs de Booz” Association, created in 2003 to support and accompany single women, seeking asylum. It really touched my heart because I was looking for an activity on my final return to France and half of the women contacting the Champs de Booz come from sub-Saharan Africa. No greater happiness than staying in close contact with Africa! In 2017, the chapter specified that one of the apostolic orientations is the accompaniment of migrants. This made me feel joy and confirmation of the call perceived on my arrival in France. Bearer of Hope, the Lord gives this to me and the women tell me this with their faces all lit up when I greet them in their language: Dioula or Fulani!…
Listening to the voice of the Spirit…
“Bearers of hope…” we allowed ourselves to be guided by the Spirit to discern in community, sent to Nairobi South C/South B, to bear witness to the Love of God among us in order to share it with those we meet in our daily life. We live in a multicultural and multireligious context surrounded by believers in Islam, Buddhism and Christianity. A neighborhood where distrust reigns in hearts, thus affecting human relations, provoking attitudes of isolation, tribalist grouping and self-protection. “Listening to the voice of the Spirit…” we have chosen: encounter, human fraternity and dialogue and to get close to our neighbours, to greet them when we meet them and on the occasion of the holidays, e.g., Christmas and New Year, invite the neighbours, the guardians of the entrance gates into the city, for mutual knowledge and a way of breaking down religious barriers as well as social classes.…
Only women can accomplish this mission!
“Only women can accomplish this mission!” says Cardinal Lavigerie The sisters in Ghardaia, Algeria, participate in women’s ceremony for two marriages. • It was 2 days before the birth of our Savior Jesus that two of our sisters attended a wedding party of a friend of our community. It was a great experience to be in the middle of all this feminine Mozabite world. When we arrived we saw the women ‘covered up’ according to their culture, which does not allow them to show their faces when they are outside. Stepping inside, we could see the beauty of these women with their kindness and warm welcome. It was the dance party, which is done before marriage in a girl’s family. It was interesting to see the dress of different Algerian cultures, as the bride danced and changed outfits that night at least five times. Everyone sang and danced with her…
Sharing the Experience of the Apostolate at the Havre du Bon Pasteur Centre
The Havre du Bon Pasteur center is a center that welcomes girls and women living in distress. Among them, we have those who have escaped from forced marriages and those who are victims of unwanted pregnancy and excluded from their families. There are also all the girls or women victims of abuse or sexual violence who need support and security. This center was created in 2021 by the sisters of Notre Dame de Charité du Bon Pasteur. It is located in Bobo Dioulasso in Sector 22. Two of us go every Saturday for the apostolate from 3 to 5 p.m. Our joy is to see how much these girls consider us as their own sisters and the trust they have in us. We also see them as our own sisters who need our help; we learn a lot from them even though they are not from the same family, they…
A Look at the Women of Africa
After spending many years in West Africa, and living in several communities in France, Marie-Vincente Brouca is now at the St Charles Retirement Home in Verrières-le-Buisson. With ever sparkling eyes, she tells us about her missionary life in Mali and Burkina Faso. As soon as I arrived in Bamako, I marvelled at the beauty of the Malian women! In the years that followed, I had the chance to work with them, in a Social Center teaching French and embroidery. In fact, they taught me much more than I knew myself. Among them were Muslim women, much freer than in North Africa and some Christian women. Then I was sent to an African Congregation to train young women in religious life. There, although they only had a few rudiments of French, I saw that they knew how to live and express themselves, not to mention their faith which amazed me. Then…