A Volunteering Family’s Mission Experience in Ghana
Ewa Kaznowska-Ponczek from Lublin, Poland, together with her husband and two daughters, spent time volunteering among some of the most vulnerable people in Ghana, West Africa. We are an ordinary family from Lublin, focused on everyday life—raising two teenage daughters (aged 12 and 15) and managing our professional responsibilities. Despite our busy schedules, we try to help others, both out of compassion and to teach our children empathy and sensitivity to the needs of others. This desire inspired us to volunteer abroad. Through Sister Celina Natanek, we had the opportunity to serve with the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa (White Sisters) in Ghana after a year of preparation. Once a month, we attended formation meetings where we studied the Bible, reflected on our motivations, and listened to people with missionary experience. We learned to be open to the unknown and to let go of expectations. We were encouraged…
Sisters among the people
Being inserted in the village, our community is a home for all. On a daily basis, we receive people who come for different reasons: to greet, to sell (the milieu where we stay, women and girls do a lot of hawking), looking for someone to confide in, and for learning purposes (pupils who come to revise their notes). For so many years, our sisters have been immersed in the ministry of education at different levels. We respond to this particular call because learning opens a person to many other opportunities and gives occasion to learn about issues that are a concern for us sisters, such as: care of the environment, respect of differences, commitment to Faith, and prevention of modern slavery. It is almost the 6th month since I was appointed to the community of Gumo, in Ghana, and joined in this pastoral work. I am starting a new project…
The joy of moving towards…
By early 2020, following lockdowns imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the use of ZOOM increased sharply and thousands of businesses and educational institutions had switched to online courses using ZOOM. As the company offered its services free of charge to schools from kindergarten to high school in many countries, the number of users per day increased from 10 million in December 2019 to 200 million in March 2020, with many new participants working online for the first time. ZOOM has also become a social platform and its users have organized family reunions, sports classes, concerts, weddings, etc. Our congregation quickly adopted this new medium of communication. At first with some difficulty but very quickly, and with a lot of practice on the spot, several sisters became very skilled in the use, and ZOOM became the means of bonding between individuals and communities. What a pleasure to connect between Europe, America and Africa to…
Memories of Sr. Marie-Louise Thiry from 1943 to 2020
Almost all of my MSOLA formation took place during wartime. I entered the postulate in Andenne sur Meuse (province of Namur) in April 1943. Six months later I took the habit at the novitiate of Hérent near Leuven. This lasted 2 years In the summer of 1944, we suffered a terrible bombardment. We were safe but the windows of the novitiate were shattered. The Sisters, fearing a recurrence, wanted to keep the novices away from Hérent. This is how we were welcomed by the Ursulines of Tildonk for a few weeks. We occupied the premises of the students on vacation. On August 29, we returned home. On September 4, 1944, Brussels was liberated from the occupier. A few days later, our novice mistress, Sr Rose de Viterbe, took us to the village: a convoy carrying allied soldiers was about to pass. The train slowed down and we warmly applauded them.…
Apostolate in the peripheries
Our sister Cecylia Bachalska, from the community of Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania) tells us about her apostolate in the outskirts of the city and of life …
“I was in prison and you came to visit me” (Matthew 25:36)
Apostolate in the prison of Ghardaïa The welcome from the authorities in Ghardaïa is very good and we have been well received. We met the Director, who made himself available to us to ensure that the prayer service was carried out in favourable conditions while respecting the rules of the prison. Relations with the guards who allow us access to prisoners are also good, and with some even fraternal. We feel they trust us. The guards prepare a nice room for us to meet. Everyone is properly seated, and we can make a circle that helps everyone participate better. There are four attitudes that we must always maintain: humility, following the instructions given, respect for those people who are in the different prison departments, and recognition. The guards are respectful when they are…
The heart of our faith is one person, Jesus Christ
A testimony of the life and faith of Sister Marie Léonie Pittet, from Christelle Devanthéry, from Neuchâtel. I met Sr. Marie-Léonie when I was 20 years old. I left with Voyage-Partage in Tunisia and I lived with her in the community of the White Sisters in La Marsa for 6 months. During the evenings, we talked about theology, the world, Africa. She listened to me and she shared her faith-vision with me. We lived together an extraordinary year with the visit of John Paul II to Tunisia, the assassination of the Brothers of Thibirine and of the beloved Bishop Pierre Claverie. At the heart of all of this was the very meaning of missionary presence in North Africa. The White Fathers and White Sisters touched me by the radical nature of their evangelical commitment, the testimony of their life given to a foreign land, a humility and a…
Our garden – a Beautiful composition of Nature
In this difficult time, we decided to celebrate the Integrity of Creation by taking special care of our garden in Dar es Salaam. The climate is dry, the soil is poor, and because of the heat, the plants and flowers need a lot of water and special care.
How beautiful are your works!
During this month of celebration of the Seasons of Creation, we, the novices of Bobo, would like to share with you what we have discovered through nature and the joy we experience in caring for nature.