Alberto de la Portilla – Page 196 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

Annual CLM Meeting in Brazil

4 December, 2013 by Alberto de la Portilla

We ended the first day of the CLM meeting in Brazil. 11 people attended, including Marco and Valentina, couple of Italian lay missionaries who are working with the Comboni Missionaries in Açailândia, Maranhão, and Emma, Italian CLM who arrived on 2 of this month to join the CLM community of Ipê Amarelo.

We share the experiences made during 2013 of the various communities and reflect on “Comboni and missionary Juncture ” based on some challenges posed by Father George and the CLM coordinator team related to the concepts of new evangelization, conversion, some meaningful words from Pope Francisco and the proposal of the 51st General Assembly of the Brazilian Bishops’ conference.

By late afternoon, we reproduce the workshops held in the Assembly of Maia, which has helped us to start thinking about the next steps as CLM for reflection on the second day.

We concluded the evening with some videos about APAC (alternative prison system), the international community of Carapira and the indigenous cause.

We count with the prayers of all for the continuity of our meeting!

We are together!

CLM Brazil

Updating the Plan of Comboni

3 December, 2013 by Alberto de la Portilla

Meeting of the Comboni Family in Spain

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Plan for the Regeneration of Africa written by St. Daniel Comboni, the Comboni family in Spain (Comboni Missionaries, Comboni Missionaries Sisters, Secular Comboni Missionaries and Comboni Lay Missionaries) will meet the weekend 5th and 6th of April in Madrid.

It will be a time of reflection, prayer, fellowship and working together around the challenges that arise from Comboni insights to the reality of today.

This meeting will run by way of workshops and will be animated by Fr Joaquim Valente, Head of Comboni Studium.

We want to reflect on the challenges posed by the mission today rereading the Plan of Comboni at family key. Each specific vocation brings nuances that enrich this analysis. Comboni created us as Cenacle of Apostles in Africa, where religious, priests and laity work together to create a synergy that involve the whole Church to deal with the most abandoned continent of the world, Africa.

Currently as Comboni family we are in Africa, America, Asia and Europe. We want to be together faithful and update this missionary call that we receive from Jesus under the charism of Comboni.

In the communion of the same Comboni and missionary vocation, we greet you with affection, the members of the committee: Pedro Miguel Andrés (MCCJ), Carmina Ballesteros (CMS) and Alberto de la Portilla (CLM).

Advent 2013: “Let your light shine”.

2 December, 2013 by Alberto de la Portilla

Advent 2013: “Let your light shine”. This Advent time (1-24 December) we pray as communities united all across the world that the Holy Spirit may inspire us to transform our world; empower us to seek the common good for all persons; and give us a spirit of solidarity making us one with all who suffer injustice and live in want. In attachment we publish the Prayer reflection for Advent 2013 in English (text) and Spanish (texto 1, texto 2, texto 3 y texto 4).

Project KWE ZO ZO (every person is a person)

8 January, 201428 November, 2013 by Alberto de la Portilla

HEALTHCARE PROGRAM FOR PYGMY POPULATION IN MONGOUMBA

Central African Republic

Comboni Family united for a common cause

Context:

This year, the Comboni family in Portugal will have as central theme of the year the slavery. Therefore, given the circumstances of the countries in which we work as Comboni family, we have joined in support of a project for the Pygmies of Mongoumba – RCA (where we have our CLM Elia Gomes responsible for the health issues).

The village of Mongoumba is located in the equatorial forest in Lobaye, Prefecture of the Central African Republic, and is bordered by the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo, in the equatorial forest.

The estimated population is 21,235 inhabitants, with over 50% of young people (under 20 years).

Here are around thirty villages located mainly on the banks of the Ubangi and Lobaye rivers. The population is ethnically diverse; the largest ethnic groups are the Mondzombo and Ngbaka, from the Bantu group. There is still a group of Pygmies Aka, according to the latest census carried out by CARITAS, in 2004, the number of people who belong to this ethnic group was 3089, being distributed in more than 80 camps disseminated in the forest.

Despite being pygmies the first inhabitants of this region, they suffer of discrimination from the rest of the population that uses them as cheap labor and excluded from social organizations.

The economic activities belong to the primary sector: coffee, bananas, cassava, hunting, fishing and gathering fruit. In this area existed logging and mining companies exploiting the natural resources causing the disruption of the balance of the ecosystem and destroying the natural habitat of the pygmies.

Introduction:

To support the Pygmy population at health level, the mission -and more specifically the community of Comboni Lay Missionaries (CLM) present there- intended to serve as a bridge between this population and the local public health center, as well as facilitate the access to Pygmies to medicines, nutrition programs, epilepsy, as well as vaccination campaigns and access to safe drinking water (through the construction of wells in the jungle).

The pygmy population fails to go beyond a collaboration of 2% of the total expenditure on health.

Activities:

1. Donation of medicines needed for the Pygmies having a financial contribution from them.

2. Health education for individual and group during the consultations and in the pygmy camps in different topics like vaccination and the disease with greater incidence.

3. Accompaniment, medication and training in cases of epilepsy and malnutrition (very common in this region).

4. Creation of 2 wells in the jungle to meet the drinking water needs.

Budget (in Euros) for the development of the activities (for one year):

Concept	Finance needed
Drug expenses	3 700,00 €
Malnutrition	550,00 €
Epilepsy	630,00 €
Vaccination / sensitization campaigns	150,00 €
Construction of 2 wells	250,00 €
Total	5 280,00 €

This project aims to ensure a minimum level of health for the Pygmies of this region (as these are the poorest of the poor).

Along with these activities, the Catholic Mission of Mongoumba does other activities in both education and in terms of Pastoral ministry. Therefore, this project is only a part of the comprehensive work done in the mission.

From now, the CLM community present in Mongoumba is grateful for the cooperation of everyone and especially the attention paid to the reality of the Pygmies. It is, in fact, in constant collaboration that we can continue the Mission and slowly, together, we believe that we can build a better world, “that many have life and have it abundantly” (Jn 10, 10).

Note: Currently, in this mission is present Elia Gomes, CLM nurse, who takes care of matters concerning to health issues.

The CLM from Portugal are available to provide any additional information, support, and answer for any questions that may arise:

You can download the project brochure KWE ZO ZO here.

You can follow the project in Facebook here.

Susana Vilas Boas: (00351) 960 145 875 susanavilasboas@gmail.com (made part of this community for 5 years).

Sandra Fagundes: (00351) 966 592 658 sandrafagundes@gmail.com (treasurer of the CLM)

Donations can be deposited in the account:

IBAN: PT50 0036 0131 99100030116 60

SWIFT: MPIOPTPL

The mission takes place when and where we let to happen

26 November, 2013 by Alberto de la Portilla

The Community of Life of Porto went on mission again. From 9 to 10 of November we make mission animation in the parishes of Castelões, Pousada de Saramagos and Vermoim.

In our mission, we were surprised by the missionary and fraternal spirit with which we were received. In fact, on Saturday, the CLM Sandra and Carlos animated “moçambicanamente” the catechesis groups from 7th to 11th grades and the Eucharist – presided by Father Manuel Lopes (MCCJ) – had the collaboration of Susana (CLM) who briefly presented the reality of Central African Republic. At the end of the Eucharist, animation and missionary message continued with the particular involvement of the CLM Franquelim.

Always in communion with this parish, we accept the invitation of the catechists, and the deacon David, and share dinner with the young group following with a vigil of missionary prayer organized by this same group. There, everything spoke of mission. From our side, we saw missionary germinating seeds acting in the heart of this parish. Praise God for the wonders he made!

On Sunday, we went to the Inn of Saramagos and then to Vermoim. In these two parishes we celebrate the Eucharist where we could count with the presence of both the deacon David as the parish priest – Fr Carlos.

Ready to return home, some of us even went to Maia for another meeting of the Vocations Youth team where we met, as usual, all the Comboni Family represented in communion efforts to continue to sow seeds of missionary activity in the heart of so many young from the JIM group around the country.

CLM community from Porto