Formation – Page 35 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

Visit to the new CLM group of Kenya

27 November, 2019 by Alberto de la Portilla

Greetings to all!

Moving on with the reporting on my trip to Kenya I would like to share with you about my visit to the new group of CLM candidates which is coming up there.

The group has been getting together for over a year in Nairobi. They meet on the first weekend of the month. Many of them come from the Friends of Comboni group, but in some way some of them would like to take another step forward and follow the CLM vocation.

First of all, I must give thanks for the reception I have received through this time, starting with my reception at the airport on my first day. Four members found a way to be there to welcome me. From there, we went to the home of one of them where she had lunch ready for us. A great welcome to establish a family spirit. Fr. Maciek joined us for lunch. He follows the group with the help of Fr. Claudio, whom I met later in Embakasi.

We spent the afternoon together even though I must admit that I was very tired because of the trip. After that, they drove me to the house of the Comboni Sisters of South Sudan, which is at the opposite end of the city. At that point I could see the chaos that grips circulation in a capital as large as Nairobi and that would be with me wherever I went in Kenya.

On the first Friday of the month they took me to Embakasi, outside the city and near the airport, which is the Comboni community that is the point of reference for the group and where they meet monthly.

We had supper together and shared how the week had been for each one. Thus, early Saturday morning we were able to start our meeting.

The purpose of the meeting was to get to know each other better, starting with a presentation of the CLM at the international level, our history and the agreements reached at our last international meetings. All this in order to share on how the group is developing, what are its immediate tasks and spend some time on lectures, resolving doubts that are normal for a new group and looking at the challenges that will arise in the future.

They are in the second year of formation and they will soon reach an important moment. It will be time to decide and make a missionary option both at the personal and at a group level. This formation they are receiving must help them discern their personal missionary vocation, but also discern as a group the missionary options they will accept. This is what we talked about mostly. The Lord has called each one of them to be missionaries. So, this formation must help them decide the direction of the rest of their lives. If they decide to enter the CLM, they will have to see if the Lord calls them to leave Kenya and go to some of our missionary communities. But they must also discern if they are called to open a missionary presence far away from Kenya or in a neighborhood of Nairobi. For instance, for them Amakuriat and the Turkana area are important points of reference some have already visited. Next month two of the women will initiate a small mission experience there helping the health center, youth work and in general pastoral activity.

Each time the Lord gives rise to new vocations he does it to answer the many needs of the world. What is the Lord asking of them? This is what they must discern. They must keep in mind the needs and special cases that we must face in our condition as CLM being lay, single or married.

I also want to comment on the project of the sale of honey they carry out to find funds. It is something they already introduced to us in their blog and in which they are very involved. They buy honey from the Pokot warriors and thus help that community. Then they transpose it and sell it to earn something to live with, to buy what they need for the group and also to help finance the common fund at the international level. It is hard work requiring a lot of time, staying up on Saturday night or getting up very early on Sunday to fill the jars of one kg or half a kg, wash the empties that will be used to buy more honey. Then they must label them, follow the sales and keep the administration. This then brings them to do promotion in the parishes and also to sell during the week to relatives, coworkers and friends to earn something. This is a group that, from the very beginning, not only shares monthly about its activities, but also wants to contribute to our common cause.

During my last days in Kenya I also had the opportunity to chat with some of them, to know their families and their personal concerns.

It is wonderful to see how the Lord keeps on calling. A new group in Africa is, without a doubt, a great challenge for us as CLM. We ask St. Daniel Comboni to accompany it, to animate it and to fill it with his passion for Mission. “To Save Africa with Africa” is a slogan that keeps calling many Africans to serve their neediest brothers and sisters wherever they are.

May the Lord give them strength and courage in the journey ahead.

Greetings

Alberto de la Portilla, CLM

Silver Jubilee of Tangaza University College

25 November, 2019 by Alberto de la Portilla

Greetings to one and all! As several of you know, these last few weeks I was on a visit to Kenya. I experienced a lot of things during those days and I would like to share some of them with you. My first item will be to tell you about my first days in Nairobi, when I had the opportunity to attend the Silver Jubilee celebrations of Tangaza University College.

First of all, I must thank the community of the Comboni Sisters that hosted me during these first days while I was attending the Silver Jubilee of the Tangaza University College. I include Sr. Teresita, with whom I shared all these days, who showed me around and explained the place’s history. We shared good days when we could converse and get to know a little better the reality of Kenya and, through the other sisters, of South Sudan as well.

Tangaza University College was born 25 years ago. It was a pioneering idea in many ways and, above all, an inspiration that the Comboni family and other congregations and people are still supporting.

In particular, these days they celebrated the 3^rdAnnual African Conference on Entrepreneurship during which lectures and round tables were held over the purpose and the importance of social entrepreneurs in Africa and specifically in Kenya.

Kenya faces many economic difficulties and a high level of unemployment, especially among the young. This reality which statistics throw at us stands in contrast with all that was discussed during these days. The gathering was a venue where to share experiences and challenges among a solid group of entrepreneurs. These are people filled with initiative and with many ideas that want to change the country.

Social entrepreneurship goes well beyond the interest to have a business survive and make a profit. Generating wealth in the country and its repercussion in society are two supporting pillars for these entrepreneurs.

We all know the importance of investing in education and health care in a country, but this is only a first step. The second step is the challenge for civil society to generate a just wealth for all. It means to generate a development that will improve food availability, provide better transport, a better agriculture that will satisfy people’s needs, infrastructures and, finally, to raise the level of life of the people, the level of health care for all and a care of the environment, because it is the only way to guarantee a better future for all.

These days dealt with all these things. The plenary sessions and the round tables that were held were all equally interesting. This included, in a parallel way, the exhibits of small enterprises that are opening up in this field and the contacts made possible between people sharing an interest in opening new businesses that will offer solutions to concrete problems.

It was often stressed that the problems of Africa can only be solved by Africans. This is very much in tune with St. Daniel Comboni who, almost two centuries ago, was saying, “Save Africa with the Africans.”

All this made me reflect a lot on our style of mission, our missionary priorities as a Comboni family, and especially as lay people. For sure, as lay people we are much closer to this reality. And even though it is true that not everyone is called to be an entrepreneur, it is certain that our missionary activity must grow along these lines of helping local people, especially the young, to build sustainable wealth and development. It is important to be involved not only in education, health care and social matters, but also the economic development of society and local communities must be a priority in our missionary planning, in our formation, in our vocation promotion.

Clearly there continues to be much work ahead and all our gifts remain few as we place them at the service of those most in need.

Greetings,

Alberto de la Portilla, CLM

Presentation of Enoch Malumalu

22 November, 2019 by Alberto de la Portilla

My name is Enoch MALUMALU and I am a Congolese national.

I am Catholic and a Comboni Lay Missionary. I am 25 years old and I am the coordinator of a community of lay people in the St. Maria Goretti parish, of the archdiocese of Kinshasa. I also serve as the educator of young people in various parish groups of the archdiocese of Kinshasa.

Professionally, I am a graduate in Social Communication from the Institute of Information Sciences and Communications (IFASIC/Kinshasa/Gombe). I worked for a year as a political reporter, and two years for national NGOs in the humanitarian and development sector.

I am the only son of my father, Augustin MALUMALU, and the second of four children of my mother, Adelphine NKIE, from whom I have two brothers and one sister. My older brother’s name is Bruce, and after me comes Beni, my younger brother, and my little sister Sephora. My older brother has two children.

My vocation as a Comboni lay missionary started much before I even thought about it.

At an early age, while in primary school and after my First Communion, I chose to go to the mission, captivated as I was by the stories of Bakanja, Anuarea and the martyrs of Uganda that I had learned in the Kizito and Anuarite group. I discovered my missionary vocation while in secondary school and it pushed me to read many books about the saints. One day I fell in love with St. Daniel Comboni and this was the beginning of my adventure with the Comboni Missionaries down to this day.

After several years of discernment, prayer, meetings, discussions, guidance and formation, I heard the voice of God calling me as it did with Samuel and with St. Daniel Comboni. Aware of the current needs of the mission, my strength is based on the cross because “the works of God are born and grow at the foot of the cross,” as St. Daniel Comboni said.

Currently I am in Kinshasa living my community experience, then I will be missioned to the Central African Republic for two years. I will work with the Pygmies of Mongoumba. The town is about 120 km South of Bangui, the CAR capital. There I will live with “the poorest and most abandoned,” as our founder St. Daniel Comboni said.

Enoch Malumalu, CLM Congo

Regimar shared this short text about his departure to Ipê

26 October, 2019 by Alberto de la Portilla

“It’s time to leave, leave family, friends, work, community, get out of our comfort zone. It is a mixture of happiness and longing. A heartbeat for two reasons, leave our previous life, but in the direction of another, living the mission. You can’t talk much, because you can’t identify your feelings right now, it’s a mix of everyone. However, we are sure of what we want and we trust that everything will go well with God. ” Regimar, LMC Brazil

Mission leads to defending life

25 October, 2019 by Alberto de la Portilla

Can the life of common human beings prepare them for mission?

– Yes, when it is accepted, given and shared. This is how the Comboni Lay Missionaries (CLM) including Regimar and Valmir of Balsas, MA understand it.

The latest struggle that Regimar took up was the establishment of a CVV – a Center for the Value of Life, in Balsas.

During a missionary symposium held in Bacabal, MA in October 2018, Regimar for the first time heard about CVV, a center for the prevention of suicides run by professionals from different fields, such as psychologists, social workers, doctors and lawyers. At the time she thought: “This is exactly what Balsas needs now, because it is one of the worst areas of Maranhão for suicides.” In general, the first contact is by telephone, because it allows people to remain anonymous, and a vulnerable and fragile person will feel more protected. To do this, volunteers are needed.

In the months that followed, she faced the challenge of finding available people, because we all have many commitments.

She almost gave up. But she found great strength in her family, because Valmir, her husband, always believed in this cause and supported her.

The next step was motivated by the recurring situation of anguish caused by the large number of suicides. In August 2019 she contacted the deputy mayor and, following a conversation with Fransuíla, a member of council, she organized a public event for September 30 and October 1 attended by Régis, the national expansion coordinator of CVV, who introduced the method of this activity and helped to develop a presence in Balsas.

The date was based on Regimar’s commitments: “Since you are the leader of this project, you cannot miss the implementation meeting,” the municipal authorities told her.

It turns out that the following week, on October 6 to be exact, Regimar celebrated her missioning Mass as a CLM. Together with Valmir, she left for Ipê Amarelo, a neighborhood just outside Contagem, MG on October 23 for their immediate preparation to missionary service, to delve more deeply into themes of spirituality, community life and insertion.

The couple left behind their 22 years old son, Lucas, who being a computer science graduate, has good chances of finding a job quickly and, leaving with Mary, plans to get married

Valmir and Regimar travel in silence, leaving their grown son ready to face life.

To Lucas and Maria, to the two local families and to the communities that shared their journey, they express gratitude, appreciating their support and trust, and count on their prayers.

We, too, must pray for this couple and for their dedication to mission!

Fr. Carlos (the couple’s pastor)