Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation
We leave you a video published by Justiça nos Trilhos where we can see the progress of the struggle of a simple community against a large extractive company.
A struggle that the Comboni family has been accompanying for years.
You can also read and watch a video subtitled in Spanish in “El País”.
Since March when the powerful cyclone Gombe hit Carapira in northern Mozambique, destroying houses and farms. We, the CLM, have been working to alleviate the suffering of the population. Always in partnership with friends and people with good hearts.
With the help received from Brazil it was possible to carry out small projects. Among them the seeds project.
This Wednesday, November 23rd, we started the first phase of this project, which consists of delivering 5 kg of corn and 3 kg of beans to the most vulnerable families for planting.
The benefited families have the commitment to return the same amount received at harvest time, so that we can continue the project.
The Carapira Parish is composed of 94 communities divided into 5 regions with 22 zones. We chose to make the delivery in each zone to facilitate the access of the families.
The second phase will be on the 29th of this month. And the third will be at the beginning of December.
In this project there are more than 300 families contemplated.
On behalf of the families and the people of Carapira, I thank everyone who generously gave a little of what they have to help those who have even less.
God bless you all.
CLM Carapira
It is time for another assembly of the Rural Family House, an association formed by country people, ex-students and people who believe in this proposal. The Comboni family present in Açailândia is part of this project, being directly involved Dida and Xoán, Liliana and Flávio, and Fr. Joseph.
The house offers a three-year technical course in agriculture and cattle raising, combined with high school, through the alternating cycle pedagogy.
There is a song that says: “I won’t leave the countryside to go to school. Education in the countryside is a right, not a handout.”
The goal of this space is exactly this! By enabling young people from the countryside to improve the profitability of family property, we reduce the rural exodus and promote family farming, also inserting agro-ecological techniques.
The school serves students from Açailândia, neighboring towns, and also from more distant cities, with students from three different states (Maranhão, Pará and Tocantins).
In the debate about the challenges faced by the school and that involve financial costs, one of the mothers present pointed out, “We are an association, we can collaborate and with the little of each one, we will get what is necessary.”
And so we go sowing in the collective construction the search for better conditions for farmers and peasants, and with this generate a seed of a better world.
CLM Brazil
Once the meeting was over and after saying goodbye to the participants from the different countries, I left for Pangoa, a town in the Peruvian jungle where our CLM have been doing missionary support during their vacations, especially for school support in the indigenous communities.
There I was received by the Comboni community who welcomed me very well. I had the opportunity to meet again Fr. Maciek, whom we met in Poland where he was supporting the CLM, and Fr. Lorenzo, who until a few months ago accompanied the CLM in Spain. During the three days of my stay I was able to visit the different services provided by the parish, how they attend to the people coming from the different indigenous communities, the visit to the Daniel Comboni school, where I was able to share some time with the older students, the visit to the cultural center that is being built and that will undoubtedly help a lot to make known the reality of the indigenous communities and to promote meetings that will strengthen their culture.
On the other hand, we had the opportunity to visit some of the indigenous communities closest to Pangoa. The territory of the parish is immense and getting into it requires an all-terrain car with 4-wheel drive to avoid getting stuck in the mud or the use of canoes to reach the most remote communities.
Pangoa is undoubtedly a parish full of needs and opportunities for missionary service. Who knows if one day we will be able to open an CLM presence in the area?
On the occasion of my visit we took the opportunity to organize a meeting with some people interested in becoming CLM. It was a small introductory meeting that we hope will serve as a seed that will later be nurtured and watered with missionary fruits in the area.
I leave you a video of the area recorded by the program Pueblo de Dios de España.
Kind regards
Alberto de la Portilla, coordinator of the CLM Central Committee.
Undoubtedly the continental meeting of the CLM of America held in Lima was a very special moment. Postponed for two consecutive years due to the pandemic. We were finally able to celebrate it and share how we are living our vocation in a reality that is trying to come out of the pandemic and recover from the consequences.
A meeting of this kind always serves to encourage us, to reflect together and to gather strength and new ideas for the imminent future that awaits us.
Once the meeting was over, as usual, to take advantage of the plane ticket, I had the opportunity to stay in the country and visit the places where we are present as CLM.
The first visit was to the neighborhood of Pamplona Alta where the CLM of Lima carry out a large part of their pastoral activity. This visit was made by all the participants of the continental meeting during the last Sunday. We divided into two groups and each group visited some of the communities that usually accompany our CLM brothers. The parish has a Spanish parish priest from the IEME and has the presence of the Comboni Sisters.
During the pandemic the work has been very hard, helping the communities to survive. The creation of numerous community kitchens has made possible the solidarity among all the members of the community and allowed many families to survive.
Here is a video of the area recorded by the team of the Spanish television program Pueblo de Dios. There we can see the extent of this work and the reality of these communities.
Kind regards
Alberto de la Portilla, coordinator of the CLM Central Committee.
