Dear St. Daniel,
In the last couple years as I have serving here in Ethiopia, I’ve been diving into some of the thousands of letters which you wrote. In your words, it is clear that you loved the African people so much. Being here in Africa myself, the place where you gave your whole life, you are a great faith model for me because it was your big love that fueled your tenacity to persevere amidst every kind of hardship. Where did such a love come from? At a time when most everyone else in the western world disregarded Africa and saw only insurmountable destitution, you saw a sister and a brother and potential. When others saw selfish opportunity, profit and a source of slaves, you saw Jesus in their faces and the dignity of a fellow child of the Father in heaven. As boats left the harbour packed with slaves destined for the ‘civilized’ world, you sent African men and women to Europe to study at university with the firm confidence that they would return to their homelands being the best architects of their own people’s liberation and development. How much opposition you must have faced? I guess you wanted for all Africans to savour the freedom you found in God’s love, a love which you obviously felt so strongly yourself.
– Mark & Maggie Banga
Comboni Lay Missionaries serving in Awassa, Ethiopia
