Africa – Page 106 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

Love in Practice is a Harsh and Dreadful Thing

23 December, 2013 by Maggie and Mark Banga

Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Worker movement once said: “Love in practice is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams. Reality continues to confront our dreams, our hope and our ideal vision”. Day knew this well because she gave her full life to struggling in solidarity with the poor. Loving the poor is a difficult thing. Even when we come with a sincere desire to “serve the poor” we cannot help but have a certain romantic vision of who the poor are and what we think they need. But the daily practice of this is far from romantic and I am surprised at how many times I utterly fail to love the poor when I am precisely trying to do so. This has been part of my journey as a lay missionary in Ethiopia.

But there persists a single core source of inspiration -> Matthew 25:40: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Jesus describes in Matt 25:31-46 that the inheritance of his Kingdom is based on something quite simple and attainable. Once again Dorothy Day sheds some clear light when she comments: “If Christ himself had not said it, it would seem raving lunacy to believe this. But he said that a glass of water given to a beggar is given to him. He made heaven hinge on the way we act toward him in His disguise of commonplace, frail, ordinary humanity.”

Matthew 25:40 remains both a big challenge and encouragement to me. By seeing Jesus in those around me, I begin to appreciate and care for their sufferings as well as their joy, hope and the gifts which they contribute to the world. I begin to realize my own poverty too, accepting that as people we all share a certain brokenness and sense of loss, rejection and unfulfilled needs. I see that the real challenge is having trust in the “Jesus” in others even when I cannot see him. Believe me, there are moments when I am rubbing my eyes to see Jesus but all I see are mistakes and disappointments.

I am also learning that contained within the act of loving the poorest is the total sphere of human virtue – patience, forgiveness, empathy, hope, perseverance and courage. The entire demand of God’s message of Love is summed up in the obligation to love the poor because of the implicit call to authenticity and openness of heart that is demanded in practically carrying out this task in daily life (when the romantic filter is gone).

When I ponder all these things, it makes me believe that at the end of time when I am face to face with Jesus, I will only be asked one question: How did you love the poor?

– Mark

Maggie, Mark and Emebet Banga, Comboni Lay Missionaries, Awassa, Ethiopia

Youth in Matany (Uganda)

22 December, 2013 by Alberto de la Portilla

In our parish there are four groups of CYMG. The abbreviation CYMG stands for Christian Youth Missionary Group. There are 150 young people attending the meetings. They want to act by spreading faith, hope and love among youth. They are involved in many different activities e.g. prayers, Bible sharing, seminars, workshops, debates, games, music, dance and drama, educational video shows, competitions and animations.

They participate in national and regional assemblies. During these meetings they can take part in competitions. This year they took part in National Congress of CYMG in Kampala. Twelve members and Fr. John Bosco competed against other groups from the whole country. They won and became the number one! It was the moment of joy and celebration both for them and the whole parish. Many people from other parts of the country didn’t expect the group from Karamoja to win because this region is considered to be undeveloped. It is also said to be the poorest in Uganda.

In fact, the young who wanted to go to Kampala had to face a lot of difficulties while organizing the journey. It was hard for most of them to cover the costs of transport. Almost all of them weren’t able to pay for it so they had to look for sponsors. I knew about their problems and thanks to the money which you sent to me, we could help them. They are very grateful for your support and generosity and they want to say thank you to all of you!

By Danusia. Polish CLM in Uganda

Meeting of the Comboni Family in Rome

21 December, 2013 by Alberto de la Portilla

On December 14th the general councils of the Comboni Family met together. Comboni Missionaries, Comboni Sisters, Secular and CLM to reflect together and find together ways of collaboration.

The meeting was conducted in the house of the Comboni Missionaries Sisters in Rome where we were very well received by the community.

In the morning animated by the Comboni Sisters, we were reflecting on Comboni and praying about what inspires us to a path of collaboration as Comboni family?

Each of the participants spoke of this reflection. On a personal level, about the agreements that the different institutes have been taken in this direction, lines and current collaborative experiences.

This is a challenge we look positive and recognize as our own charism that unites us. The intuition of Comboni in promoting the mission and the Catholic responsibility of it, uniting and facilitating collaboration with the various charismas and states within them.

We also had time to share the way we are doing throughout the year, common concerns and ways of collaboration.

We end this beautiful day celebrating the Eucharist, praying for all the Comboni missionaries (priests, brothers, sisters, secular and laity) that spread throughout the world give their lives for “the poorest and most abandoned” as Comboni wanted.

Every step we take as a family for the sake of the mission approaches us and keeps true the dream of Comboni.

In My Father’s House (IMFH): CLM in Ghana

18 December, 2013 by Alberto de la Portilla

Let’s now say something about the Institution, In My Father’s House (IMFH).

IMFH(Nella casa del padre mio) is an organization. IMFH’s vision, values, goals and mission have their origin, roots and inspiration in the charismatic intuition and spirituality of St Daniel Comboni (Limone, Italy, 1831-Khartum, Sudan 1881) the founder of Comboni Missionaries. Rev. Fr Joseph Rabbiosi, a Comboni priest is the founder of IMFH. Fr Joe as we call Fr Joseph was at Abor parish. He saw the need to come to the help of some needy and abandoned: orphan, sick, the neglected…The official date of beginning the house was 10th September 2000. The institution aims to help the poorest.”IMFH intervenes or even assumes the care of a child, within its framework and structures or at distance; it aims to harmonize its intervention. It tries to follow the child and to assure continuity of support and growth till the life of the child has reached the desired maturity and goal… The children are offered a holistic approach to their formation which is called –integral formation-.The children are helped to integrate and harmonize all their activities and learning whether in school in formal academic environment, or after school, in community living and interactions, into a balanced and sound personal and social life…

The maturity desired for the child is:

His/her own personal goal: child’s maturity and self-reliability, including financial stability.
The service to the community: s/he will have to play a meaningful role within the community and the society. The child should witness the Gospel’s Values of Truth, Justice and Love. Thus all the personnel, as well as all the children, live an ongoing process of journey of personal conversion and change in order to be and become more and more authentic witnesses of truth, justice and love.” So the house takes care of the children since they are accepted by the house. They go to school, they are cured from sickness even some serious cases that need operations. The moral and Christian formation is also given, so they may grow totally. Those who are still in the programme after the Secondary School are sent to training college so they can become professional with their salary. The house is not ‘Charity programme’. “IMFH cannot replace the parents of the children, it helps. So, the parents, the family, the extended family, the faith community, the village and its authorities, the country’s institutions, etc… they all need to assume their responsibilities and play their roles as soon as they are in position to do so”. IMFH mostly receives assistance from outside, so it is so necessary to come to an economic independence so that the target as Comboni institution should be reached: ‘Save Africa with Africans’, Africans should be able to take care of theirs and themselves.

That is what IMFH is and is expecting from all those who benefit from its programme. Our hands are widely opened to all for support. I would like to add that the Institution is not concentrated at Abor here but has its field so wide covering many other programmes like:

Sponsorship: IMFH sponsor needy persons to pursue their study or formation;
Charity programme: it implies some gifts to some persons at regularly;
Special school for deafs;
Particular cases of disease: sometimes, operations are made…

Experts CLM in various domains are needed especially in health, in pediatric, in teaching, social welfare; in technical…The house develops some projects to sustain its economy: poultry, farming, piggery… and the school attended by outside students to generate income.

Our CLM main target here is to reach soon the autonomy which is a serious challenge, and cater for the thousands of most abandoned children at our care.

Justin Nougnui, Coordinator.

Brief news about our CLM group in Ghana

17 December, 2013 by Alberto de la Portilla

We held our eighth meeting on the 23^rd of November 2013 at Abor Ghana at In My Father’s House, the Institution founded by a Comboni priest fr Joseph Rabbiosi.

The place is recognized by the province to be the Center of Comboni Lay Missionaries. For this the place honored the presence of a CLM from USA in 2002. In My father’s House is an Institution in charge of vulnerable and most abandoned children. They live within the Center to be prepared especially spiritually and intellectually to become responsible for their own.

We were all seven lays joined later by fr Jean de Dieu Comboni priest. We have started everything by meeting a group of youth at IMFH. Within the Institution are some youth that have finished the secondary school and are getting prepared for the tertiary institution. The CLM saw it our duty to prepare those youth for the future. As planned at our formal meeting, James Abotsi and Christian Wotormenyo have to lead the gathering. So they introduced them on the challenge of choice and the pre-required for a better choice about what to do in the future. We are now in charge of those youth and are having a special block for their formation.

After this youth meeting, we continued with our CLM meeting in our office at the second floor of IMFH’s administration block. During this meeting, we tried to finish our Constitution that will be promulgated soon.

We have now a motto:

‘CLM: response= Africa or death’

‘CLM: response=Save Africa with Africans’.

We are also trying to get every CLM well prepared in knowing the founder, his spirituality and vision. To enhance and assume that, we have a small library in our office that any CLM can visit.

The CLM is involved in the life of the house and in decision making. All the lay management members of IMFH are members of the CLM and one is assigned specially to represent CLM in the management of IMFH.

Justin Nougnui, Coordinator.