Africa
Passing through Bangui
We arrived in Bangui to meet Irene, a CLM coming from Kinshasa. She is from the Democratic Republic of Congo group and will stay with us for about a month. A very charming person. May God allow us to give her a good missionary experience and an unforgettable one for her.
We brought along one of the orphans to whom we feed maternal milk. Her name is Mervelle (Wonder) and she weighed around 4 pounds at birth. She is now five months old, is growing normally and weighs in at 11 pounds, but by December 2 she had lost over a pound and the grandmother said that she had diarrhea. We immediately sent her to the UNT and she was admitted. She was undernourished, and had a fever on a daily basis… Both the director of the hospital and Tenda, another medical colleague, thought that she may suffer from meningitis, so on Wednesday we decided to transfer her to Bangui.
We reached Emergency, an Italian NGO working in the pediatric division of the hospital in Bangui, on Friday around noon and left at four. She was checked from top to bottom and x-rays of her lungs were taken. In the end, Mervelle, our Wonder, was admitted to the ICU for pneumonia, and with symptoms of meningitis, anemia and malaria.
They immediately started to give her oxygen. It was difficult to get enough of her blood for analysis. May God help her to recover quickly, if it is his will! May he watch over her. Today is Sunday and, thanks be to God, a nurse told us that she is doing better.
On December 8 we celebrated the closing of the Year of Mercy with the participation of the entire parish. The Eucharist was very lengthy and lasted three hours, but everyone was happy. At 6:00 in the morning we said the rosary, accompanied by many songs, as we took the image of Mary in procession through the communities of Mongoumba. The faces of our people were glowing with joy and with devotion to our Heavenly Mother.
The Family Jubilee was a success. We held catechesis for both parents and their children. It was good to see the parents and their children take part in the Eucharist together, because they usually do it separately. After Mass, each couple went out looking for a couple that was not married in Church, taking upon themselves the responsibility to catechize them and prepare them to receive the sacrament.
We also want everyone to know that now we have a new car! We thank the Comboni Missionaries of six provinces who shared with us the donations of their benefactors. We are grateful to God who gave them the inspiration to help us, to show solidarity and love.
Do not forget to pray for us. We pray for you.
WE WISH YOU ALL A HOLY CHRISTMAS AND A GOOD 2017 FILLED PEACE, JOY AND MUCH LOVE.
Hugs and kisses from the CLM Anna and Maria Augusta
Mongoumba, CAR
Promoting “Comboni Friends”
In Ethiopia, we are planning to revitalize the group of Comboni Friends and maybe later through this group also find some vocations for the Comboni Lay Missionaries (CLM).
Last weekend it has been a good occasion for vocation promotion. We celebrated the Feast of Christ the King (two weeks later than the rest of the Catholic World).
The main celebrations took place in the cathedral of Addis Ababa. There was 2-days of special program. Saturday started with exhibitions of different congregations and lay movements; we were presented our CLM.
There was also a spiritual time – on Saturday adoration, prayers, conferences and confessions; – on Sunday: the solemn Holy Mass in the geez rite.
It was a really nice time of prayer & meetings with the people, some of them showed also interest to get to know our group better. So pray for all of us that, if it’s God’s will, the group starts and will grow well 🙂
CLM Ethiopia
Time of sadness – time of joy
Last days went by with these two ambivalent feelings. Moments of sadness interspersed with moment of great joy- this because of our children.
On All Soul’s Day we attended the Mass which was celebrated on the local cemetery situated near our St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Gulu. After the Mass we went with our children to pray at the tomb of our small Angel-as we used to call Moses, who died 6 months ago. After prayer we covered the tomb with flowers which we’d picked from the tree growing in St. Jude Children’s Home.
Here The Day of All Saints is a day of great joy- in this special day children receive sacraments of baptism, First Communion and even Confirmation. The Mass in the Cathedral is pretty long- 4 or 5 hours, because there are for example 150 children to be baptized. Anyway we are in Africa, so the length of the Mass is normal, and good that our Cathedral is big and long so all people can enter. After receiving all sacraments all people gathered in the church, lift up their hand and candles and shout loudly to show their happiness. At the beginning, I was very surprised that the day, which in Poland is a calm day of reflection and prayer, here in Gulu is a one of the most happiest day. But when during the Confirmation each candidate reads the name of Patron out you get the feeling that All Saints gather in one place- beautiful experience, unforgettable.
Children from our Orphanage received the sacraments of Baptism and First Communion earlier- on October 28th– memory of St. Jude, who is a Patron of our Orphanage. Children from both schools- Nursery and Primary, all workers, orphans and friends of our Orphanage met under the big tree to celebrate the Mass. Seven our children have been baptized and eight children first time received Holy Communion. It was a very joyful day for all of us. Children who received First Communion were in different age, between 10 and 16. None of them asked about toys or super gifts. All of them were prepared well by our catechist.
I came back to Uganda 5 months ago- I already live according to my routine, which is different from the one which I had 2 years ago. Now, the majority of my time I spend with children. In the morning with babies and disabled, in the afternoon with children from Primary 1,2,3 and children from Nursery School. But many different people who come to our house break our daily routine, for what we are very grateful. Some of them come for short time- like Peter- our Lay Comboni Missionary from Poland or for longer like David- Comboni Lay Missionary from Spain, who came for more than one month. Also meetings with Comboni Family, during the feast like on October 10th- the Feast of Comboni or just simple accidental meetings on the street, in the town or in the church. All these meetings give us a lot of joy and positive energy. So if someone plans to come to Uganda for a few days or maybe for longer, remember that our house is always open and you are welcome.
Greetings for everybody!!!!
Ewa, CLM in Gulu (Uganda)
“You can’t have mission without love!”
Elia María Cabrita Gomes was born in Paderne, Albufeira, Portugal on January 29 1955. She is a retired nurse. In 2006 she had her first contact with the African Continent when she took part in a seven month project sponsored by International Medical Assistance (IMA) in the democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In 2011 she left for a two year stint with the Comboni Lay Missionaries (CLM) in the Central African Republic. She ended up staying in that mission for five years.
When she was barely 16 she was offered the possibility of having a two month experience in Angola, something she considered like “the spark that would fulfill a dream.” Unfortunately, her father did not approve and she did not go. All through her training as a nurse she kept on thinking about going out there, but when she completed her studies in 1976 she started working in the hospital of Faro, where she remained until her retirement, she married and has a daughter.
In 2006, she finally had her first experience when she joined a seven month project sponsored by the International Medical Assistance (IMA) in the democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). “It was just a seven months experience that stimulated me and increased my desire to return to Africa, to leave my comfort zone and go meet other peoples,” to share.
She started volunteering in the Hospice of her home parish of Paderne and there she soon discovered the Comboni Lay Missionaries (CLM) through the magazine Além-mar. “I completed my formation with the CLM (2008-2010, I got to know Comboni, his slogan “To Save Africa with Africa” was totally meaningful to me, just as the going out to meet the poorest and most abandoned, to contribute to the improvement of their quality of life and to human development,” she tells us.
She went for two years and stayed for five!
She arrived in Bangui, the capital of the CAR, specifically in Mongoumba, for a two year stay, “without expectations, ready to accept and give whatever the mission required of me.” She ended up staying for five years that included “very strong life experiences. The beginning were a time of apprenticeship: to look and listen, to learn how to live, to accept and respect, namely to take the first steps in a culture and customs so different from our own,” she says. Commenting about her assignment to Mongoumba, she tells us that it is the seat of one of ten municipalities in the district of Mbaiki: “It is a town of around 8,000 people located about 120 miles from Bangui, deep in the equatorial forest along the border with the DRC and Congo Brazzaville. The municipality of Mongoumba holds 25,000 people belonging to various ethnic groups, including the Aka pygmies. Pygmies are discriminated against by the rest of the people who use them as cheap labor. They are the most disadvantaged members of society and live in various camps spread around the forest. Most of them live in grass huts and only a few have homes built with mud or bricks. They eat what they find in the forest. Their goods are limited to what they can carry when they change camp or when they go deep into the forest for fishing seasons, gathering honey, caterpillars… products that they sell or exchange for salt, cloth to cover themselves and trinkets. They very seldom have money and whatever little they have is not enough to cover medical care.
Evangelization of the pygmies is the priority of the mission of Mongoumba and most of our activities are aimed at improving the way of life of the people and their social integration. Through our joint pastoral approach and working to raise awareness of and promote health care, I was able to visit many camps, visit the sick, free children from parasites. During the first two years, thanks to the cooperation of the French Army, we organized several campaigns for the treatment of “pian,” a contagious and incapacitating disease. I walk lots of miles in the forest… In a harsh reality that cannot be changed, one can only give some creative touches and hope that the seed that was sown will grow.
After several years of activity, where the mission acted like a bridge between the people and the health center, results are beginning to be visible and gratifying. The pygmies are still the last in line to be received, but they are nonetheless attended to and, when they have to be admitted they share the same quarters of the rest of the population.
During these five years, taking care of the pygmies who were hospitalized, so they would not be forgotten, was one of my tasks. It is very easy to forget giving medication or an injection to those who have no voice! In this activity, I could always count on the generous help of the health workers from our physical rehabilitation center at the mission. Most of our work consists in raising awareness of the fact that we are all persons, in Sango “Zo Zo kwe,” and as such we all deserve attention and respect.”
She tells us that, after the coup of March 2013 “the country was submerged in chaos and lived under the threat of arms for three years. The poverty and the suffering of the people reached unimaginable levels. Notwithstanding the presence of many NGOs, the Catholic mission is almost the only institution that continues to work steadily to defend and support the dignity of these long-suffering people, carrying on activities in education, health care, human promotion, pastoral concerns, justice and peace… During these last two years my greatest concern was to find and treat undernourished children, the education of parents on hygiene and nutrition. It was a tiring work, both physically and psychologically, but the reward was in each child who recovered and could smile again. I was able to work with a good team, made up of local people, available and interested.”
To go without expectations, top return full of dreams
She concludes saying that, even though she arrived in 2011 without expectations, she returns in 2016 with the dream of someday going back to the mission in the CAR and find “homes that will not be destroyed by rain, with roofs that will not be swept away by the wind; healthy, well fed children who own books and go to school; roads without potholes (including dirt roads) and means of transport that will link the villages, the towns and the cities; pygmies who know their duties and can fight for their rights; new laws that will ensure that “witches” do not go to trial, but their accusers and attackers will; health centers and hospitals run by fully educated doctors and nurses, where surgery, analyses and tests are performed, where sicknesses have a name and a cause, forgetting about the existence of mystical illnesses. I dream that I will find a country where the pillars of education, the teachers, actually are in school and have better than an 8th or 9th grade education; and because “God loves his people,” I believe that the hatred that is still existing will make room for a lasting peace in a climate of love and tolerance. It is my dream and hope that the riches of this land will not end up in the wallets of a few, but may be used to improve the quality of life for all.
You can’t have mission without love! I love the country and I love the people, a people who is suffering but continues to laugh, sing and dance. It is my people! The smallest among them I keep in my heart with great affection, remembering the children, their pure and sincere smiles will warm up my cold winter nights.”
Text by Catherine Anthony, FEC – Faith and Cooperation Foundation
