Colombia – Page 2 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

My year of mission as a laywoman in Colombia (I)

18 February, 2021 by Alberto de la Portilla

(We open a testimony that we will send in three different moments)

Many times we make decisions inspired by a dream, an impulse, by necessity or because we want to meet ourselves, to define new goals. Thus began my desire to do mission; at the beginning I saw it as a requirement to do mission on the African continent, a continent that has always inspired me the desire to know it since I finished my career as a psychologist.

My mission experience allowed me to meet God in different faces, in different actions, in different details, to meet children, youth, adults, women and to be part of a team, a fraternity, the unity of women of different ages and with different personalities are part of the beautiful moments that this year of mission contains.

Christmas Novenas in Bajito Vaqueria

On December 16, 2019, I met the famous Father Danielle (everyone speaks very well of him) from Tumaco, a charismatic man, loving with his people, proactive, funny, intellectual and respectful, who allowed me to come to his house and gave me the opportunity to know Bajito Vaqueria (an island near the town of Tumaco). There I stayed for eight days with my partner Alejandro in the house of Mrs. Marta, who welcomed us with her son Jorge and her daughter-in-law “Dianita”. I met children, young people, shell fisherwomen and men who are absent during the week because they are out at sea with their boats.

Bajito Vaqueria is an island that welcomes you with a super long cement port, which connects you with the sea and with its beautiful colorful wooden houses, with a chapel in the center, a kindergarten that has around it stairs that allow women to sit around it in the afternoons to play bingo, an educational institution in which its stairs were the perfect space to rehearse the “arruyos” or Christmas carols that were played every night of the novena, a soccer field and next to it an arm of the river that joins with the sea.

This place had something perfect for me, there was almost no phone signal, this gave a lovely touch to my Christmas mission, because it allowed me to disconnect and appreciate the times, the landscape, the conversations with the women who told me about the history of this place, they taught me to prepare some typical dishes and also to extract the product of the shell. In addition, it also allowed us to play with the children and although the stay was short, we carried out several activities such as:

The assembly of the nativity scene in the church with the help of the children.
A choir accompanied by recyclable instruments such as bottles and broken buckets, where for the first time in my life I knew the famous “arruyos”.
Cleaning of the main streets of the village so that baby Jesus would arrive and feel that he was in a clean place, because it was already beautiful!
Games in the afternoons where we did acrossport, races, bible review, teamwork and water games.
Sharing a little bit of my llanera culture and doing a choreographed assembly of a Joropo with beautiful dancers from the Pacific.
Conducting a raffle so that Dianita could go to visit her family in Ecuador that Christmas.

They were eight days that opened the door to my year of mission with the Comboni Missionaries, eight days of laughter, of having the chapel full at night doing the novena, of seeing the children dance in an extraordinary way, eight days where God was making me attached to this decision that I had taken.

Altos de Cazucá- Where Children Let You Know a Little of the Kingdom of God

In January, I arrived at Barrio el Oasis (Municipality of Soacha), this would be the place where I would stay for the rest of the days and months to make a more exciting and constant experience. I started with a week of cleaning at the house of Father Franco who welcomed me for a month and a half, while I got a job that would allow me to pay a rent. I admit that the first weeks were full of not so positive emotions, because my parents questioned my decision to leave aside the studies I have and the lifestyle I was used to, it was not easy (I admit it) to have calls where you hear that your parents are crying and asking God that I rethink my decision. I was also asking my God that they would support me and that their attitude would change.

I was received by a mission team made up of Marisol (a laywoman from the fraternity of Charles de Foucauld), Sister Yolanda (a Juanist Sister), Father Franco (Comboni Missionaries) and Vane (a Comboni Laywoman who would move to live with me in the following months). With them, bonds were woven and they shared with me a little of the realities of the neighborhood. I started my mission with some savings and with the hope of getting a job soon that would allow me to support myself or cover my necessary expenses (rent, food, cell phone plan and medicines).

Thanks to Sister Yolanda I was able to contact Father Julio Castillo of the parish of Santa Maria de Cana and he gave me the opportunity to work, part time since February, earning half the minimum wage (that job was perfect), where I worked as a secretary and sacristan for three months. Having a job helped the idea that Vane and I had of renting an apartment, having our own space and being able to feel comfortable from there, so by the month of March we moved to an apartment one block above Father Franco’s house.

Alexandra Garcia, CLM Group of Colombia

Our experience as CML in Colombia during this quarantine

14 May, 2020 by Alberto de la Portilla

Soacha-Cundinamarca

Colombia

May 11, 2020

Dear Comboni Lay Missionaries

The year 2020 began with our presence as Comboni Lay Missionaries of Colombia in the neighbourhood of El Oasis, on the eastern outskirts of the municipality of Soacha, near the city of Bogotá. The Comboni priest Franco Nascimbene has been working there for five years and we are now sharing our experience of immersion with him. During this time, as a team, we have been thinking of ways to accompany all those affected by the current situation of COVID-19.

At the beginning of the quarantine we asked ourselves about the meaning of our presence in the middle of the community, since given the indications of the government we all had to be at home, temporarily suspending the pastoral activities planned for the year (catechesis, afro choir, eco environmental project and afro group).

Especially since we are in a neighborhood where the majority of the inhabitants depend on informal work and which is made up of minorities such as migrants (mostly Venezuelans) and those displaced by the violence of the departments of the Colombian Pacific. Although the incidence in terms of health has been minimal for the inhabitants of the neighborhood meanwhile there are no reported positive cases of people from the sector, the social and economic impact has brought an increase in the situation of poverty and in the guarantee of basic rights such as food, housing, health, recreation and education among others. When analyzing this reality as a team, we observe that the presence of the state continues to be minimal, and the food aid that has arrived in the neighborhood is not enough to supply basic food for the families.

Facing this reality, the following significant experiences have arisen and we would like to share with you, full of great joy:

Community prayer in the stable: During the first week of quarantine, during the prayer of the Comboni Missionaries’ team, the idea arose to share moments of prayer that would allow the people of the stable to generate more solidarity and hope. This idea was shared with neighbors from another church (evangelicals) who live on the same street and who joined the initiative. From the second week of quarantine onwards, this idea was born:

Every week two people on the block lead the prayer time.
There is a praise of gratitude accompanied by instruments such as the cununo, the bass drum and tambourines.
Each person from their home makes a prayer of gratitude and is accompanied by the chorus of the opening song.
The two facilitators of the weekly prayer share a biblical quotation and generate a reflection.
Then each family makes a prayer of petition.
The prayer ends with praise and a basket is placed in the middle of the street so that each neighbor can give something to eat to a family that needs it.

This experience, which we continue to live, has allowed us to get to know our neighbors, since for reasons of study or work, it was not possible for us to share these spiritual and community moments. In addition, two people have committed themselves to prepare the prayer every week, and from the second week onwards, a sound system and microphone are loaned out, with the participation of people from other streets. The most important thing is that from this community act, solidarity is experienced among the people who contribute with some of their food to benefit two families who need it every week.

Solidarity sharing: at the same time that we were asking ourselves as a team about creative ways to help our neighbors, we unexpectedly began to receive messages from people close to us, such as friends or relatives who, from Bogotá, were concerned about the situation in the suburbs. Then it occurred that we become bridges that would allow economic aid to reach them.

The first two weeks we went to the nearby supermarkets to buy supplies to help some previously known families. From there we focused on the people who would benefit from this aid with the collaboration of some Afro leaders with whom we had been working. We thought about the afro population that as a consequence of the quarantine have been left without jobs. That is how one afternoon we shared around 40 markets among our black brothers of the sector. Markets have also been shared with migrants, older adults, recyclers and mothers who are heads of households.

The tenderness of the poor: In Father Franco’s house, a table was set where each person could take 3 foods that they needed or leave something that they wanted to share. From this initiative, many small gestures of solidarity emerged, where those who had something else shared it with someone who needed it more, for example: 5 eggs, a pound of tomatoes, a package of rice. People who got help shared part of what they received with those who had more difficulty than them. Currently, Father Franco spends his afternoons visiting different families in their homes to get to know their reality. In this exercise, he has met people who, having enough, have invited him to share with others who really need it.

As a team, we have been part of this experience of cooperation, we have experienced the joy of receiving food from people close to us, many times we have given what was due to us by emptying our hands but seeing how this giving multiplied into a new receiving.

Now we find ourselves thinking about how to support the academic process of the children, since with the strategy of distance education those who do not have an internet connection and the economic possibilities to pay for the copies they require, have been excluded.

United in prayer and mission from Colombia,

Alexandra Garcia, Vanessa Ardila, Father Franco Nascimbene

The Fourth day of our CLM continental meeting of America

24 September, 2016 by Alberto de la Portilla

We have begun our morning invoking the presence of Saint Daniel Comboni so that we as CLM may live and follow a style of life that he lived. We have begun the first part of the morning with some presentations of mission experience of some of our CLM. Carol and Minerva share their mission experience and work that they do among the Misteco village, in Mexico. They describe and share the difficulties, obstacles, limitations and fruitful gifts they have both experienced and received. Their work among the village of the Mistecos is to accompany them by being present and being there with them. Carol and Minerva both live and share their lives with the village of the Misteco, respecting their culture and working together among them without excluding their culture values, religion, and way of doing things. Then we have a guess speaker, Juan Manuel Garcia a professor coming from a Pastoral School of the indigenous people in Mexico City, whom gives CLM formation in the area of pastoral work within this people. In between our formation class we were assigned group work, it enabled for some dialogue, and reflection of this type of pastoral work. The various groups coincided with some thoughts such as obstacles, limitations, and realizing the importance of this kind of work. The main focus and teaching that the CLM remained with is that “God’s heart is opened to all that want to know of him” which was a very enriching knowledge. In the second part of the day we have two psychologist speakers, they provided useful information and knowledge on how to communicate more effectively among each other (CLM). They used group interaction, as a dynamic to bring us together and practice our communication skills that we already possess in a more effective manner using strategies and methods.

At the end of our day we concluded with Adoration to the Blessed Sacrament and were infused with an explosion of gratitude.

(Valentín and Yessenia)

The third day of our CLM continental meeting of America

22 September, 2016 by Alberto de la Portilla

The Morning Prayer marked the beginning of our day with a very dynamic and colorful day that filled us with optimism. Then we worked in groups, CLM were divided into five different groups in order to contextualize and synthesize on previous points that were previously agreed on. The second part of the morning was used to form us in how to properly manage our web site: www.lmcomboni.org. Alberto de la Portilla, our coordinator of the central committee facilitated a training on how to access our web page and showed us the great advantages it offers making it possible for CLM to be connected from around the world. Also the functions, the benefits it offers such as all the useful content that can be of interest, that can be found through this medium of communication.

In the second part of the day, we have been anxiously waiting to visit the Sanctuary of the Virgen de Guadalupe, (an emblem of the Mexican town). Our pilgrimage began in the late hours of the afternoon and went throughout the evening. The mass which was presided by the Provincial of Mexico and concelebrated by four participating Comboni priests it was a very exciting time in which we all participated. This visit to the Sanctuary injected in all CLM a spirit of mission in all of us. At the end of the day we concluded with a visit to the Comboni Sisters at the Provincial house. We celebrated with them their special moment of the new election in a new chapter in Rome, the election of their Mother Superior.

(Valentín y Yessenia)

The second day of our CLM continental meeting of America

23 September, 201621 September, 2016 by Alberto de la Portilla

Today we started the day with a mass celebration with everyone carrying out our commitment as CLM. During mass the idea that predominated was that a CLM is always a missionary, not mattering whether or not the CLM is carrying out mission work in or outside of his/her country of origin. The activities of the day began with group work based on a previous study guide that was presented to the CLM for completion before our IV Continental meeting in Mexico. Each of the groups presented and informed according to the topics that were included in the study guide. We were enriched by the constructive information that all groups exposed and shared of what goes on in each of their countries. It is always enriching to see what others are doing in their countries and how they have progressed in this area of mission work since our last continental meeting. Each representative of each country exposed and presented with such clarity on topics that were previously chosen for discussion. In the second part of the morning we moved on to discuss the agreements that were previously made in Guatemala in 2014 for each country. CLM from Columbia is the only country that was not able to send a representative to our meeting but they have sent their report via email and was read out-loud by Alberto. Fisher, the coordinator of Peru presented theirs with such clarity and after is followed by a brief discussion of the same. Yessenia De La O, representative for Paul Wheeler presented the report for Nap. Cristina both a member of our International Committee and the representative for Brazil presented their report. Mexico also presents their report with clarity and it’s followed by a small dialogue. The next presentation is done by Mirella the coordinator of Guatemala. More group work follows after to answer aspects not yet discussed based on the study guide. In the discussion floor groups exposed what was agreed in their respective groups that they were assigned too, in order to make a follow up on the agreements made in Guatemala 2014, whether if agreements were accomplished or not. After each presentation an enriched dialogue followed which helped to clarify some aspects of past agreements made in the meeting of Guatemala in 2014.

Valentín y Yessenia de la O