We resume this series of testimonies with Fr. Longinos and his missionary experience in Uganda.
Fr. Longinos brings us closer to the reality of a country and its people in a context of war. Especially the reality of the Karamoja region.
Europe
Prayer Intentions of the Comboni Family June 2022
We pray that the celebration of the XIX General Chapter of the Comboni Missionaries may bring such abundant fruits of missionary joy and enthusiasm in rediscovering the charismatic experience of Saint Daniel Comboni as to render present today the mystery of the grace granted to him in the mission to the peripheries of human experience. Lord hear us.
Testimony of David Aguilera on Africa Day
We want to share with you this testimony sent to us by our dear colleague David on this Africa Day for the Spanish NGO AMANI that supports CLM:
Dear AMANI family.
On the day of Africa, that land of hope loved by those of us who live this vocation, I wanted to be present to share a gift from heaven.
In my last period in Ethiopia, fraught with difficulties such as the political situation, the war, the displaced persons and refugees, we also received the gift of an Ethiopian Comboni vocation with whom I was able to share life and project.
The scholastic Abreham, who studied all his theology in Peru, was called to the Gumuz land to make his missionary experience.
If it is already a difficult area, being an Ethiopian it is even more so, since the ethnic conflict could affect him negatively. Anyone in his place would have refused, as he might become a target of the rebels. He acknowledges that he came with fear, and we were afraid for him too. But his trust in God was greater.
He soon began to get involved in helping refugees, welcoming orphaned children, helping so many families broken and disintegrated by the war through the creation of a macro garden where to give work to young people and allow them to support the families and allow them to return to school to reach the last grade of compulsory education (since they did not have to work all day as in the other jobs, in addition to being encouraged to go to school, their school fees were paid and school supplies were bought for them).
Saving Africa with Africa. Firstly, to fight for the Gumuz land to regain hope through procuring the livelihood of all needy families through the work of the young and healthy, while committing to go back to school to improve their future. And two, an Ethiopian who could be according to their canons of the enemy Ethnicity, being the one who reaches out to them, welcomes them and frees them from so many prejudices.
The experience was precious. We both started it and today he continues it.
He was recently ordained a deacon. Instead of choosing his parish church, the Provincial house or one more easily accessible to his own family, he decided to be ordained in his very hard parish of Gumuz. His “Abba Abreham” made a clear commitment to them, the forgotten of Ethiopia.
I am enclosing photos of the young people he continues to help.
The money that AMANI sends from the collaborations of the partners is precisely for these projects. I will make a more detailed account of all of them to share with the AMANI family.
HAPPY AFRICA DAY.
-David Aguilera, Comboni Lay Missionary.
Happy Africa Day to all!
¡”Ma Kitelakapel”!
Tragicomic chronicle from West Pokot, Kenya: first episode!!!!
Why “tragicomic?” Because, even without meaning to, I already know that it’s going to be a bit like that…and so, here, I would like to share with you the joys and sorrows of my being here!
IN SUMMARY
– the Kenya Comboni Lay Missioners (CLM) group is a lively and welcoming group, I am glad to be a part of it.
(Father Maciek and some Kenyan LMCs, my first Sunday in Nairobi)
– For about 3 months I will be a guest of the Comboni Fathers in Kacheliba. I need to learn the local language, Pokot (I will have class every morning), and try to get a good understanding of how things work here. Later on, together with another Kenyan LMC, Josephine (who is also already here), I will move to the new house in Kitelakapel, 15 km from here, to start our full-time activities.
– Our house is almost ready.
– During this time we will also be engaged in these activities:
1) Tamarind juice production: there are many tamarind trees in this area. We have put some ladies from Kitelakapel Chapel to work to collect these fruits. A small amount we have already sold in Nairobi, now we have to prepare everything so we can then continue to produce the juice. It will be a way to self-finance ourselves a little bit as a group of Kenyan Comboni Lay Missionaries.
(our tamarind!)
(our lay people selling tamarind juice, peanut butter and honey after Mass in Nairobi)
2) Participation in jumuiyya/parish groups/associations: we will go around among the various groups in the parish, especially in the Kitelakapel area, to get to know people, make connections, get a good understanding of the various realities of the parish, and see what needs there are, so that we can also understand what kind of activities we can fit in, or possibly what new activities to propose, especially in the pastoral area.
3) Activities in schools: we will meet with the directors of some schools near Kitelakapel, to see if the possibility of giving some part-time classes can be materialized, perhaps in exchange of a small contribution (so that we have a little something extra to self-support ourselves)
4) To establish the foundations of our community, preparing our ” charter” and other necessary documents.
– We may become three! Another Ugandan Comboni Lay Missionary may join us in July. For this in particular, we rely on your prayers (because it would be a huge help, given the mountain of work ahead!).
IN MORE DETAIL:
“Polepole ndio mwendo” say the Waswahili (Swahili speakers). It means, more or less, “he who goes slow, goes steady and goes far…” And so, I wish I had great achievements already to list, but unfortunately, or fortunately, things move very, but very slowly here. I have just arrived and I am asked, rightly, to tiptoe into this reality, polepole, because no matter how much experience one already may have–and I have very little–every reality is different, and here, by the way, everyone is rightly very busy, so I really cannot expect everything to be explained to me right away, or to be immediately involved in every possible and imaginable activity.
Upon my arrival, I was greeted with great affection and enthusiasm by the Kenyan Comboni Laity, who immediately made me feel at home. It is good to feel that I am not alone, but that, together, we are walking toward a common goal.
From Nairobi I moved to Kacheliba, about 15 km away from where I am going to live, Kitelakapel. This is how it works here: the main parish office is located in Kacheliba, but the parish covers a very large area full of outstations, that is, small chapels (sometimes they look like tiny houses, and they are actually “churches”!), often far away. There are currently two fathers, and one deacon. And they cannot be multiplied like the five loaves and two fish (unless the Holy Spirit intervenes…) so the work is really a lot. Kitelakapel is one of these outstations, but the fathers would like it to become, sooner or later, a parish, and so, in addition to the little church (larger than the little chapels I mentioned above), there is a house where the fathers stop to sleep sometimes, if necessary, and which could become, in the future, the home of the fathers of the new parish. Not far away, on the same “road” (if you can call it that) the construction of another house is now almost finished, where we Comboni lay people will stay. It’s quite a big house (we trust in the arrival of new lay missionaries!), with lots of space around it, to build a hospital as well (and, I hope, on the other side, also a playground to organize activities with the kids. How to deny my Salesian origins?).
(our little church in Kitelakapel)
(Mass in the chapel in Mtembur)
(Our house inside and out, almost finished! It looks like a Grand Hotel, but then thankfully inside is much more sober than it looks heheheh!)
Joining me on this adventure will be Josephine, the Kenyan Comboni laywoman who, like me, has given her availability for this mission, and so together, on April 29, we practically founded this new international community of Comboni Lay Missionaries. She is just originally from these parts, and she speaks Pokot, and for that I am really grateful, for the help she will be able to give me in understanding not only the language, but also to avoid possible mistakes or misunderstandings or figureheads related to my ignorance of the local culture.
(Josephine in traditional Pokot skirt, the “loruà”)
(the new LMC international community in Kitelakapel!)
When the construction of the house is fully completed, Josephine and I will move to Kitelakapel for good. At the moment, however, we are in Kacheliba, both because the house is not yet ready and because we need to take the Pokot course (in my case) and experience some community life here with the fathers.
Hoping I have not bored you, I send everyone a big hug and warm greetings.
Ah, important: THANK YOU!!!!!
I sincerely thank all those who have contributed with their donations to start this new community. It is very embarrassing to find ourselves living off the charity of others, it is a new situation for me, but for anything, our own survival, expenses to start the community and any projects/activities with people, we now depend on Providence. The “beautiful” aspect of this is the fact that this somehow means that the flourishing of this new Christian community in Kitelakapel will be the fruit of a shared effort: by me and Josephine, with our direct presence, and by those who support us, through their indirect contributions. It becomes a team effort! Thank you very much!!!
Linda
Letter to the Comboni Family
“Let us all toil with no other aim than to gain more souls for Christ: let us join hands together. Let the vow, the objective and the commitment of all who love Jesus Christ be one.”
(Writings 2182)
Dear Comboni Missionary Women and Men,
We, the members of the General Councils and the Coordinator of the CLM, having gathered together from 22 to 24 of last April, at the native home of Saint Daniel Comboni in Limone, and moved by the desire to make you participants, at least in part, of what we lived and shared, write this letter to you desiring that the communion we experienced may reach all of you, there where Providence has placed you, to serve and give your lives for the sake of the proclamation of our Crucified and Risen Lord.
It was the first meeting that could be held in person, after the time of isolation caused by the pandemic with all that it entailed, with the high price paid, even with their lives, by so many brothers and sisters. Such was the pandemic that it forced the postponement of the General Assembly of the CMS and also the General Chapter of the MCCJ which will be celebrated in June of this year during which the CMS are celebrating the 150th anniversary of their foundation and will have their General Chapter in October. All these reasons have given meaning to this meeting, not least the synodality to which the universal Church invites us, and the very fact of our being a Comboni Family is, in itself, an expression of a synodal Church. Walking as a Comboni Family is not optional, it is not even the meeting of the leaders, but it is life in the communities, in the concrete missions where one lives and works with shared objectives.
Our “coming together” as a family came about quietly but, in fact, it has evolved due, not so much to the result of programming as to the perceived desire and the awareness of belonging to a common root. Coming together is always an opportunity to grow in the awareness of being part of the same charismatic family because this is how St. Daniel Comboni thought of us, and an occasion to strengthen the commitment to continue to feel part of it; the fruits that have grown over time confirm that this it is the right path.
Our proclamation and witness, beyond the ministries and services we are called to give, is, first of all, to live as brothers and sisters, members of the same Family: without this witness, even the most beautiful activities lose their value. All those who have experienced collaboration and working together as a Comboni Family know that it is not easy and, for some, this implies a commitment to be able to appreciate the value of collaboration. However, we sincerely believe in it and invite you to keep this horizon as a desirable goal.
We wanted to have this meeting also to evaluate the progress made so far, taking as a basis the letter on collaboration written in 2017 and the work on ministeriality that involved a large number of members of the CF, thanks to the commitment and dedication of the appointed Commission and to other trained and qualified collaborators. We thank the Lord who surprised us with what we were able to achieve and above all for those who participated and enjoyed this journey.
Bro. Antonio Soffientini, sharing the reflection on this theme made by the Italian province of the MCCJ, invited us not to attach an adjective, a “label” limiting ministeriality, because ministeriality has many expressions and is not only towards “the external, ad extra “, but also” inward, ad intra “and the latter often escapes any mapping. All the services that the life of the CF requires are ministerial: training, authority, administration, coordination and accompaniment in every phase of the life of the members, from the beginning of the journey to old age.
A lasting sign
The General Moderators of the four expressions of the Comboni Family wished to express their unity and the desire to see the growth of the seed which the recognition of the Charism of St. Daniel Comboni has generated in them in recent years and which these two days of encounter have revived, entrusting it to an olive tree planted by all of us together, in the soil of the birthplace of Saint Daniele Comboni. Thus, next to the centuries-old olive trees dedicated to various relatives of San Daniele Comboni, one dedicated to the Comboni Family will grow.
Now there remains the challenge of continuing the journey and for this reason, we wish to “pass the baton” to the new General Councils of the MCCJs and CMS who will be elected in the upcoming General Chapters, asking the CMS and CLM to act as a “bridge” and link for the future journey together.
May the Good Shepherd of the Pierced Heart show us the way and, as he promised, walk with us until the end of time.
The General Council of the Comboni Missionary Sisters
The General Council of the Secular Comboni Missionaries
The General Council of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus
The Coordinator of the Central Commission of the Comboni Lay Missionaries
“This Institute, then, becomes like a little Cenacle of Apostles for Africa, a centre of light sending to the centre of Africa as many rays as the Missionaries who go out from it. These rays of light, bringing warmth as well as illumination, cannot but reveal the nature of the Centre from which the spread out” (Writings 2648)
