Comboni Lay Missionaries

I’m happy

Tito LMC Brasil

March 7 is not just any day for me, it’s a very special day: the day God chose for me to come into this world.

And on March 7, 2024, my birthday, it was very, very special, because, in addition to the messages, hugs and singing happy birthday, and being with friends and people I love, I had a very, very special gift. It was the greatest gift!

I’m on mission in Mozambique, in Africa, and I had the privilege of being able to visit those displaced by the terrorist attacks in Cabo Delgado province, who are in Namapa, in Nampula province.

It was a great birthday present for me, to be with the people, to be able to bring affection, love and words of faith and hope to them, who live in a very difficult situation of poverty and hunger.

I thank God for giving me this great birthday present.

Living the mission means being with the people and walking with them.

Thank you, God, for calling me to this great mission!

Tito, Comboni Lay Missionary.

Sowing on the African continent.

Tito Mozambique

Greetings.

Hello, I’m Tito, a Comboni Lay Missionary from Brazil, on mission in Carapira, northern Mozambique.

Here I work at the Carapira Industrial Technical Institute (ITIC), where I am responsible for agricultural production, producing vegetables so that the students can eat healthier.

I also work in the parish in the various pastoral and ministry roles.

In my spare time, when I’m at home, I grow a small vegetable garden to contribute to our diet.

As you can see, here in the mission I am sowing and reaping good fruit.

But God also calls us, through our Baptism, to be sowers of his word of the Gospel.

As missionaries, we must sow love, peace, justice, sharing, fraternity and hope, etc.

Wherever I go, I always try to sow, sow, sow. One day these seeds will germinate and bear good fruit.

Be a sower yourself, but sow with your neighbor in mind.

Tito, Comboni Lay Missionary.

Send, send Lord, workers to the harvest. Listen, listen to this prayer…

LMC Mozambique
LMC Mozambique

It is with the words of the beginning of this song that I share the joyful news that the formation of the future CLM in Carapira, Northern Mozambique is happening within our possibilities and according to God’s will.

We asked and the Lord answered us, he sent us new workers for his harvest. It is up to us to do our part, to prepare them in the best way possible to take on the missionary work among the people, the mission of Jesus left to us and so well done by our founder Daniel Comboni. For it is God himself who says, “do your part and I will help you.”

Centered in Jesus Christ, following the Comboni charism, the example left by our founder, we LMC of Carapira have accompanied four young people who have felt the call to be lay missionaries and faithfully arrive every month for studies, reflections and sharing since last year (2022).

The long distance traveled on foot (3 to 4 hours, most of the time without drinking or eating anything), did not become an impediment to their participation. Moved by the strength of God’s Spirit and the desire to announce the Good News, they are faithful to the commitment of their preparation for missionary work. For me, this is nourishment on the journey.

Our meetings take place monthly, beginning at eight o’clock in the morning on Saturday and ending with lunch on Sunday.

The way they dedicate themselves, the effort they make to learn, the enthusiasm of each one at each meeting, seeing them overcome challenges that are not few is the best reward I receive.

In fact, working with the Macua people is a reason to thank God every day for his mercy and kindness in providing me with so much growth, maturity, and experience of faith.

LMC Mozambique

From Carapira, a strong missionary hug to all and lots of axé.

Regimar Costa

CLM Brazil – Mozambique

“Seeds” project assists cyclone Gombe victims in northern Mozambique

LMC Carapira

Since March when the powerful cyclone Gombe hit Carapira in northern Mozambique, destroying houses and farms. We, the CLM, have been working to alleviate the suffering of the population. Always in partnership with friends and people with good hearts.

With the help received from Brazil it was possible to carry out small projects. Among them the seeds project.

This Wednesday, November 23rd, we started the first phase of this project, which consists of delivering 5 kg of corn and 3 kg of beans to the most vulnerable families for planting.

The benefited families have the commitment to return the same amount received at harvest time, so that we can continue the project.

The Carapira Parish is composed of 94 communities divided into 5 regions with 22 zones. We chose to make the delivery in each zone to facilitate the access of the families.

The second phase will be on the 29th of this month. And the third will be at the beginning of December.

In this project there are more than 300 families contemplated.

On behalf of the families and the people of Carapira, I thank everyone who generously gave a little of what they have to help those who have even less.

God bless you all.

CLM Carapira

Dear friends of the mission in Mozambique

LMC Mozambique

It has now been six months of our mission in Carapira, in the north of Mozambique. We would like to share with you about what our life looks like and what we do.

Our parish church, a would-be cathedral

On March 1, we reach our place of work, the mission of Carapira. Long ago, it was planned that this village would become the seat of a diocese, so a church of impressive size was built. In addition to the would-be cathedral, there is also the Institute of Industrial Technology, founded by Combonians that attracts students from places located up to 150 km away with its reputation. Our responsibilities are divided between work in the institute (we are involved in the boarding school, secretariat, production, administration, agricultural part, library and computer room) and in the parish (we are members of the council for children and youth, vocations, education, Caritas and fraternal assistance and justice and peace). In addition, we prepare formation meetings for people from Mozambique who would like to become lay missionaries, we prepare adoration or sharing with the Word of God, we travel to distant communities (in our parish there are as many as 93 of Christian’s communities, sometimes traveling one way takes several hours, and the Mass, it is only celebrated once a year) and we have our household responsibilities. There is a lot to do and this is very good! The more responsibilities, the less time wasted, and the rest becomes a real respite.

As I mentioned, we experience a variety of problems. It was only a few weeks ago that the long-promised construction of a house for our community began. Until then, we live in the home of the Combonian missionaries. It also turned out that the repair of the car, used so far by our lay missionaries community, is completely unprofitable. This means that until we have the money to buy a new vehicle, the freedom of our work will be significantly limited.

During a visit to one of the communities

We also had health problems. In total, in our community, we have already caught malaria nine times. Three days after arriving in Carapira, I fell ill for the first time. I felt very weak, so I went to the local clinic to get a quick test that confirmed my illness. Apart from the alternating waves of chills and fever, I had no symptoms. I was sweating very intensely, and the mattress on which I slept looked like someone had spilled a bucket of water on it. After three days of taking medications, you recover, but your body is weakened, and you should spare yourself for the next few days. This disease was inevitable. The region we live has a lot of cases of malaria. The previous Polish lay missionary, Kasia, was sick here fifteen times in two years.

Ilha de Moçambique – the former capital and UNESCO World Heritage Site

From 10 to 11 March, the province of Nampula, where we live, was struck by the powerful cyclone Gombe, which killed at least 61 people and completely destroyed 45,079 houses. The relatively low death toll is the result of previous meteorological warnings. In simple houses, mostly built of clay and wood, no one slept that night, anxiously waiting for the cyclone to come. From 9 p.m. there was no electricity and one could feel a strong wind, which grew stronger at two in the morning. It was in complete darkness that trees and roofs broke, walls crumbled and people looked for shelter in terror. In Carapira, only a few of the most solid buildings have survived. Meteorologists noted that the wind force was 190 km/h and that heavy rain fell, corresponding to a 20 cm layer of water. Water penetrated through the cracks in the doors, windows and the ceiling also into our rooms.

The houses were completely ruined

Although we were observing the power of the element, we were not aware of the extent of the destruction for a long time and the morning proceeded peacefully. Suddenly Father Jaider, clearly shaken, came running, saying, “Many buildings are in ruins. There are lots of women with young children near the church. They are shaking with cold. They need dry clothes. We have to help them! We have to find shelter for them, they cannot enter the church. ” These last words surprised me a lot. I understand that the church is a sacred space, but the situation is critical, why can’t they take refuge there?

There was no time to ask questions. We ran to our rooms to look for warm clothes. Jackets, sweatshirts, pants, T-shirts. We came to the mission with heavy suitcases, an opportunity came very quickly to share with the most needy. With meshes full of clothes, we ran to the temple. Drenched people chattering their teeth, little ones shaking with cold. I looked inside. Water poured from holes in the ceiling, and stone parts of the ceiling fell. Now I understood why these people could not hide in the church building …

We separated the women and young children and ran with them to the nearby buildings of the former school. There was water in all the rooms, but at least one of them didn’t rain. We handed out clothes, mothers wrapped children in our jackets, sweatshirts, jackets … All the time we could hear the terrifying sound of bent sheet metal, which the element was still trying to break. This school has become a temporary shelter for the most disadvantaged. With considerable effort and at a cost, the roof in the remaining rooms was repaired. We brought mats that you could sleep on. We managed to organize two hot meals a day. We distributed roof repair foil, flour and beans to those most in need.

The cyclone washed away the bridges and cut off many towns

Many trees and an old, six-meter-long cactus fell down around the church. A group of teenage boys volunteered to help with tidying up the area. All the hot day they worked very hard with axes and machetes, carrying heavy branches and even cutting their hands. Their only payment was a cup of water with lemon juice and two cookies.

Five months have passed since the cyclone passed by the time you read this article. We are organizing a second wave of aid. We collected over 2,300 euros on the crowfounding portal. Together with people involved in the parish Council of Caritas and Brotherly Aid, we selected the most needy. It was not an easy task, as the local population is mostly very poor. We wanted to select people who are completely incapable of work and who cannot help themselves. We visited paralyzed, rheumatic, handicapped people, people with twisted limbs, undiagnosed diseases, amputees … They were very grateful for the few kilos of beans or cornmeal, for a blanket or mosquito-net, possibly some thin sheet metal to repair a broken roof. For those who can speak, we asked for a recording of thanks. They addressed people living somewhere in the unknown land of “Poland”, using hard-to-pronounce Polish names: “Piotr”, “Konrad”, “Mariusz”, “Pawel”, “Urszula”, “Wiesławie”, “Agnieszka”: ” thank you for your help ”.

Ladies Laurinda and Filomena with the help received

People here live off of what will grow in small fields. Some cassava, some beans, some corn. This is enough for a poor diet. Meat or fish is a luxury. They work very hard, in heat and with simple tools, engaging even several-year-old children to help support their family. Your only chance to earn money is to sell some of your crops when the field is well fertile. Then they wander with 50 kg bags on their heads for many hours to the nearest market. In our village, a five-year-old boy swallowed a coin and an operation was required. His parents had to sell their piglets in order to get money for a trip to the city and bribes for doctors. Simple flip-flops or a used shirt at the market cost less than 1 EUR. Despite this, not everyone can afford such “excess”. Those who cannot afford it wear torn and worn clothes, sometimes barefoot.

We also supplied a metal sheet for the construction of houses

Poverty, unimaginable for Europeans, and the lack of prospects do not break the Mozambicans. In the evenings they play music, humbly accept the hard life in all its fullness, react with undisguised joy when we greet them in the local macua language. It is worth remembering that another generation of our great-grandparents was in a similar situation. Various novels from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries described similar poverty, the constant risk of hunger, illiteracy, superstition, difficult access to health care, and dependence on small plots. Today let us be grateful that our houses and flats have not collapsed, that we are not faced with hunger, that we can read and write, that we can heal our loved ones for free. May this gratitude always result in solidarity towards our hard-pressed sisters and brothers.

Regimar, Valmir and Bartek with kind regards