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Four Comboni Missionaries and a lay person share their lives with the 120,000 poverty-stricken Korogocho slum dwellers and, with them, breathe daily the foul stench of Nairobi’s dumping site. But, they prefer to stress how they have been personally enriched by the experience.
Comboni missionary Fr. Antonio La Braca, after 35 years of work in Africa, leaves Sudan to be a hermit in the catacombs of Rome. During his missionary life, he learned to live in poverty among the poor. He even spread the Word on foot, in a region full of swamps. Now, he wants to share the spirit of the first Christians, persecuted because of their faith.
Not long ago, the Maasai had one of the richest cultures in Africa, so impressive that it attracted the attention of experts and artists. Now, the young are even forgetting their language. To fight this loss, Fr. Oberprantacher built, among the plains they roam, a cultural center. Where he wants to promote, at the same time, the defense of their heritage, evangelization and inculturation.
Because of a letter he received more than two decades ago, Father Luis Ruiz is now taking care of thousands of Chinese lepers. Meanwhile, he opened centers for the mentally disabled and the HIV/AIDS sufferers. As St. Augustine wrote: “The measure of love is to love without measure.”
Formation, cooperation, helping the Chinese Church to care for those who are left behind by the ever-growing gap between the rich and the poor. Initiated in 1998, the project is called Fen Xiang (sharing) and reflects the Comboni missionary spirit.
Fr. Bob McCahill, 70, in his semi-itinerant missionary life, changes place of residence every three years. He settled in Narail (a town seven hours away from the capital, Dhaka) last July and he is still in the process of building his small hut. During the month of November, while cyclone Sidr wrought devastation in the southern coastal region of Bangladesh, he carried on with his bicycle-propelled ministry in favor of the sick and poor of the district.
An art school in a slum? There is one in Kisumu, Kenya, as a component of the urban apostolate program. And it works! Training in creativity obviously expands not only personal and artistic horizons; it also fosters better understanding among humans.
The monks and Burmese marchers teach us a thing or two about how to resist tyranny, what the spiritual life looks like, and for Christians, how to follow the nonviolent Jesus.
Filipino Comboni missionary, Father Nolasco Robiso Jovilla, Jr., has been living with Father Pietro Ciapponi in Kanawati since December 2005. This year, he has been learning successfully the Karimojong language, a difficult one (a word may have different meanings depending on its tone); and discovering the mysteries of their culture. He confesses: “I am starting to appreciate the people and the culture. Karimojong are the freest people I’ve ever met. They don’t even need clothes and they need little food. Every day is a new learning experience for me.”
During my visit to Karamoja, I had the opportunity to visit a kraal – a few hundred meters where Karimojong keep their animals during the night. With me was a Filipino Comboni missionary, Nolie Jovilla, Jr. (see box below), who is learning the local language. Some Karimojong friends were our guides.
