AFW DECEMBER 2010 Ghana – Liberia – Nigeria - Sierra Leone
Dear Confreres, Receive warm greetings from Rome, from the Rector Major, all the members of the General Council and the 9 provincials who have just concluded their formation course held at Casa Generalizia in Rome from 5 th to 20th December. This ongoing formation experience has been for me the crown of a series of graces received from the Holy Spirit in these past two months after sharing our CIVAM meeting and the annual retreat with the RM in Johannesburg.
Fr George Crisafulli is in Rome attending the meeting held at the Pisana for New Provincials. As he wrote in the circular letter his heart is still very much in Africa: “Every day my mind and heart fly to West Africa”. While in Europe he is taking the opportunity to visit our students studying there in different study centres as well as visit our benefactors and collaborators. In the picture we see him with Fr Chuks and Br Job. From Rome he writes to us sharing his thoughts and reflections in his familiar, open and direct way.
I came to Rome with a deep desire of sharing, learning and listening to the RM and his councillors and the other provincials. From the first moment I felt warmly received and at home despite the cold weather and the freezing galleries of “La Pisana” (thank God I got a warm jacket from a Salesian brother who died 2 months ago!) We had 4 working sessions a day with 2 intervals. The Eucharist was presided by one of the General Councillors everyday and the good night was given by the Regional Councillors who in turn presented the reality and challenges of their own regions. Each evening we had the chance of having a personal talk with each General Councillor and of course a personal talk with Don Pascual Chavez. It was amazing for me to see how deeply the RM and his Council know the reality, the people, the problems and challenges of our dear AFW Province. In each personal chat with them I was able to present each one of our presences, the situation of our communities, especially our formation communities. Don Pascual, all our superiors have so many dreams and so much hope on Africa, on our Province and its future. They look at us with strategic mind as I told them that God is blessing us with many vocations, that out of 139 confreres, we have 103 in initial formation; that we have 12 communities but we are dreaming with and like Don Bosco about expanding our presence to new geographical and youth frontiers in our 4 countries. I insisted about the potential of AFW for the Church and the Congregation, that in our Province we have more than 100 million young people who are below 25, that they are waiting for us and that we are trying to embrace them with our missionary heart, 1
trying to reach out to a bigger number of poor young people. Some of the topics shared during these days were focused on a global vision of the Salesian Congregation and the main orientations of the RM and his Councillors for their term in office. Other topics were on how to govern and animate the province, juridical elements and procedures, communication and organizational skills, etc. Each Councillor with his assistants presented the vision and main orientations of their own departments (Formation, Youth Ministry, Social Communications, Missions, Salesian Family. The New Postulator for the causes of our Saints and the General Secretary also presented with passion their own sectors. In the middle of the course we had a monthly retreat with the RM and the opportunity to make our confession and renew our personal plan of life. We were also invited to write down a synthetic plan for the growth of the province. Let me conclude sharing with you what has been really “touching” for me during these days of “retreat and study”: 1) The personal contact with the RM and each one of the General Councillors: the informal contacts (we had all our meals in the refectory of the General Council) as well as the formal encounters helped me to experience their closeness. To be with Don Pascual has been for me like being with Don Bosco, looking at him and above all listening to him (among so many things he told me that he was surprised that after 28 years we are not yet in Lagos! I assure him that with the help of God and the blessing of Don Bosco we are “landing” in Lagos in 2011). 2) A deep sense on the universality of our Congregation! Listening to all the Regional Councillors you discover that the Congregation is bigger than our own little local house, or province or Region. We are citizens of a global mystical family spread throughout the world! Our communion is so immense: a vast family of consecrated and lay people united in the same Salesian Spirit and Mission and through us millions and millions of young people experience that God is Love and wants them to be happy here on earth and later in Heaven. What a wonderful and beautiful call and mission we share!! 3) The sharing with other provincials -in the same linehas helped me to understand that we are not alone in the blessings we have received and also in the problems and challenges that we are facing. I was able to understand more clearly that the mission of a provincial is to give life, to keep communion, to animate the participation of everybody and to strengthen the charismatic identity of all. I have
The provincials at the Provincials animation course in the Pisana were Fr Faustino from Africa AFO and Fr George from AFW Fr Balaraju from India INH, Fr Ducange from Haiti, Fr Pichardo from Antilles and 4 provincials from North Europe: Fr Vaculik from CEP, Fr Martin Coyle from GBR, Fr Chmielewski from PLN and Fr Leja from PLO.
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seen that it is not so important what I do or I say, or even how I do or say but above all what I am for the confreres. Yes, I would like to be by the grace of God, a living image of Don Bosco and I have asked in prayer during these days the grace to grow in fatherliness. I ask all of you to help me to be what I am called to be! 4) I have come to realize that it is impossible to African Little Christmas resolve all the problems or face all the challenges of AFW at once. That we have to All African Confreres and cross a bridge at a time, slowly but without pause, Missionaries with a connection with patience. The RM told us that at the end of our with Africa were invited by Fr Basanes to celebrate Christmas period at least we should leave the province in a together on Sunday 12th better condition that we found it! I hope that December. For the occasion our working together as a family and a team we will all own students were there contribute to this aim!! together with Fr George and Fr 5) Last but not the least: it was really touching going Riccardo. I am sure that they down to the store of the Central Salesian Archives were all dreaming not of a white of the Congregation where we saw some significant Christmas, but of a warm one in documents of our origins: the minutes of the Africa! meeting held at Don Bosco‟s room in December 1859 when the Salesian Congregation was founded; the original first passport of Don Bosco (to travel from Turin to Milan!!!)... with all his personal details, even his stature: 1,65 metre!!!; the first labour contract for a boy of the oratory signed by his employer and Don Bosco; the breviary of Don Bosco (the one he used until the moment of his death!); the notebook where he wrote: “when the desire of ease and comfort grows up amongst us, our pious Society will have run its course”... You have to be there, looking, touching that notebook and then it becomes transparent and you come in touch with an invisible presence: Don Bosco is there standing up in front of you like telling you and all AFW Province: “if you loved me in the past, continue to love me in the future by the exact observance of our Constitutions” Christmas is very near, at hand. That little boy in the stable is the Son of God. He looks so fragile but he is so demanding at the same time. He is inviting us to be faithful to him and to the Good News he brings, to be deeply human and deeply holy because that is to be touched by the Salvation he brings us. He has become man so that we can become divine with him and like him. He is inviting us to assume his style of life of poverty, obedience and chastity; to be faithful to the Father at any cost and to be heralds of his Gospel, especially to the young! I conclude by wishing each and every one of you a Happy Christmas!!! You will be in my thoughts and prayers on that Holy Night, holding each one of you in my heart. I wish also all the laity and numerous collaborators who share our spirit and mission a blessed and holy Christmas filled God’s love and grace, and a fruitful educational and pastoral year 2011!!!
Fr Jorge Crisafulli sdb AFW Provincial
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Reach the young people before drug and HIV reach them because they would be destroyed when you do not help them avoid drug and other behaviors that put them at risk. This in -fact was the fundamental objective of the project to educate young people in the Sunyani municipality using sports and media. The 10 selected schools that took part in the project gathered in Don Bosco Vocational Institute on 4th December 2010 to interact, compete and think about the way forward of the achievements of the project . There were 1200 students from these selected schools present for the day‟s activities. The day started with a prayer section in the auditorium, followed by an introduction by the overall project coordinator Rev. Fr Peter Wojnoroski SDB. He spoke about the 3 major components of the project of which the most important is the awareness creation and education of young people against drugs and HIV/AIDS. This was followed by quizzes on HIV/AIDS and drug abuse. Olister Senior High and Technical School took the first position, 2 nd place was Sunyani Senior High School and third place was Women‟s Training institute. Then came a talk delivered by Mr. Ofori Addo the Deputy Regional Coordinator on behalf of Mr Supiime, the Brong Ahafo Regional AIDS Coordinator. After the talk the schools went to compete in different games using the various sporting opportunities available to them on the premises of Don Bosco Vocational School including the new multi-purpose sports court built from the project. There were many sports activities that took place concurrently and these were aired live on Space FM in Sunyani. Certificates were issued to schools which performed well in the various activities but the overall grading of the ten schools for the project was based on the different outreach activities they undertook within the period of the project. During the games there was counselling section conducted by Rev. Sis. Ursular a nurse and HIV peer counselor. Many of the young people who had some issues to share and be guided on had the chance to do so. The overall winner of the project was Twene Amanfo Senior High School. They took home a 29” colour Television a DVD player 100 exercise books and other school materials. The 2nd overall best was St. Vitus Technical School, they also took home a 29” colour television a DVD player 100 books and other school materials. The 3rd position was taken by Odumasiman Senior High. They took home a 21” colour television a DVD player 100 books and school materials. The rest of the 7 schools took home a DVD player 100 books and other school materials as appreciation for participating in the project. In all about 10,000 young people were interacted with during this project period. In an interview with a teacher from Twene Amanfo Senior High School the overall best, she promised that the school would continue to organize HIV/AIDS campaign activities such as song competitions among students, the continuation of the outreach educational programme to taxi drivers on drug useage and the dangers of HIV infections. 5 And above all to really do more in the areas of the campaign using sports and media to improve the life-styles of young people in Odumase.
On the 27th of August, I travelled the from Nairobi to Sudan. It was a one-and-a-half hour flight from to Juba, the capital of South Sudan capital. On arrival at Juba International airport, I was received by the rector of the Salesian community there in Juba. He came directly up to me and said Welcome! He took me with a Land Cruiser Jeep to the community, which is located on the outskirts of the city, a village called Gumbo.
that they wanted us to stay on. However, what can we do? On the 30th of September I left for a new community in another state – Western Equatorial State. Our community is in Manguo in Maridi County. It is the newest community of the delegation and I am privileged to be part of the founding confreres, the pioneers. This is the community I was sent to from the onset but I had to remain in Juba for a month because the community house was under construction.
Itâ€&#x;s a nice and simple community with primary school, parish and a youth centre. I stayed in that community for one month working with the youth of the parish, Oratory and the English choir group – I was teaching them English songs. I also had the opportunity to visit other Mass centres in the interior. In Mafao, they have a big church but few people. It happened that after the peace agreement in 2005, some people had come to settle in that village. They had a big Catholic church, however, due to kidnappings and killings, many of the young people fled. As a result on a Sunday, we normally have five or less for Mass. We get this number only when we visit their houses to invite them for Mass. This was my first time and it left a mark on me. I felt for them as we were driving out after the Mass. As they waved their hands at us telling us good bye you could easy tell from their facial expression
Here in Maridi, we are new, Don Bosco is new so whatever we do now is directed towards making Don Bosco known. Here we run a primary School, a parish and a youth centre. In the school we have over 800 pupils. Pupils are quite advanced in 6
age and some are with kids. The Parish is growing by the day. However, we have a low percentage of Catholics. The Anglicans are more! Attendance and participation at daily Mass is quite encouraging. We now have seven Christian communities where we go for prayers every day. There in the Christian communities, families come together to pray and share their problems and those who are sick are given special attention. In the village we have a lot of sick people and no hospital close by. Malaria has a lot of victims here and in most cases they are killed by it. So sad!
them out of Uganda and now they are in Sudan making life difficult for the people. To curb this problem the youth of ManguoMaridi have formed a group called ArrowBoys to fight against these kindrebels coming from Uganda. At present the major stories or discussions in any corner, beer parlours or anywhere that people are gathered in South Sudan are about the referendum. The spirit is high and you can perceive and feel it as it hovers around the environment. The people are simply waiting patiently for this decisive act of endorsing South Sudan as an independent nation. What we hear is: after the referendum, after the referendum. Projects, activities are all on hold, waiting to be actualised after the referendum. Some are saying the referendum will result in conflict while others are saying nothing of that will happen. I believe at the end of the referendum we shall know whether those tagged pessimists were only trying to be realistic and whether those tagged optimists are just trying to escape or bend reality. However the debates and arguments, there will be a referendum and we pray it is peaceful.
The youth centre is growing, and the oratorians are gradually coming to know Don Bosco. We run a daily and weekend oratory and we recite the rosary every day after the games. This is to make them familiar with the presence of Our Lady in the oratory and her presence in the life of Don Bosco. We now have two centres attached to the youth centre. We have allotted two animators for each of these centres and they are doing great. We are now preparing for the Holiday Camp. Here schools go on long vacation in November and they resume in March. We have scheduled our three weeks camp for February. It‟s going to be the first of its kind in the area; consequently, preparation is quite intense, for first impressions matter a lot.
I was highly delighted when I received a good-wish card signed by the AFW rectors. It was so encouraging and inspiring. It gave me a psychological boost that I was not alone. I really appreciate it and you are all in my prayers.
I am happy to be here and I believe it‟s God‟s plan that I am here at this stage of my formation. Nothing is by chance, I believe everything has a purpose and it is only when one responds to God‟s plan one can find through happiness.
One of my major challenges is the language and I am beginning to pick it up gradually. Here in Manguo-Maridi, the people are also faced with kidnappings and killings by some people alleged to be coming from Uganda. It is said that they are Ugandan rebels. The Uganda government drove
Toni Odior 7
Jerusalem: On Monday 6th December Emmanuel AJA and Paul TURRAY received the ministry of lector. The ceremony took place in Our Lady of Zion chapel at the Ratisbonne Monastery. The institution of the lector took place during Mass presided by Fr. Maurizio Spreafico SDB, the provincial of MOR. During the introductory rite he urged the confreres to have a deep reverence for the Holy Scriptures, he further stated that the ministry we are to receive is a step of getting closer to the priesthood and that reading the word of God and mastery it gives each of us the purpose of our life as a minister of God bringing his word to His people. After the Eucharistic celebration the community celebrated in a festive way during Breakfast and lunch. As a reflection the most important aspect of this ministry is our heart ready to read and become what we read. We pray and hope that by reading the word each day we may become the word to those that we would be proclaiming this living message of hope. We want to use this opportunity to thank you all for your wishes and prayers, we promise you all our prayers especially as we visit those Holy places. Please let us still continue to pray for one another for no amount of prayers is too big. Emmanuel
YaoundĂŠ. During the Mass celebrated on the feast of Don Rua 29th of October 2010 at St Cyprian Faculty of Theology in YaoundĂŠ, thirteen Salesians, received their Ministries. Amongst them were our own AFW confreres, Nicodemus NEBIGUE who received the Ministry of Lector, and Gerald Nicolas UMOH who received the Ministry of Acolyte. The ceremony was presided by Fr Manolo Jimenez, ATE Provincial.
www.kairosquest.org 8
Reaching Out (ANS – Freetown) –Archbishop Edward Tamba Charles of Freetown has blessed the “Don Bosco Mobil”, a bus which will provide street children with medical first aid, food, clothes and teaching. Through it, the “Don Bosco Fambul” NGO which is directing the Salesian project for street children, will be present in the more marginalised places in Freetown with professional social services, youth ministry initiatives, nurses and legal aid for children. The bus is well-equipped with various things from first aid kits, sports and games material and a film projector and is aimed at the children and youngsters most at risk providing them with access to health care, information about hygiene and safeguarding their health (HIV/AIDS…), as well as social and pastoral activities. Social and pastoral workers are also collaborating with other aspects of the work of the “Don Bosco Fambul” as well as organisations such as the hospitals and the Union of Family Support (under the Police of Sierra Leone). Each day the bus will visit 5 of the most deprived areas: Susan`s Bay, Cline Town, Mabella, Hagan Street, Guardia Street. There are four stages in the over-all project: assistance for individuals, family care, pastoral work and networking with other institutions (police, hospitals and other bodies). It will almost certainly be integrated into the basic social services or the services provided by the Catholic Church which the Government in Sierra Leone is developing in collaboration with UNICEF and the Catholic missions. Already the current programme of “Don Bosco Fambul” offers important and successful activities: a street children project, with vocational training, a youth centre, youth ministry and accompaniment at times of difficulty.
“I always went ahead as the Lord inspired and as circumstances demanded”. This is what Don Bosco used to say to any puzzled admired who asked him how he managed. In August we welcomed the Salesian Sisters here in Ghana who came after a lot of prayer and discussions. In December we once again welcome the whole of the Salesian Sisters Novitiate who have come to join the Sisters community here. This time it was circumstances that made this move necessary; we all know the deterioration of the political situation in Ivory Coast and Mother Provincial saw it prudent to move their novitiate to Tema for the time being. In welcoming them, Fr Silvio Roggia, the Vice-Provincial and a novice-master himself, reminded the novices of the first wandering Oratory and the famous sermon of Don Borel when he said that they were like cabbages: for them to grow they had to be transplanted. Who knows if his words are prophetic. In the meantime the novices are using the opportunity to learn about the new country they have moved into and to improve their English. Once again we say welcome 9
The Catholic Christian community of Odumasi, which started as a mustard seed in the year 1933 in the house of Op. Kwame Manso of blessed memory, later moved into a store room and then to a mud house, was officially started with a priest from Berekum Rev. Fr. Fisher of blessed memory in 1935 under the patron St. Francis Xavier. Seeing the growth of the faithful, the current edifice dedicated to Mary Help of Christians was built and consecrated on the 8th of December 2007 after seeing the first concrete church building to be too small for the faithful when the Salesians took over in 1992. The first Salesians were Rev. Fr. Isaiah Torres, Rev. Fr. Ivan Stojanovic, Rev. Fr. Michael Karrikunel and Rev. Br. Michael Schmitz. As part of the anniversary program, there were choral songs among the various choirs around on the 17th December and a grand durbar on the 18th in the morning and in the evening there was a Marian procession which drew many peopleâ€&#x;s attention to the greatness of our mother Mary as the Patron Saint of the church with members from the eight outstations. On the 19th, it was the fourth Sunday in Advent and the thanksgiving Mass for the celebration. This was graced by the presence of the bishop of Sunyani diocese, Most Rev. Mathew Akwasi Gyamfi. Who was welcomed by the Parish Priest Fr Peter-Savio Kwaku Kpen-Ana and the Salesian community, and all the parishioners. He confirmed 95 candidates into the Catholic faith and it was a remarkable moment and a blessing for the occasion. Five energetic young men and women also committed themselves to the service of the young people as Salesian Cooperators. Really Don Bosco has come to stay as the young people and their parents made the occasion very colorful with the anniversary clothe and other remarkable designs.
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Reflection
Timothy Radcliffe, OP (1945, London–) is a Dominican friar of the English Province, and former Master of the Order of Preachers from 1992-2001. He is now highly sought after speaker, teaching and preaching in many countries. Friendship with Jesus – intimacy –means learning to be gentle and lowly of heart. Then we shall find rest for our souls. But if one thinks of the Catholic Church, the first word that springs to mind might not be “humble”. I have given retreats for dioceses in 15 countries since I finished my term as Master of the Dominican Order in 2001. The vast majority of priests and bishops whom I have met are simple and unpretentious people who just wish to serve the people of God. But this personal humility has to be sustained in the teeth of a clerical culture, common to all Christian denominations, which stresses rank and power.
Crises are not to be feared. It is through repeated crises that God drew closer to his people. ceased to believe in God‟s gentle providential government of the world, then the state must take his place and impose its will. This culture of power is perhaps one reason for the widespread abuse of children in our society. The Church, alas, has often been infected by this same culture of control. This happened partly because the Church has for centuries struggled to defend itself against the powers of this world who want to take it over. From the Roman Empire at the time of its birth until the Communist empires of the twentieth century, the Church has fought to keep hold of its own life, and often ended up by mirroring what it opposed.
This terrible crisis of sexual abuse is deeply linked to the way that power can corrupt human relationships, which is why it touches all the Churches, even if the Catholic Church happens to have been more in the spotlight recently. Celibacy is not, I believe, the source of the crisis, otherwise it would be the case that Catholic priests have a higher rate of offence, which, it seems, we do not. We shall only really address this crisis if we learn from Jesus who is “gentle and lowly of heart”, and find ways of embodying authority which honour the equal dignity of all the baptised, and cherish the weak and vulnerable. Careful vetting of candidates for the priesthood and child-safety procedures are necessary, but they will not get to the root of the problem.
We will not have a Church which is safe for the young until we learn from Christ and become again a humble Church in which we are all equal children of the one Father and authority is never oppressive.
Every institution always seeks to preserve and augment its power, but the philosopher Charles Taylor, in A Secular Age, has traced the genesis of “a culture of control” from the seventeenth century onwards. Society is seen as a mechanism rather than an organism, which needs to be adjusted and manipulated.
At the end of the Middle Ages, the priesthood was in crisis. It was unable to respond to the challenges of a new world of widespread literacy. The parish clergy were poorly educated, sometimes barely able to celebrate the Mass, often living with concubines. The response to this crisis led to an extraordinary renewal of the priesthood, with a new spirituality, new seminaries, a more profound theological formation, a new strict discipline. Without this,
Monarchs claimed absolute power even over the Church. Imperial powers took possession of the world; millions of people were enslaved and treated as commodities. Once society has 11
the Church would have found it hard to survive the rise of Protestantism.
destructive activism in our service of the people. Indeed, this crisis of sexual abuse may aggravate the temptation to show that we at least are wonderful priests incessantly devoted to our work, always available on our mobile phones. That is salvation by works and not by grace.
But this Tridentine understanding of priesthood is in its turn showing signs of crisis, of which the sexual abuse scandal is just a symptom. Its stiff clericalism and authoritarianism, unsurprising perhaps in the context of our past battles, do not help the Church now to thrive and be a sign of God‟s friendship for humanity. And so we need a new culture of authority, from the Vatican to the parish council, which lifts people up into the mystery of loving equality, which is the life of the Trinity. Crises are not to be feared. It is through repeated crises that God drew closer to his people. Israel‟s worst crisis was the destruction of the Temple and the monarchy, and exile to Babylon … Israel lost everything that gave her identity: her worship, her nationhood. Then she discovered God closer to her than ever before. God was present in the law, in their mouths and hearts, wherever they were, however far from Jerusalem. They lost God only to receive him more closely than they could have imagined. Then that difficult cross-grained man, Jesus, turned up, breaking the beloved law, eating on the Sabbath, touching the unclean, hanging out with prostitutes. He seemed to smash all that they loved, the very way that God waspresent in their lives. But that was only because God wished to be present even more intimately, as one of us, with a human face. And at every Eucharist, we remember how we had to lose him on the Cross, but again only to receive him more closely, not as a man among us but as our very life.
At every Eucharist, we remember how we had to lose him on the Cross, but again only to receive him more closely, not as a man among us but as our very life. Thomas Merton believed that this hyperactivism was a collusion with the violence of our society: “The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. More than that, it is cooperation in violence.”
In the Office of Readings for the first week of Advent, we heard: “For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up and high; against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up; and against all the oaks of Bashan; against all the high mountains, and against all the lofty hills, against every high tower, and against every fortified wall” (Isaiah 2:12-15). But this was so that God could dwell again in the midst of his humbled people: “Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over its places of assembly a cloud by day and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night. Indeed, over all the glory there will be a canopy. It will serve as a pavilion, a shade by day from the heat, and a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain” (Isaiah 4:5-6).
If we let this implicit violence infect our lives, then it will come out somehow. It may overflow into violent words. We may do violence to ourselves through drink. We may fall into sexual violence, and be caught in the horror of abuse of the vulnerable. So if we face this terrible crisis of sexual abuse with courage and faith, then it may precipitate a profound renewal of the Church. We can discover Jesus‟ commandments not as a heavy burden which crushes people but as the invitation to his friendship. We can be liberated from harmful ways of using power in the Church, which are ultimately rooted in secularism, and become more like the Christ who was lowly and humble of heart, and we shall find rest for our souls.
Painfully, the Lord is demolishing our high towers and our clerical pretensions to glory and grandeur so that the Church may be a place in which we may encounter God and each other more intimately. Jesus promises rest for our souls. Often we priests are consumed by a
Timothy Radcliffe, OP 12
A seminar on the presence of the Salesians in the Muslim world was held in Bamako, Mali, from 12 and 13 October 2010. In all 25 Salesians took part, with our AFW Province being represented by Fr. Peter Wojnarowski, Fr. Stephen Omoniyi, S Linus Onyenagubor and S Kenneth Nnadi. The Provincial of AFO Fr Faustino Garcia opened the seminar. Participants dwelt on the approach to the evangelization and education of the young in the context of a Muslim majority in West Africa. The seminar was an opportunity to reflect on the Salesian way of getting close to people starting from a knowledge of the context. Some priorities and guiding criteria were identified by those taking part, with an emphasis on the need: to understand the surrounding area, the local language and Islam; to prepare Salesians for this specific mission; to develop in the Salesian communities attitudes suited to the Muslim environment, (showing respect for the surrounding circumstances, a spirit of patience and of being ready for sacrifice, acceptance of failings, not expecting immediate results...); giving attention to personal living witness; and, finally, supporting the formation of the small groups of Christians as though they were “grains of mustard seed”. The Salesians also agreed that in order to interpret the Preventive System in the working environment in which each community found itself it was necessary to know one‟s own spirituality, the local culture and the values promoted by Islam. This seminar in Bamako was a follow up to the CIVAM meeting on Youth Ministry held at Dakar in 2008. On that occasion Fr Basañes insisted very much on the fact that the AFW and AFO Vice Provinces should undertake a reflection on how to achieve a more effective pastoral approach in the context of a Muslim majority. When asked for his comments, S Linus Onyenagubor, one of our own AFW representatives and who hails from Jos, a city known for its Christian Muslim tensions, had this to comment: "The seminar was as eye opener for most participants especially for us of AFW Vice Province whose work is mainly within Christian environments and a few Muslim areas. "One of the strong points stressed in order to make our presence felt in the Islamic areas is the need to take the first step to reach Muslims, without waiting for them to call on us. It is only through dialogue that we can help to breakdown some of the religious stereotypes or walls of narrow mindedness." Those taking part expressed their satisfaction with this first meeting which had helped in the understanding of the ways of working in Muslim contexts and showed the clear desire to continue to work also in this specific area of the mission. 13
My name is Ohuakanwa Donald Chisom. I was born on 14th Dec. 1987 in Ahiazu Mbaise L.G.A. of Imo State, Nigeria. I attended Community Primary School OP. 1 in my village and graduated after six years. I attended Secondary Technical School Obohia and Capital International High School and I obtained my S.S.C.E. certificate in 2006. When I was in secondary school, I started having the feeling that god is calling me to serve him in a special way. After my secondary education, My first
encounter with the Salesians was on June 2008 with the help of one of my friends who gave me the address of the Salesian community in Onitsha. With the address, I went to meet the rector and know more about the congregation. After my encounter with the rector, I was invited for a holiday camp program which started on 3rd of August 2008. After the camp, I was invited for another experience which started on 8th of Sept. 2008 and I continued with the aspirant program with my fellow brothers. After the one year aspirant experience, I was told to continue my discernment program in Ondo community for aspirant phase two and prenovitiate from Oct. 2009 – July 2010. I was told to continue the discernment experience to the novitiate and on 4th of Nov., I traveled with brothers from Nigeria to Simon Srugi Novitiate in Odumase, Ghana. My
experience during these years has being a wonderful one.
Derekong Victor is my name. From the family of Mr. Bernard Derekong (late) and Anastasia Derekong. I have four siblings and I am the last born. I was born on Friday 2nd December 1988 at Bechem in the Brong Ahafo Region. Perhaps, my desire to join seminary school started at my tender age but after I grew up and completed Senior Secondary School, things wanted to change. 14
Because of this, I stayed in the house for two years just to help me make appropriate vocation discernment in life. One day a quotation from the book of St. Luke 10:1-5 struck me and I decided to go and join any seminary school which I can answer my calling there. In view of this, I met a friend in Techiman who has already had an experienced in Salasianâ€&#x;s Come and See prcgramme before and through him I was able to meet the vocation director. I was invited for my Come and See programme which I felt in Love with the charism of the congregation and later I decided finally to join for my come and stay programme. I am always happy to be part of the Salesian Family and I thank God for his protection and guidance towards me in the congregation.
. I am Eshun Mark Kwadwo born to Mr. Paul K. Bosomafi and Mrs. Beatrice E. Bosomafi from the Central region of Ghana, Amisano-Elmina. I am the fourth born of my parents of seven children of whom five are males and two females. Abesim near Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo region was where I was born on the 25th day of April 1983 and brought up I had all my basic education in Abesim Roman Catholic primary and J.S.S. My secondary education continued at St. Hubert Seminary in Kumasi in the Ashanti region where I passed out successfully.
It was during this period of Secondary education that I read a book on the life of Don Bosco which made me to develop interest about his life and being the patron Saint of the Catholic Youth Organization (C.Y.O.), a society I was actively involved, I decided to find more about him. This idea of Don Bosco became dormant till I entered the teacher training college in 2003 and two years after the idea came back again where I informed my second senior brother who was then a priest and he introduced me to Rev. Fr. Ambrose Anene sdb. In August 2005 I was invited for „Come and See‟ and I really enjoyed the period spent there. Completing my training in 2006, I came to stay in the Salesian Youth centre while I discharged my duty in Odumase Saints Peter and Paul J.H.S. as a teacher for three years. It was during this period that things were put in order and in my third year, I was recommended to go and start my PreNovitiate program with
my other brothers in Ondo-Nigeria. After nine months experience in Ondo I was once again recommended to continue my Novitiate program in Odumase-Sunyani. Here I am still deepening my understanding on Salesian life and since vocation is a journey, I am still discovering myself and believe that God‟s plan for me will continue to unfold itself as I move on in my life. I am Kingsley ETIE and was born on the 3rd of September 1987, into the family of Mr & Mrs Godwin Etie, in Obodoukwu, in Ideato LGA, Imo State in the Eastern part of Nigeria. I was brought up in Onitsha, Anambra State; I attended primary school in the Township primary school feggeOnitsha, and then went to secondary school in the Holy Ghost Juniorate Ihiala, Anambra State, which I completed in June 2008. I came into contact with the Salesians through Ambassadors Magazine
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from a friend at school. I took the first step by meeting Fr NIC the rector of Onitsha community, who after interviews invited me for 4 days preparatory for holiday camp and gave me some Salesian Bulletins to read.
I did my aspirant programmed from October 2008 to August 2009. During this period my Motivation to serve God through the young people which I saw in the lives of the Salesians, and which they lived everyday grows deep. I was admitted to the Pre-Novitiate which lasted for Nine months. On the 7th of September 2010, I started the Novitiate.
Attached to the Novitiate is a certain amount of farmland of which Ven Simon Srugi is also the patron. A number of projects are run by the Formation House in Sunyani: 1. A Vegetable garden: in the vicinity of the water reservoir, which stores the rain water for the irrigation, we have a beautiful vegetable garden. This helps a lot to reduce the „household‟ expenditures at least for all that concerns 70% of the fresh vegetables. 2. Yam / maize farm: In rotation we use the large portion of land below the vegetable garden for one or the other of the crops. 3. Mushroom project: Gradually Mr Peprah Solomon, one of our past pupils and now director of the Srugi agric sector, had learnt the process of using sawdust for the production of Oyster Mushrooms, which serve our kitchen and which is also sold in town. This generates a steady moderate income since the expenses involved in production are low. Blessed Artemide Zatti is the patron of the larger farming area which stretches from the Novitiate to the main entrance gate. It is serving three purposes as well: 1. The most important use is the Practical experience the students of Agric of Don Bosco School gain; they each have an individual portion of land to cultivate as a „laboratory‟. The students also have the opportunity to be trained in the various animal husbandry activities in operation (turkeys, piggery, goats and sheep, rabbit). 2. The remaining part of land is used for maize, yam or soya in rotation and the orchard gives oranges (we process into marmalade), mango and pawpaw, to help the demands of the kitchen. 3. The major activity now is Poultry. We first experimented with 500 layers and 500 broilers; the experience was very useful to learn what is needed for a proper management of the birds (feeding, medical, ideal life condition and therefore production condition, marketing). Now that the experiment has been successful we are trying to move to a larger activity: 4000 layers in January (1500 productive at that time) to increase them to 5000 by August. A store for the feeding with a milling and mixing machine has been put in place close to the layer pen. All this required quite a lot of initial investment; this was possible only when finally a donor was ready to sponsor the project (after a „knocking‟ at many doors… one finally opened!). The first and probably the most valuable result of all this enterprise is the fact that everybody feels more responsible in the running of the community. The Novices are very skilful and ever creative in carrying out and improving the various „self sustaining‟ enterprises. An other initiative that does not involve farming, but is very active in this Advent & Christmas season, is the production of cribs and other statues. These are produced in the basement of the novitiate and then distributed and sold in various shops around the country. This gives a glimpse of another aspect of the life in Novitiate! It makes life more colourful, creative and more importantly, helps us to be more SELFRELIANT. A special word of appreciation goes to the Donor who has made this possible and to all our benefactors, whom we constantly keep in our prayers. A goal that we seek in the province is to make of our works SUSTAINABLE, which is no small goal for the present and future situation of AFW. 16
Salesian Feasts
Province Calendar
15 Blessed Louis Variara, priest and Founder of the Institute of the Daughters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Memorial 22 Blessed Laura Vicu単a, youth Optional Memorial [for the FMA: Memorial] 24 St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, Titular and Patron of the Society of St. Francis de Sales Feast 30 Blessed Bronislaus Markiewicz, Priest and Founder of the Congregations of Saint Michael the Archangel Optional Memorial 31 St. John Bosco, Priest, Founder of the Society of St Francis de Sales, of the Institute of the Daughters ofMary Help of Christians and of the Salesian Cooperators Solemnity February 1 Commemoration of all deceased Salesian Confreres Comm.
January 1 Mary Mother of God 2 Epiphany 12 Post Novitiate resumes 20 Bld Michael Tanzi 24 St Francis of Sales 31 Don Bosco Feast February 2 Presentation of the Lord 8-9 Curatorium Utume (Kenya) 15 Curatorium Lubumbashi (Congo) 13-19 Visit of Fr Klement Vaclav 18-20 PC Meeting (Ashaiman, Ghana) 21-26 YM Course for post novices (Ibadan, Nigeria) 23-28 Meeting for Rectors-Directors of Prenovitiates, Novitiates and Postnovitiates (Lome, Togo)
December: 02/88 05/81 06/35 14/87 17/36 19/82 20/87 20/71 28/88 29/70 30/73
DEREKONG Victor Daniel Agbor Mario Pellegrini CHISOM D. Ohuakanwa Vittorio Albasini Paul Turay Emmanuel Nweke Stephen Omoniyi Omatu Daniel Robertson Sung-Iribe Edmund Baidu
January: 02/79 03/81 09/62 17/67 18/48 18/81 19/85 20/74 24/85 25/36 28/79 17
Solomon Gbaki Frederick Okusu Michael Ogunniyi Pablo Mardoni Nicola Ciarapica Philip Bua Godwin Ekugbah Chukwudi Akubueze Kenneth Dike Joseph Giaime Edwin Tangie