The MSOLA in Tanzania

bagamoyo

At the beach, it was like when the first caravan arrived in Bagamoyo from Zanzibar:
Our sisters Maite Sanz and Jeanne Boonen, the Fathers Geoff Riddle (50 years now in Tanzania) and Yago Abeledo, with stagiaire Fidelis Damana came by boat to the shore.

Find below: Sr. Françoise Nadeau: Mission and Vocation Animation

On May 17th 2008 the Missionary Sisters of our Lady of Africa and the Missionaries of Africa had a pilgrimage to Bagamoyo, 67 km north of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to mark the arrival of the first Missionaries 130 years ago.

The gathering was honored by the presence of Fr Gerard Shabanon, superior general of the M.Afr. (about 100 MAfr had come together). Lavigerie and Mother Salome must be enjoying this!

The MSOLA community of Daressalaam was feeding all the MSOLA who had come from Nairobi, Arusha, Mwanza and from Malawi, plus three candidates who were having their live in experience: 26 people! Say a blessing for all who helped in welcoming us!

The ceremony started in the cemetery of Bagamoyo at 7.30am. How moving to see the age on the tombs stones: The youngest was 21 and the eldest 39 years old when they died for Christ and Africa! In honour of all those first missionaries, we had the memorial stone blessed by Gerard Chabanon !

The mass was a real celebration of the wonders that the Lord has done over the 130 years after the arrival of our first brothers followed by our sisters in Tanzania soon after (1894).
In his homily Fr Gerard Shabanon gave an echo of those delivered by the first missionaries.
Two things touched me most:

The first missionaries were God’s friends, they went times and again to meet him in their inner temple. Without that going back to our inner temple to encounter God living deep within, there is no genuine missionary life possible.
Our ancestors had the challenges of their time. We still face some of those, but the main one for us today is the issue of justice and peace. We need to work to fulfill the words of St Irenaeus that: “the glory of God, is the human being fully alive.

Cardinal Polycarp Pengo gave a resounding homage to the Lavigerie family. According to him,
“the challenges of the mission today are even bigger than 130 years ago. The first missionaries cast out demons, cured the sick etc… The devil is back in its full strength and you have to chase it out of people’s lives as your predecessors did. You need to be men and women of strong faith and of great love for God and for his people.

And talking to each group separately, he said to the ‘whites’: “You are and will remain missionaries to the end of your days... and we love you! Never give in to the temptation of saying: mission accomplished. The mission continues and your presence here and in the communities with your fellow Africans is a witness in itself. Together, you show to the world the reality and beauty of the universal church…”
And to the “blacks” he said: “Never give in to the temptation of saying, their time is over, now is our turn… let them go back to their homes... Their home is here. To the aged, give love, care and support as we do to our elderly and sick brothers, sisters, parents. It is in your unity as one that the church will be seen in her beauty…”
We continued the celebration by going to the beach to see the first caravan arriving in Bagamoyo from Zanzibar. Our sisters: Maite Sanz and Jeanne Boonen, the Fathers Geoff Riddle (50 years now in Tanzania) and Yago Abeledo, with stagiaire Fidelis Damana all dressed up in the “real habit of 1878 and 1894” The student didn’t have the habit as he was the porter of the holy nuns and fathers…
But wait a minute, when they came ashore, none of us thought of going to meet them. Two women from the crowd shoot off spontaneously to help the sisters come out of the boat. Some men (holy priests) tried to stop them but to no avail.

We, the young MAfr aspirants from Arusha and Nairobi were jubilant! We read loud and clear how the first caravan had come from Zanzibar and were met by Muslim Brothers and the Holy Ghost Fathers. You might think that this was the end! Not yet! We went in procession to the Church and gave thanks to God who had done great things, singing the Kabylian Magnificat in a full Church.

On Sunday, we woke up very early in the morning to go to seven different parishes in Dar-es-Salaam and share our faith and our missionary vocation story with people. We went in groups of five to seven people (M.Afr, MSOLA and friends of M.AFr, a movement started by the M.Afr in Dar). It was a powerful witness of our family bond and of our collaboration.

These symbols included: A photo of Cardinal Lavigerie, our founder; Mother Marie-Salome, the first Superior General (MSOLA) who passed on the love of Christ and our mission in Africa; and our Lady of Africa the patroness of both institutes. We also brought to the altar a map of Africa where we were founded and where our mission is; a lamp which symbolized the light of Christ and education; a walking stick, shoes and a hat which represented missionaries on the pilgrimage.

Texts from Sr Vicky Ciharhula and “Flashes” of the Missionaries of Africa

bagamoyo_collage

From top:
Entrance procession to the Mass with symbols (see text for the meaning).
Fr Geoff arriving on the beach...
The memorial stone blessed at the cemetery.
The church in Bagamoyo
Young missionary Sr Susana Bosuh from Ghana with Fr Geoff

During the 2002 AMECEA
General Assembly
Sr. Diana Hess and Sr. Begoña Iñarra visited Bagamoyo and the cemetery.

Sr. Françoise Nadeau: doing Mission and Vocation Animation

Sr. Françoise Nadeau from Canada, has been working many years in Tanzania. Actually she is in charge of
the Missionary and Vocation Animation for the MSOLA.

fr_nadeau

Sr. Françoise Nadeau with a young girl, a friend of the community.

Sr Françoise tells us about her work with the young women interested in missionary life.

My initial contacts with young women is done through the visits at the Secondary and High Schools. I present the missionary dimension of the Church and within it, comes our Congregation with its charism for Africa. Those interested get more information on our different ministries, steps of formation and conditions to join. There are always plenty of questions.

The students who feel a missionary call or are interested to know more give their names and address. A correspondence follows often, we send them our Newslink and we offer them short seminars during the holidays.

When I am in a parish over the weekend, occasionally the Parish Priest invites me to say a few words in the church. This reaches the parents who have a big say in the vocation of their daughter

I am convinced that there are young women who are searching and are willing to give their life as a missionary but I have to look for them. The MSOLA Sisters are ready to give their collaboration in some seminars and to open the doors of the community for a "come and see", where the young girl lives in community for some time for a better mutual knowledge.

I wish at times, I were able to fly with my own wings and then would visit this one or that one, give her a word of encouragement, visit her family. I often feel like Cardinal Lavigerie, whose desire was to get at once 100 young women ready to join but the Lord gave him one by one. Prayer and patience will bring fruit in due time.

Sr. Françoise Nadeau, Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania)

The community of Dar-es-Salaam: Sr Francoise, Sr Juliana,
Sr Rita, Sr Piala, Sr Denise;
standing: Sr Gosia, Sr Columba, Sr Jeanne, Sr Susana

Webmaster: Gisela Schreyer
website.gis@smnda.org