2007 January - September: New to Africa; My Impressions of this Dark Continent
16.01.07:
I am here at last in this dark continent.. I feel at home in my new Province [ I mean Region]. I reached Bamako on 16th at midnight. I was warned by the sisters in Paris to take care not to be tricked by any taxi driver who force themselves on you & literally take your luggage from you. So when a dark, grey headed, deaf-mute approached me, gesticulating that he would take care of my luggage, I point blank refused but he was so insistent & he kept touching my cross & pointing outside, I wondered if the sisters had sent him in to help me & I let myself trust him….. I had to wait long for my luggage & he was most helpful & finally when I came out of the airport, two sisters of my new community were waiting for me & they embraced me & thanked the man …. That was my first lesson here…. I learnt that the people of Mali are caring, loving, welcoming & helpful.
After a visit to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, I unpacked & handed over the huge 3 Kg piece of cheese that the sisters of Paris had sent with me for our sisters here. I went to bed at nearly 3.00 a.m. (Each of us have an individual room with a sink & shower inside but the toilets are common.) but I could not sleep…. out of sheer excitement I think.
& amp; nbsp; &a mp;n bsp; After a simple breakfast, I spent time in the chapel with Jesus. It is situated in a separate little place where one breathes in peace. The Jesus on the cross is African & so is Mary. The stained glass makes colourful patterns on the floor because of the bright sunlight. It is quite warm, like in India. The house is simple. It reminded me so much our house of Jaghadia in Gujerat in India. The mud is red & the garden is full of bougainvilleas just like our houses in Goa. Young girls dressed colourfully, with their curly hair all braided are all over the place, greeting me with their bright smiles. It feels good to be here & I thank God for choosing me to work here with these simple poor things. The four sisters who form this community are Antonia the Regional superior as well as superior of this house, Candida, Felci ( but she was away on work) & the junior Marie who is from Mali.
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31.01.07:
& amp; nbsp; &a mp;n bsp; I feel lonely & I need love & support in these first days in a new place. I am slowly settling in. This Region of Africa is small. There are only 6 communities & we are 21 sisters, one novice & one postulant here belonging to 8 nationalities; There are besides six sisters belonging to this province but studying in Rome, Spain & Paris. In each community there are just three or four sisters. In my community of Bamako we are five because the Regional superior is here & I am so new. We need more sisters & I pray that God will send more vocations or inspire people to offer to come to this Region. We have native vocations but few.
& amp; nbsp; &a mp;n bsp; There is not much that I do except help here & there a bit. I observe a lot & listen & watch…….The time table is like in India. We begin the day with lauds at 6.00 a.m. Mass is at home once a week a in the cathedral the rest of the days at 6.30 a.m. The examen is at 12.15 & lunch at 12.30 noon. We recite the rosary at 2.45 p.m. & evening meditation for one hour from 6.00 to 7.00 p.m. followed by vespers & dinner. Not everyone can be present for the community acts as each one is busy in her own work. There is much flexibility. I feel very much at home.
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17.02.07
& amp; nbsp; Its more than a month that I am here & I already feel part of this community & Region but how I long for news from India. I miss them.
& amp; nbsp; Fr. Ozy send this to me & I really feel GOOD ! I am aware that I am the first Indian in our Congregation to come to Mali & I feel very strongly that I am chosen by the Father & sent by Him with Jesus to make His love known & felt in the experience of these poor little girls. I want to be worthy of His calling & live up to what He expects of me.
DEAR MARGARET,
i pray that u will be the Father's missionary, CO-missioned with JESUS, by the same Father!
this Father thanks you, the Catholic Church thanks you, the Church in India thanks you,
of course the Church in Mali thanks you even more! your congregation RMI thanks you,
your RMI province thanks you, your family thanks you,
BECAUSE, you re-present every one of these to everyone you will be present to in mission!
CONGRATULATIONS again... for your YES!
& amp; nbsp; I help to serve the meals. The breakfast & dinner is cooked by the girls themselves room-wise & they have the menu for each day. In this way they learn how to cook. They use coal to cook as Kerosine or gas is too expensive. For breakfast they have maize broken up & cooked with water, milk & sugar like a porridge. Powdered milk is used & that too is very expensive about Rs 400/ per Kilo. Unbelievable !!!! All products of milk – butter, cheese, yogart therefore is very expensive. That is why I brought 3 kilos of Cheese from Paris. So we use it. For lunch & dinner they eat Kuskus, To ( a paste of maiuze flour) , rice, beans( just boiled with water & salt & then seasoned with oil & onions) each day different & they eat it with what they call sauce but it is vegetable & beef cooked in tomatoes, onions, dried chillies & oil with groundnut paste to make it thick. On other days the sauce is made of a green edible leaf. The girls eat hugh amounts, much more than our poor adivasi girls. I think they cannot afford to buy anything to eat in between so they need it. Often they hide the food in their cupboards in their rooms to eat later & sometimes they forget it there & it stinks. I am aghast at the way they eat. They put almost their whole hand into their mouth.
& amp; nbsp; &a mp;n bsp; The afternoon meal is cooked by a woman named Denisse. She comes with her four month son & she brings along an eight year old girl to look after her baby. The girl’s parents are extremely poor & they are grateful that at least the child will get her meals free. My heart breaks to see her taking care of little Joseph. The sisters told Denisse that next year the little girl could be admitted into one of our boarding so that she can study & have a future. This of course if her parents permit it.
& amp; nbsp; &a mp;n bsp; I am fine but the place is full of dust. There are dust storms & we are actually eating & breathing in dust all the time because we are close to the desert.I clean & in a minute the place is full of dust. Sometimes I feel lonely with every one around me
speaking French or Spanish or the local language Bambara and nobody knowing anything about India.
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17.02.07 & amp; nbsp; &a mp;n bsp;
Its more than a month that I am here & I already feel part of this community & Region but how I long for news from India. I miss them. & amp; nbsp; Fr. Ozy send this to me & I really feel GOOD !
I am aware that I am the first Indian in our Congregation to come to Mali & I feel very strongly that I am chosen by the Father & sent by Him with Jesus to make His love known & felt in the experience of these poor little girls. I want to be worthy of His calling & live up to what He expects of me.
& amp; nbsp; I help to serve the meals. The breakfast & dinner is cooked by the girls themselves room-wise & they have the menu for each day. In this way they learn how to cook. They use coal to cook as Kerosine or gas is too expensive. For breakfast they have maize broken up & cooked with water, milk & sugar like a porridge. Powdered milk is used & that too is very expensive about Rs 400/ per Kilo. Unbelievable !!!! All products of milk – butter, cheese, yogart therefore is very expensive. That is why I brought 3 kilos of Cheese from Paris. So we use it. For lunch & dinner they eat Kuskus, To ( a paste of maiuze flour) , rice, beans( just boiled with water & salt & then seasoned with oil & onions) each day different & they eat it with what they call sauce but it is vegetable & beef cooked in tomatoes, onions, dried chillies & oil with groundnut paste to make it thick. On other days the sauce is made of a green edible leaf.
The girls eat huge amounts, much more than our poor adivasi girls. I think they cannot afford to buy anything to eat in between so they need it. Often they hide the food in their cupboards in their rooms to eat later & sometimes they forget it there & it stinks. I am aghast at the way they eat. They put almost their whole hand into their mouth.
& amp; nbsp; &a mp;n bsp; &am p;nb sp; The afternoon meal is cooked by a woman named Denisse. She comes with her four month son & she brings along an eight year old girl to look after her baby. The girl’s parents are extremely poor & they are grateful that at least the child will get her meals free. My heart breaks to see her taking care of little Joseph. The sisters told Denisse that next year the little girl could be admitted into one of our boarding so that she can study & have a future. This of course if her parents permit it. & amp; nbsp; &a mp;n bsp; &am p;nb sp;
I am fine but the place is full of dust. There are dust storms & we are actually eating & breathing in dust all the time because we are close to the desert.I clean & in a minute the place is full of dust. Sometimes I feel lonely with every one around mespeaking French or Spanish or the local language Bambara and nobody knowing anything about India. & amp; nbsp;
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17th May 2007
I was in Niono from 13th to 17th of May. We have a boarding there, where there are 52 children from the age of 11 to 17 years. They attend a school which is on the other side of our property. We also have a Professional School for the promotion of girls & young women. There are around 50 of them & they have literacy classes in the mornings & embroidery, sewing, crochet, knitting etc in the evenings.
While I was there, we had visitors- two gentlemen from the UNESCO branch of Spain & they organised a football match between the team of the school & the team of the boarding. The winners received medals & the losers too received some small gift. This was followed by lunch where the staff of the school , the two Spanish gentlemen, the parish fathers, the children of the boarding & the sisters ate together. We were divided into groups of 8 & a bowl of water was passed to wash our hands. Then a big bowl was placed in the centre with macaroni with sauce & meat & all us had to eat from the same bowl. For me this was an absolutely new experience. At first I felt uncomfortable, awkward & a bit dirty too but gradually I realised what a beautiful thing it was to eat together like a family.
The parish church is beautiful & the statue of Mary there is so lovely. Often we pray the office together with the fathers & this is followed by the Eucharist. There is a very good relationship between the sisters & the parish fathers. Te feast of the Ascension was celebrated with pomp & much singing. One day we visited a poor old lady in the neighbourhood & I was shocked to see the conditions in which they live. The house was of mud & the roof of straw, no electricity & so no light, no fan etc. She was seated outside under the shade of a huge mango tree loaded with fruit & she was as happy as a lark & she gifted us a big bag of mangoes when we left. The poor remind me so much of our poor in India – content & ever so generous.
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22th May 2007
I was in Segou from 18th to 22nd. In Nion In Segou, we have a Nursing school, where over 100 girls are doing their three year Government course. They can do this course after DEF, which is like SSC in India. In the days I was there, the had their exams going on & I helped to supervise. They also have a Professional School for the promotion of girls & young women. There are around 150 of them in 8 Classes & they have literacy classes in the mornings & embroidery, sewing, crochet, knitting etc in the evenings. Sr. Maria Angeles is in charge of all this. She is young and very efficient. We also have a hostel of 38 girls – some doing the nursing course, others in the professional school still others attending schools & colleges in the neighbourhood. We attend Mass at the Cathedral which is about 20 minutes walking distance but we go by van. The mass is in Bambara and always with much singing.
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19th May 2007
& nbsp; Every Friday evenings the girls from the hostel go home & they return on Sunday evening. The girls do their own cleaning & they do a through spring cleaning every Friday before they go home. Just a few about 10 to 12 remain behind as their homes are far away. So the week-ends are more relaxing for us & we take the opportunity to pray extra, to have our community meetings & catchy up with any preparation work.
On the day of my recollection, I read & studied the Regional & Community Projects & reflected on them. The main aim is to once again fall in love with Jesus & live our consecration more fully trying to imitate the compassionate love of the Good Samaritan who reached out to the needy neighbour not bothering about class or creed or colour.
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24th May 2007
& nbsp; Today I feel a bit lonely & miss India. The first days are always exciting but a little later one tends to miss home. At the start everything seemed very rosy but now I feel the weight of the CHANGE… I am not so young, so adaptation for me is tough. Everything is ever so different & often I cannot often express my feelings. I still don’t speak French very well. A heart & soul conversation is not possible. Work like ours requires total dedication and it is not easy. Its tough to learn a new language and then have to totally read, speak, prepare the prayers in a newly learnt language. I go through times when I feel totally overwhelmed but prayer solves everything. There is no obstacle too hard that cannot be overcome through prayer. I try to infuse enthusiasm into the work I undertake & it is just a matter of time, when I realize I have climbed yet another mountain.
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25th May 2007
& nbsp; Today we celebrated the Feast of St. Vicenta Maria. We had a Mass in the chapel which was decorated with lovely flowers & the words ‘The girls have won.’ The singing was beautiful. Then there was a game of basket ball followed by a programme with many items – singing dancing & little skits. Then we ate together & there was more dancing till their toes could not take anymore.
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29th May 2007
All our houses here have our vehicle & most of the sisters know to drive. Some of them also possess their own motor –bike. I thought I would learn the Motor-bike so I requested the young sister Marie to teach me. I hardly got seated on it when I lost my balance & had such a terrible fall & my knee hurts till now. The motor bike fell on me & it got injured too. I wanted to learn how to ride the motor bike so that I can move alone without having to depend on public transport but since on my very first attempt I had a terrible fall & I hurt my knee so badly I feel I have to give up the idea. Riding a bike is not for everybody.
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30th May 2007
& nbsp; Last week I attended a ceremony where a Bolivian brother was made a Deacon. It was a solemn ceremony presided by the Archbishop. These brothers belong to a Latin- American Congregation & work for the propagation of the Gospel. They speak Spanish & are close friends of our nuns. In fact every Friday morning one of them comes to celebrate Mass in our chapel & we combine it with lauds & make it very meaningful.
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31st May 2007
Here there are four juniors only, three in Mali & one in Burkina Faso. They are the first batch to do their Noviciate in Africa. We have one novice & one postulant & now we had a vocational camp & hopefully three will join what we call Etapé Previé _ aspirants I think. No one is joining the pre-noviciate this year. Some of them are not so sincere (Well it is their way of looking at things). One girl said she wanted to join & attended the three day camp etc & so after that she went to her village & got engaged. The engagement was planned for months earlier but the girl had no courage to say no to her parents & no courage to say no to the sisters. Poor thing !!!
1st June 2007.
A lady named Marie Lou from Mexico comes twice in a week to speak to me in French. She is married with a Frenchman & is here in Mali with her husband on a work project. She tries to use her time usefully by offering to teach the girls in our Centre & me also. But often we land up chatting in Spanish or English as she knows English as well & we talk of our adaptation problems as we both are in the same soup.
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2nd June 2007.
We attended a Malian wedding. The bride was a Muslim. It was my first experience & I enjoyed it thoroughly. The Eucharist was beautiful & then we went to the groom’s house. Travelling singers somehow get to know of the weddings & they just barge in & sing eulogies to the couple & one has to give them a good tip or they refuse to budge. The food is eaten in groups – about ten people from the same plate. After the traditional wedding we were taken to a hotel & everything there was in the western style.
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3rd June 2007.
On Trinity Sunday, we renewed our vows. I remembered all the sisters of our congregation who would renew their vows & round the clock in our different houses, throughout the day there would be offerings to the Lord. Its awesome just thinking about it.
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3rd June 2007. (evening)
The girls of The Professional School & the girls of the Hostel went for their holidays & they will return in September. We had reports day & Prize Distribution, everything very simple & farewell for teachers who will leave us & students who have completed their three year course.
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6th June 2007.
Marie the junior sister, had her exams from 4th to 6th June. She had some problem because of her identity card since she is an external student & on the first day they let her in only after 20 minutes & the following days, the supervisors there insulted her & this affected her badly. She is a jolly person, laughing away. It is the first time I saw her cry. Every Sunday I use to attend the Mass in English where English speaking Africans come together. I enjoyed the singing & many hymns were familiar to me. The only disadvantage is that the Mass is at 10.00 a.m. & it takes me 30 minutes walk to reach there & in the heat it is horrible, especially the return journey as the Mass get over after noon. So I have stopped but I prepare a small group of adults for the sacrament of confirmation. I like doing this service. At first I use to go to the cathedral but now they come to the convent twice a week. They miss me however & whenever they meet me they keep insisting that I join them again for the Mass.
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7th June 2007.
We are doing some construction work, adding a room on one side. Next year all the juniors will come to this house & we had a robber pretending to be a worker who was trying to rob cement & sand. Constantly we have robbers like these & so have to be careful to lock everything. As it is, my hand is giving me trouble & I have to keep twisting my wrist each time to open or close a door with the key.
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8th June 2007.
We celebrated Vacation Day. We decorated the chapel beautifully with flowers & posters. All the catholic girls of the hostel participated. We had a meaningful prayer service & a talk on how God continues to call, by Sr. Antonia in French & Sr. Marie in Bambara. At the end the girls Thanked God for calling them to be Christians & to follow Him, each in a very special way. They made many petitions & we burnt them up & offered them to Jesus through Mary.
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9th June 2007.
A presidential election was held in Mali on 29 April 2007. President Amadou Toumani Touré ran for re-election against seven other candidates and won in the first round with about 71% of the vote, according to provisional results. On April 1, the Constitutional Court announced that eight candidates would contest the election. Six of the eight approved candidates previously ran in the 2002 presidential election; Maiga and Diallo are the exceptions. Diallo is the first woman to ever run for president in Mali; a woman had attempted to run in 2002, but her candidacy had been rejected. Prior to the election, Touré was considered likely to win; he was running as an independent but was backed by a coalition, the Alliance for Democracy and Progress, that includes 43 parties. Keïta was considered the strongest opposition candidate. A day after the election, a presidential spokesman claimed victory for Touré, while Keïta's campaign director alleged fraud, and the FDR claimed there were widespread irregularities. Results accounting for 18.2% of registered voters (including many who did not vote) showed Touré with 61.3% of the vote and Keïta as a distant second with 29.8%. In Bamako, Touré won 54.2% and Keïta won 38.8%; Touré's lead was bigger in rural areas, where he won about 71% against 18% for Keïta. Voter turnout was placed at 24% in Bamako and 38% in the countryside.
On May 1, the four FDR candidates, rejecting the official results, said that they would try to have the election annulled. Mali's opposition Front for Democracy and the Republic called on the Constitutional Court to annul elections. They refused to recognise these results of the election "because it is a farce". The colour of the Malien flag is red, yellow & green but vertically. It is a developing nation but the leaders are very corrupt.
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10th June 2007.
We had a gathering of ex-students & 32 of them turned up with their children. This was the first time such a gathering was held. We just chatted, collected everyone’s addresses & telephone numbers & distributed the sheet to all present so that they could keep in touch with each other. They want to meet again in November
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12th June 2007.
Corruption is rampant here. Our sisters in Madrid along with the help of some kind hearted people sent us a wagon full of things – clothes, medicines, stationery etc but till we got it into our hands many hands had to be greased. They send it by ship & then train. We were forced to pay nearly Rs.10000/- for it & half the things were robbed. Some officials from the government came pretended to help & later dared to ask us how many of the packets we would be willing to give them. They sell the things in black & mint money. It is sickening. We were invited to some important gathering by a French Organization called ‘L’Orden de Malta’ . They have done tremendous work here in Mali in the area of Health; The President was invited & cocktails & snacks were offered but you will not believe it, the people grabbed the food like animals. We did not get anything at all. I was shocked at their behaviour.
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12th June 2007.
On the whole everything here is very expensive, compared to the salaries they get. So the poor & middleclass people can hardly save anything. An ordinary packet of tiny sweets (100) costs 1500 francs which is about Rs. 150/- Monkey nuts are available galore & they make tiny packets of 100 gms & it costs 200 franc, about Rs.20/- Sr. Antonia our Reginal superior passed the visit to our community & on the last day she gave each of us 10,000/- francs. I was amazed because for me around Rs.1000/- was too much until I realised that here things are terribly costly. They use the hard shell of the pumpkin as a vessel or bowl. A variety of vegetables & fruits are available but expensive. All the stuff is sold on the road-side just like India & plastic bags are used galore & the markets are very dirty. Hygiene is missing.
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13th June 2007.
We celebrated the Feast of Sr. Antonia today – very simple but in an ambiance of sincere love, joy & care. On 11th, I completed 25 years since my Final Vows but there was no celebration.
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14th June 2007.
It’s the holiday season now. The teachers come daily for half a day & prepare the material for the girls for the coming year. Many sisters have gone to their homes in Spain, Philippines, Mexico for their two month holidays. Most will return end of August or beginning of September. Two new sisters Charo who was with me in the noviciate in Spain in 1974 & Aurora from Chile will come here in August. Christa a Malian sister who is presently studying in Rome will come to Mali for her holidays for two months. The houseworkers whom we employed come every Sunday & spend the day with us. They really rest, relax, eat well & enjoy being with us.
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15th June 2007.
We have turns to be in the kitchen & it is up to us to decide what to cook with the help of the boy. I get very nervous when it is my turn. The sisters eat food cooked in the Spanish way mostly (since there are 3 Spanish sisters here) & they bring the food of the girls also. In the afternoon we often have lentejas, macaroni, fried potatoes & fillets or beef cooked in tomato sauce or balls of minced meat cooked in white sauce. At night we have tortilla, crochets & panadillas & salad & soup. They have a stock of tinned stuff which they open once in a way. So food for me is not a problem except when it is my turn to cook. But I am slowly learning…..I tried to make some Indian dish but nobody likes it here so I gave up. I have some sorpotel & roast meat still lying in the deep freeze. The mangoes are beginning to ripen & we already ate them many times.
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16th June 2007.
The sisters of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Mary invited us to join them in celebrating their feast & we participated in the celebration of the Eucharist followed by dinner, sing-song & dance in the African style.
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17th June 2007.
It was the Feast of our Parish. The choir with their singing was superb. The dancing & shrill shouts of joy made the Eucharist very people centred. After this there was a little fete & game & food stalls. We did not cook at home but purchased from there.
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18th June 2007.
We are reading in Community the Soul of Vicenta Maria, of course in French & I struggle with the dictionary because after that we share what has impressed us. The contents is definitely helping me to come closer to Vicenta Maria & challenging me to imitate her. On my own I am reading in Spanish the life of St Vicenta Maria written by Fr. Hidalgo. Its very good & I became aware of many things through that book - her scruples, her intimacy with the Lord etc. Oh how far I am from her holiness.
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19th June 2007.
It is very difficult for me to be so far away from family, friends and familiar places and to have to be always trying to understand people talking in French or Bambara. I have a hard time even understanding people speaking French. Most people talk so fast that I can't tell where one word ends and another begins. Although I have progressed a lot in French, I cannot follow all the conversations & the readings at Mass & the homilies especially when they speak & read fast. Also the pronunciation here is slightly different from that I learnt in Paris. Just as we have Hinglish in India we have the Malian French here. I still find it difficult to express myself in French. I see people screwing their faces trying to understand my gibberish & I feel discouraged. Now I have decided to say this before I start: I am going to share about…… I find it difficult to say it in French please bear with me’. Hopefully they will listen with more patience. The people who work for us – the cooks, the watchmen as well as the new house workers who come here in search of jobs speak only Bambara. I communicate with them through gestures & I have picked up a few words in Bambara too.
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20th June 2007.
Antonia told me I will be transferred to Bobo in Burkina Faso in September & not do the Bambara course. I shall continue to be here till middle July. I may go to Beleko on 15th July with Sr. Mercedes for 15 days but this is not sure. In the first week of August I will go for my retreat to Burkina Faso with the Jesuits. I will travel with Marie & I will return to Bamako end of August. Then after the meeting on 12th September I will go to Bobo with all my things.
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21st June 2007.
Sr. Eulalia spoke to me through SKYPE. It is a wonderful facility to speak free of cost through the internet. If one has the Broad Band facility it is possible. How I wish my sisters in India & my family members could avail of this facility. How much they can save on telephone bills. The sisters here use it a lot & speak to their family members in Spain & also to other sisters of the congregation. Sr. Elvira phoned me from Rome & made me really happy.
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14th July 2007.
Beleko is a remote part of Mali. To reach there we had to go by a rickety vehicle. The roads are rough, Being the rainy season, the road was full of puddles everywhere & I was so sick with the movements of the vehicle. At one point we had to cross a river but the bridge was covered with water & the crossing was so dangerous. It is not easy to get transport & the vehicles are so jam-packed. People sit on top of the bus too.
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21st July 2007
Our house there is a little cosy cottage, very homely…The little chapel too is comfortable & simple
I enjoyed attending Mass in the Parish Church, just opposite our house. The parish priest Abbé Joseph was very kind-hearted. The tabernacle was shaped like one of the huts of the villagers.
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24thst July 2007
This is Beleko. It is where we have one of our four houses of Mali. I was there for 15 days.There is a Government school there of nearly 600 students but of course now it was vacation time.
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26th July 2007.
Every Saturday is Market day. People dress in their best & go to buy & sell things. They sell things from fruits & vegetables to goats & pigs.
27th July 2007.
Every evening I visited the villagers. The people are very welcoming &nbs p;
31st July 2007
I arrived to this new country on 31st July feast of St Ignatius.. The journey was long. We left Bamako in Mali at 6.00 a.m. & reached Burkina Faso at 9.00 p.m. At the border they gave me a provisional Visa for 10,000/ francs; There were customs & they made us open all our luggage. On the route there were no toilets & my bladder almost burst; Little urchins sold Karetes. They are green fruit which taste like chicoos
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31st July 2007.
My new community welcomed me. The next day I went to confirm my visa & they have given it to me for three months but in October I will renew it for a year.
1st August 2007.
On the first we were invited for the Eucharist to celebrate the final vows of 9 young African sisters. It was a moving ceremony which brought tears to my eyes. The 9 sisters danced before the alter singing the Magnificat & after communion every one went around the aisles dancing & singing. There is much movement & emotion in all their celebrations. Suddenly a voice springs forth screeching almost like an animal. It makes your blood curl but I believe , it is their way to express joy. After the mass, everyone gathered around the newly professed to wish them.. The choir continued playing their instruments & people danced. Even our sisters danced
2nd August 2007.
My retreat was superb. It was from 2nd to 10th August in the retreat house of the Jesuits at Ouagadougou which is the capital of Burkina Faso. It is about 300 kilometers from Bobo. It took us the whole day by car from 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. to reach there. Sr. Lupe a Mexican sister & Marie Jeanne took turns to drive. The car is air-conditioned & so it was cool. The young juniors sang all the way & I taught them some English songs as well. We stopped on the way & had a picnic lunch under the trees surrounded by the beautiful scenery. We had brought roasted chicken & bread from a market close by. It really was very delicious.
7th August 2007
The retreat house is situated in lush green surroundings where one can take long walks which naturally help in relaxing one’s body & calming one’s soul. I just enjoyed admiring God’s creation the flowers, the birds, the insects…..
9th August 2007.
We had two talks a day, The retreat was based on the Gospel of St. John & its explanation by Cardinal Martini. We had an interview daily with one of the directors & the Eucharist in the evening. I could not follow everything as it was in French but it was not a very big problem. The priest I went to for guidance daily was African but he understood English & he appreciated my oriental way of praying through contemplation & reciting mantras. I felt very much the presence of the Lord & became aware once again that I am His BELOVED, loved & wanted, called & chosen to be here in Africa perhaps not to DO great work but to just BE His witness just being me, enjoying each moment, receiving from others, learning, observing, watching…….. Soon the time will come to GIVE but not so much in my DOING marvelous things as I did in India but just BEING, loving, caring compassionate like JESUS . The meals were good & plentiful. We were 34 of us but there was such silence & peace.
11th August 2007.
The journey back to Bobo on the 11th was lovely. Since it is the rainy season, everything is green.
12th August 2007.
After that I came to the novitiate which is in a remote village called Nasso which is part of the big city Bobo where I am transferred. Our house is like our house in Nasik - big gardens, flowers, long pathways, we have rabbits & hens, turkey, pigeons, ducks etc There is a cute little grotto in one corner & a small pond for the ducks.
13th August 2007.
Nasso is a quiet village. We are surrounded by woods. There is a little stream just five minutes away from our house. Its beautiful really, so very peaceful, very ideal for a noviciate.
th August 2007.
The parish is small but the people know each other & are so very friendly & welcoming. People come to the church carrying their own chairs as there is no place inside. I had the chance to celebrate the feast of the Assumption with them. The Eucharist was so lively. The place was decorated simple & in their own original style. I remembered our little chapel in Moira & our celebrations there.
16th August 2007.
The chapel of the noviciate is simple but quite large. Hopefully one day there will be many novices. The statue of Mary is beautiful.
17th August 2007.
Each day I learn new things & discover the interesting customs of this enchanting country. When I was doing my retreat, one day we were served with crispy fried ants. I was aghast at the way the Africans enjoyed them but as yet I do not have the courage to eat them. In fact they are the insects that gather around the lights in the rainy season. I saw them gathering them in the morning. I thought they were sweeping them off. They collected them washed them well & removed all the wings & roasted them in a pan over the fire. When I was in the Noviciate someone sent us another typical African dish - Fried worms called seni. How the novice & postulant relished them. There is a fruit tree called Karite where these worms abound & every morning they descend from the tree & people wait & gather them, & after washing them well they fry them. These worms are also sold in the market & are very expensive. & are available only in the rainy season.. Below is a picture of these worms. They are sold in the market too & are very expensive. It is one of the delicacies of Africa.
18th August 2007.
I visited the village close by in Nasso to see two new born babies. I was surprised to see that they are born white & look almost like European babies except that their little ears are a bit darker.
19th August 2007.
We have plenty of animals in our noviciate house. I enjoyed playing with the cat, the dogs & watching the rabbits, chickens, the turkeys & ducks. I was surprised to see the dogs & cat play together
22th August 2007.
I came from the noviciate of Nasso to Bobo on 22nd August to keep company to an elderly sister named Consuelo. She is from Toledo, a lovely person who likes to talk & share about herself & shows interest in my life in India. She taught me embroidery. She is very hardworking & reminds me so much of our Sr. Cecilia D’Silva
23rd August 2007.
Our house in Bobo is smaller compared to our other houses but it is homely. Our house here is nice & cosy. The parlours, the dinning-room, the kitchen , the laundry ete are on the ground floor while the bed-rooms of the sisters are on the first floor.
29th August 2007
I am down with malaria. This is the 3rd time I am getting it in a span of 45 days. I have fever & shivering, vomiting & diarrhoea. The sisters take anti malaria tablets regularly. So now I too have begun to take them. Yellow fever & meningitis is common over here.
2nd September 2007
I went with the sisters by our car to Mali for the annual one week meeting to plan & evaluate the year to prepare together the Regional Project so that later we can plan our community project. All the sisters from all the houses were present except two sisters who are in Spain for holidays & one in the Phillipines who is operated for stones in the gall bladder & one who is attending the renovation course in Rome. We can meet like this because we are only 21 sisters & the two countries are not so very far apart. It was a very beautiful experience meeting all the sisters & planning things together
8th September 2007
we celebrated the Birthday of Mother Mary. We had the day off . The next day I remembered my own Mummy whose birthday it was on 9th. She must be celebrating it with Jesus. Sometimes I feel so useless & broken over here unable to do anything concrete because of the language & problem of adjustment & adaptation. However, I read somewhere that ‘Brokenness’ is not a weak position. God says until we are broken we cannot be an aroma pleasing to the Lord. God wants me to be an aroma here in Africa. In order for this to happen, I must be a broken vessel in His hand. Pray that God would allow me to become a pleasing aroma to Him no matter the cost. Difficult times make us value life. They make us appreciate the simple things that we took for granted before the crisis. When we are restored from such a trial, it is as though we have been given a new beginning. We can place a greater value on what we had before and use it for His purposes. Perhaps for the first time we can identify with others who find themselves in a similar trial. Now, I appreciate the little things that I never would have valued before. This experience is teaching me greater dependence and faith in the area of my relationship with God. When God brings death to one area of life, he resurrects it in a new way. Death works in us to bring new life and new perspectives. These are designed to press us forward in ways that we never would have moved without the experience. God knows how much this is needed in our life to gain the prize He has reserved for each of us. It is His strategic mercy that motivates Him to bring such events into our life. I am learning to ‘Press into Him, learn of Him, and rely on Him’. & nbsp;
9th September 2007:
I visited some shops where they sell things of African art – craft work in wood, stone necklaces, metal bracelets, rings etc, precious stones…. I was not too impressed because the work is not exquisite like it is in India & also it is too expensive. The musical instrument they use is very original. It consists of planks of bamboo wood with the empty pumpkins shells underneath. The sound that emanates is resounding.
10th September 2007:
Now I am back in Bobo. I am settling down in the community of Bobo. We are four sisters. Sr. Clara Angelica is my new superior. She is from Logronio & then there is Consuelo from Toledo & Marie Jean from Mali. Bobo is like a small town. The people are friendly & their greetings are so long. They will ask you how you are, whether you slept well, ate well, have peace in your heart… & you have to nod & say ‘Toroté&rsqu o; which means “all is well” & then you in turn have to ask the same questions & they reply “Toroté&rdqu o; even if they have problems galore. Then after sitting in silence for a while they will pour out all their sad stories.
16th September 2007:
We were invited for the Perpetual vows of a sister of the Franciscan Missionaries. It was a touching ceremony. The sister named Ella was the only child of her parents & There are muslims & animists among her relatives. When she was a teenager, she contracted some eye disease & became completely blind & learnt to read Braille but a miracle took place in her life & she is healed. This made her dedicate her life to God in Religious life.
23rd September 2007:
On Sundays we go to our Parish Church in Koko for Mass. It is the St Vincent the Paul Church. Its big & beautiful & crowds of people come for the mass. They come dressed colourfully in long flowing gowns called bubus. They sing & dance & participate whole-heartedly in the Eucharist. Many activities are organized for the youth. The choir is fantastic. One has to go early to get place. It reminds me of our