Kenya and Senegal
These days
I am traveling in order to attend a meeting of the Carmelite Superiors of
francophone Africa. Friday afternoon I leave towards Nairobi with Father
Saverio, our Provincial superior, to Nairobi. We arrive there in the evening.
Here we are very well greeted by our Carmelite confreres. On Saturday morning,
I meet Father Nicola Fogliacco member of
Consolata Missionaries. He has been here for about forty years and still
at present continues teaching Theology with enthusiasm to young generations of
all over Africa. I gladly see him again, also because we have common ruts
coming both from the same town, Madonna delle Grazie, in the Province of Cuneo.
In the afternoon, we tour the city, and on Sunday morning we are fliying towards Dakar. And after ten hours flight
finally we are in Dakar, Senegal. Here we meet with confreres of Congo,
Cameroon, Madagascar, Malawi, Burkina Faso, Rwanda-Burundi and Senegal. Some
Fathers came from our General House in Rome. We'll meet in the coming days to
discuss and share the various experiences of our Carmelite life in many
different Countries. On Monday morning, before going to our Kaolack convent, we
visit a very symbolic and meaningful place: the Gorée Island. Located about 3
kilometers from Dakar, this small island (900 mt. X 300 mt.) here the
ships use to dock to take on board
African slave people. Many of the houses were "slave houses" where
Africans captured inside the continent, were sorted out, subdivided, weighed,
and palpated as cattle, and then loaded into hundreds of ships in horrible
conditions to sail for two or three months towards the Americas, where they
were sold as slaves. Pope John Paul II, visiting this island in February 1992,
said:
"How
long is the way which the human family must walk before its members learn to
love and respect each other as God's images, to finally love each other as
children and daughters of the same Heavenly Father?" In the evening we
arrive at Kaolack, where our French confreres have a magnificent monastery,
surrounded by savannah The climate here is very hot. These are very busy days,
which begin in silence in the chapel, with the liturgical celebration of the
Hours, followed by the Mass. During the meetings, we share the real every day
life of all districts. In many Countries (Central Africa, Congo, Burundi) the
situation is very difficult, but in all areas, there is a good growth, with a
large number of young people and a positive presence seeking to bring the
richness of the spirituality of Carmel everywhere.
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