Tanzania. Maasai. A child’s name-giving
Maasai life is full of feasts, festivities and occasions to celebrate. Looking at a Maasai man’s or woman’s life cycle gives a fair overview of the rich and full life they celebrate. This will become clear with the description of a particular ceremony: a child’s name-giving. During the first four to six months of life, […]
Syria. Aiming at the new generations
Thirteen years of war have shaped the daily lives of the people remaining in Syria. Millions of children have never known peace. Quality school education is almost non-existent. A generation without a future, which also influences the future of the country. The ‘Don Bosco’ paediatric centre of the Salesians in Damascus is a refuge for […]
“I am on the side of peace”
“To those who ask me which side I am on with so many armed and bloody conflicts being pursued in various regions of the world, I reply without hesitation that I am on the side of the victims of war.” A reflection by Father Saverio Paolillo, a Comboni missionary who has worked in Brazil for […]
Advocacy & People. Rajagopal. Towards a dignified life
As Gandhi’s heir, he brought the method of non-violence to the conflicts of youth gangs and peasant marches for land rights. In May he was awarded the 2023 Niwano Prize. He has himself called just by his first name to avoid being identified with a caste. And for fifty years in India – following the […]
Oral Literature. Beautiful Kaya
Kaya was the most beautiful girl in the village. All the boys courted her, each bringing her small gifts. There were so many invitations from her suitors that she never had a moment’s freedom. Rich in virtue too, Kaya was the pride of her parents. But she liked only one young man: the son of […]
Malawi. Discovering Mount Mulanje
In southern Malawi, on the border with Mozambique, an imposing granite massif with sheer walls, Mount Mulanje, captures the humidity of the winds coming from the Indian Ocean, creating mists and rains that nourish lush forests and green tea plantations. With an altitude of 3,002 meters, Mount Mulanje is the highest mountain in southern Africa. […]
Mission Diary. Working Together
Missionary life calls for witness to collaboration. Sr Ida Colombo, a Comboni missionary from Italy, shares her own experience. Working together to achieve ‘something better’. From the beginning of my vocation, I have always been convinced that mission should be done together. For nearly 30 years of Comboni missionary life, in different contexts, I have […]
The Declaration of Human Rights is for all
December 10, 2023, marks the 75th anniversary of the universal promulgation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its adoption by the United Nations General Assembly through resolution 217A during its third session in Paris on December 10, 1948. It was a torn and destroyed world after WWII, that was reeling after the destruction, […]
Advocacy & People. Patricia Gualinga. Defending Amazon Rainforest
A Kichwa Indigenous leader of the Sarayaku people in Ecuador tells her story. The Amazonian ecosystem is one of the most important freshwater sources in the world. I come from a land of waterfalls, lakes and rivers that flow from the Amazon, and it is water that gives us food sovereignty. There are no markets […]
Oral Literature. The Treasure of Friendship
A man had two sons. Their names were Rafiki and Tambu. One day he decided to teach them a lesson. He called them early in the morning and sent them to a village some distance away. “Go and visit the people”, he said, “But be careful: along the way, you will occasionally pull a bundle […]
