Peru. The Ashaninka Ancestral Wisdom. Their Sensory Awareness
An indigenous ethnic group, the Ashaninka live in the central forest of the Ucayali department in the Atalaya province of eastern Peru. The children learn not only from practice but also through feeling and listening. The Ashaninka children do not learn through theory but by daily practice from an early age: the boys still barely […]
Father Manuel João: “I love life and I like to repeat that life is beautiful!”
Father Manuel João Pereira Correia, a Comboni missionary, has been living for 13 years with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disease he tries to tackle with missionary spirit, serenity and the “gift of a smile”. How did your missionary vocation come about? “My missionary vocation… was born with me! Ever since I was a child, […]
Vocation Story. Brother Lwanga. To be a good journalist and a good missionary
Bro Lwanga Kakule Silusawa is a Comboni missionary brother working in our magazine Afriquespoir in Kinshasa, DR Congo. Bro Lwanga has embraced journalism as a tool for spreading the gospel and transforming society. This is his testimony. In September of this year, I will be forty years old; twelve of my years have been religious […]
Bible & Mission: Mission of the few or the concern of all?
“You will be my witnesses.” – Read Acts of the Apostles 1: 6–8 “Missionary” and “apostle” are terms that come from Latin and Greek, respectively, and they mean “sent” and “envoy”. We think that these words evoke far distant lands and poor people and are the concern of missionaries or other people that go or […]
Oral Literature: Why Spiders Are Always Found in the Corners of Ceilings
Egya Anansi was a very skilful farmer. He, with his wife and son, set to work one year to prepare a farm, much larger than any they had previously worked. They planted in it yams, maize, and beans—and were rewarded by a very rich crop. Their harvest was quite ten times greater than any they […]
Herbs & Plants: Bridelia micrantha, a robust medicinal plant
It has been identified as one of the few plant species that should be integrated in the domestication process in farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa to support the medicinal, nutritional and income security of local communities. Bridelia micrantha (Hochst.) Baill. is a small to medium semi-deciduous to deciduous tree up to 20m in height with […]
Hakuna Movement
Hakuna is setting the lives of many young people ablaze, inside and outside the confines of the Church, through prayer, music, formation and service to those in need. The name Hakuna which means ‘there is not’, in Swahili, came as a shortened form of Hakuna matata (no problem). Chosen by chance, it ended up embodying […]
Mission diary: Giving meaning to life
The Mexican Comboni Sister Lilia Karina Navarrete Solís, talks to us about her vocational and missionary journey. When I was small, my mother and aunt often took me to a Salesian chapel near our house. I was part of the choir and on one occasion a lady came to tell us about an African country […]
Bible & Mission. We become Christian
“In Antioch, the disciples were for the first time, railed Christians.” (Read Acts of the Apostles 11: 19-30) In the beginning, the Apostles were addressing Jews and proselytes of Jerusalem. Later, some Hellenists (emigrant Jews) who had converted to Christianity, brought the Gospel to Judea and Samaria. Very soon, the persecution made them move to […]
Oral Literature. Chameleon Wins a Wife
One day ‘Frog’ swam to the surface of a little pond and glanced around him for a place to rest: “The water is cold today”, he complained, “it would do me good to bask in the sun for a little while.” And so, he left the water and crouched on a warm, flat stone at […]