GIRLS'
EDUCATION in SOUTH SUDAN
STRIVING HARD
by
Elena Balatti and Mary Nyaluit
In Upper Nile Region, South Sudan, up today
there is not a single Secondary School if we exclude Bentiu, town
that has been under the control of Khartoum Government since the time
of war. Generally speaking, access to education is all but easy, with
a strong discriminatory bias when it comes to gender. The experience
of Mary Nyaluit is an example in point of how incredibly difficult
it can be to get ahead towards the goal, but it is also a witness
that strong will pay.
A chance for education
In South Sudan few women are educated and even now very few girls
are going to school. This is not actually because of the long civil
war in the country but because my people have a very strong culture
that does not easily give ladies an opportunity to education. Girls
are meant to be fed well, grow soon and get married. As I see it,
girls are the source of wealth for the family because the payment
of the dowry is high. Since I was a young girl I had the dream of
becoming somebody in life, but this could be achieved only through
education. I started primary education in my home village, Leer, until
I reached P 6. However, there were not good teachers and learning
was so poor. By then the Comboni Missionaries had come to Leer and
I was very close to the Sisters. One of them was Sr. Giovannina, an
Italian lady. She developed an interest in me and wanted me to go
for a better school. She asked me if my parents could allow me to
leave my country for Kenya to have a better education there. My parents
did not refuse….
Leaving Sudan next
TO CARE
AND IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF LIFE
Ku samalala moyo - Step by step
by
Laura Mejia Mejia
The life of the majority of women in George
Compound, one of the poorest and marginalized areas of Lusaka (Zambia)
is marked by illiteracy, unemployment, and sickness, especially HIV/AIDS.
After gathering together to celebrate Mother's Day, 50 women members
of the Women Council decided that the celebration of the gift they
had received from God, to care for life "Ku samalala moyo" ( Cinyanja
language) had to continue throughout the year and had to make an impact
on their daily life. They decided to meet monthly to deepen their
faith so as to be able, step by step, to improve the quality of their
life at different levels: spiritually, emotionally and materially.
On the first meeting they were helped by two competent women on Development
Education Programme in order to start their process of becoming transformers
of reality through their creative activities. This first meeting was
a stepping-stone that will pave the way for further growth meant to
lead the women to express the full potentialities of their "feminine
genius".
GOD
is LOVE
by Dominic Dipio
Commentary
on Benedict XVI's Inaugural Encyclical
Introduction
Belonging to the discipline of literary criticism and value judgment
of works of art, I am becoming more and more reliant on the physical
impact a text has on me to value it as good. The most obvious of these
physical traits are tears. A beautifully crafted text, whether literary
or filmic, effortlessly affects me with streams of quiet tears. There
are several reasons why such texts affect me so:
- It touches on a profound desire in me: a desire, perhaps I am vaguely
aware of; a desire for something greater!
- While satisfying a certain desire in me, it challenges me to extend
myself, to rise above my limitedness, to focus on what is possible
to achieve in my life's journey: in the context of this text, to rise
from the sensual to a higher level, to the spiritual level of things.
- When the text makes me realize that in spite of everything, things
could be beautiful if I immerse myself qualitatively into love….
Love that passing through the sensual transcends it: love that integrates
the sensual, longs to merge with God and with entire humanity; love
that is the merge between eros and agape! God!
This is what the Letter evokes in me: a desire for the higher ideals
which are achievable because inherently we are endowed with the capacity
to search and journey in this direction of perfection as we are created
in the image and likeness of the perfect God who is love! I will limit
myself to the first part of the text, which in effect, is the core
of the whole document.
The Contextual Value of The Letter
The Contextual Value of The Letter
The text, though not new in its theme is timely as a lucid teaching
on love in its integral definition, in the context of our times when
love has been so misused, dichotomized, reduced, fragmented…. It is
a teaching that integrates love and places it squarely at the center
of the human experience as a saving gift. Love, in all its dimensions:
whether it is between man and woman, between humans and God, or love
of friendship among fellow human beings offers a glimpse of an "irresistible
promise of happiness." It offers a foretaste of the Divine, and a promise
"of infinity, eternity-a reality far greater and totally other than
our everyday existence." This makes love, in its varied manifestations,
indeed, a single reality.
I find the Pope's explanation of the difference
in unity between eros and agape captivating: the two
are different, and yet united: indeed, a continuum, for the two parts
needs each other to exist.
The experience of Christianity is lived in the body (eros),
which must journey beyond itself to an agape love relationship. Agape
is where one encounters the other, as authentic love must be beyond
self: must move towards the other and towards God! The Christian concept
of love, therefore, does not turn its back on eros, but rather sets
it on a journey of purification… of unending desire for perfection
towards agape, which is concern and care for the other. In its selflessness,
such a love is a journey towards God, the one who is perfect in love.
This process of purification, far from rejecting eros as "poisonous",
must renounce it in order to "heal it and restore its true grandeur….
Only when both dimensions are truly united, does man attain his full
stature. Only thus is love -eros-able to mature and attain its authentic
grandeur." In a time like ours when eros has been commodified and
fragmented, Christians should be happy to be reminded of the dignity
of their eros. For, authentic love is one: it moves towards the other
in charity, it moves towards God! Agape, in its latent form, is always
present in eros; for no human being, however selfish, can experience
love in himself/herself alone: he/she must both give and receive love.
This is our destiny. Eros is rooted in
the very nature of humans as seekers….
In concrete terms, man seeking woman: the two need each other to be
complete. This text, in its integrity ennobles eros, which is often
thought of in negative sense.
This letter is timely because our contemporary
culture is not far different from that of the Greeks who idealized
eros as "intoxication" as a "divine frenzy", as an end
in itself. Today, this insipid aspect of love, as eros is catching
up with modern cultures. It is not uncommon to find in the cities
of the world, not excluding those in Africa, people worshipping at
the altar of eros. Prostitution that
dehumanizes the whole person is becoming in some countries an optional
way of life! It takes only a glance the media, both print and
visual, to evidence how the human body is represented in a dismembered
manner as object of eros. The media use at liberty, especially the
female body parts in advertisement, to market its mass products, thus
reducing women to a commercial object! Not even the exploitation of
young girls are excluded from this craze of the advertising industry.
This, indeed, is a corruption of eros when women are predominantly
represented as sex objects!
Sex that has been disfranchised from the unity between eros and agape
cannot be love. It is an abuse … it is selfishness… it is degradation.
Real ecstasy, the Holy Father reminds, cannot be found in eros alone.
For it to be an ascent towards ecstasy, it must exist in its unity
as eros-agape whose rightful home is in monogamous marriage: "Evidently,
eros needs to be disciplined and purified if it is to provide not
just fleeting pleasure, but a certain foretaste of the pinnacle of
our existence, of that beatitude for which our whole being yearns."
There is so much truth, beauty and good in
what the Pope is accentuating because we live side by side with people
who have grown to hate their bodies, on realizing how it has been
abused, to a point of wanting to take their lives. Their feeling is
understandable because inherent in humans there is a profound desire
to experience eros in its integrated form. This is our ultimate grandeur.
So much unhappiness wreaks humans when eros is experienced fragmentally.
The evidence of this unhappiness is everywhere in our modern, so called
progressive, cultures. God's relationship with human beings is the
perfect example of how he desires humans to relate among themselves.
He loves all his creatures, but each with a personal love (eros and
agape linked)! God derives particular pleasure, ecstasy, in each and
in all at the same time. His love is elective, but for the sake of
the whole: "Among all the nations he chooses Israel and loves her-but
he does so precisely with a view to healing the whole human race.
God loves, and his love may certainly
be called eros, yet it is also totally agape;" and this is also a
forgiving love (Hos. 11: 8-9). This relationship is described in terms
of passionate love between man and woman: It is a relationship of
"unity in which both God and man remain themselves and yet become
fully one;" just like the unity and difference between eros and agape.
In this relationship between God and Israel, "eros is thus supremely
ennobled, yet at the same time it is so purified as to become one
with agape."
The perfect embodiment of this love is Jesus.
He is, in fact, the incarnate love of God, whose love took flesh and
became completely selfless and oriented towards the other. It is a
love of renunciation of self for the other: a "turning of God against
himself in which he gives himself in order to raise man up and save
him." This is what accepting the cross means! Being followers of Christ
means to give oneself for the other: one cannot be meaningfully in
union with Christ without selflessly giving himself/herself for the
other. Communion with Christ must draw one out of the self, towards
the other! Again this is not anything beyond our means; love has been
given as a commandment not because it is an obligation enforced on
us; rather because it is in our very nature, a given, inherent in
us to respond to love. So, it is, in the final analysis, not
a commandment, but a pleasure to love! But do we live consciously
of this pleasure? Much as this is an inherent given, love of the other
requires the application of our "will and intellect". This pleasure
of loving remains a big challenge in
our day-to-day living. That is why integral love as expounded in this
document remains an unending journey towards perfection. How many
Christians are there in the world? How many of them can claim to be
in love with God? The yardstick for this experience of union with
God is joy in self-giving! And this can happen when we abandon ourselves
fully into the hands of God. It is this abandonment that will make
us see in the other something of the image of God whom we claim to
love; just as without the love of the other, my relationship with
God cannot be anything but trite. Surely, the face of the world would
change if all those who profess Christianity heighten this sense of
loving in their daily lives. Because of this challenge, the talk about
love is forever old and yet forever new! What is consistent and emphatic
in the entire document is the duo relationship, which in essence is
unity in diversity: eros/agape, love of God/love of man, love of God/love
of neighbor; all of which present love as one!
Conclusion
Nobody tires of listening about love, especially in our contemporary
time, when materialism has sharpened and reawakened a desire for love
in its authentic form - God, because this longing is lodged in the
human heart! As the genesis and end of all things, as the force that
moves the world, it is only appropriate that the Holy Father begins
his pontificate with a teaching such as this that will profoundly
touch the hearts of the Faithful. With this Letter, one sees the Pontiff
in a new light: from the impression of him being distant and 'dogmatic',
Pope Benedict strikes a cord of familiarity every human person can
identify with. This Letter, in my view, will admit the Pope into the
hearts of Christians as their loving father, teacher and spiritual
director; and perhaps, as a man who deeply understands them. This
Letter, in my view, is bound to re-awaken the deepest desire in humankind
and re-orient it in its journey towards Love - God! Personally, the
Letter has renewed my energies and desire to be on this journey towards
love. I wish the encyclical would not be treated as a passing event,
lost in the midst of thousands of literatures that swamp us! I wish
it would be systematically discussed and taught at Basic Christian
Community level so that all may taste of its flavor and thereby draw
strength to journey towards love - the one thing that saves the world!
SOUTH SUDAN
The silver jubilee of a courageous congregation
by Bernadette Bayote
December 2005 marked the 25th anniversary of the foundation of one
of the few Sudanese religious congregations. The tormented history
of the MSBVM simply reflects the tormented history of their country.
The actual celebration of the silver jubilee has not yet taken place
because of insecurity in Western Equatoria province, where the Sisters'
historical roots are. In spite of all the difficulties, this little
group of Sudanese women did not give up and they are full of hope
and determined to continue their service.
The congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(MSBVM) started in 1977 as the result of the amalgamation of the Sisters
of our Lady of Victories, from Tombora and the Sisters of our Lady
of Nazareth, from Wau, both towns in South Sudan.
Between 1987 and '89 three communities were opened in South Sudan,
but in the same year 1989 because of the war the Sisters in Juba had
to close the community and went to Khartoum.
Again, in 1990, the members of Yambio and Meridi communities were
called to the Mother House because of the war. In the month of November
the MSBVM left Sudan, their country, and fled to the Republic of Central
Africa.
It was the time when the SPLA attacked the Western Equatoria Province
and, fearing the crossfire, we took off for Central Africa. We were
scared and very much longed to move ahead since we had so many girls
with us. Eventually we all reached Obo/Mboki refugee camp, in January
1991.
Life in Central Africa was very difficult at the beginning. We did
not have houses for accommodation. We settled in the compound of the
little church. We then decided to build better huts for ourselves
since we were sleeping under granaries, tents or in the church. We
started by cutting grass. To get it we had to go deep into the forest
where wild animals such as lions, leopards, buffaloes could be heard
at a very short distance. Within five to six months we had our huts
ready.
In February 1993 the Superior General of the Comboni Sisters with
two sisters visited us in Mboki and said they were willing to come
to our help for the spiritual and professional training of the Sisters.
The following month, March 1993, the first group of MSBVM reached
Uganda and settled in Kampala. From then on we continued to arrive
in different shifts and in 1996 we finally settled in Namugongo, Bakhita
convent, where we currently are. In 2002 we were able to re-open a
community in Yambio, South Sudan, which event marked our going back
home after many years of displacement.
We are now very happy to celebrate our Silver Jubilee: it marks 25
years of difficulties, problems, sufferings and anxieties, but above
all it marks the loving kindness of our God. He who called us
has a plan for us and for the church in Sudan that we want to serve
with a life of humble service and self-sacrifice according to our
charism.
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