LOOKING AT THE PAST WITH GRATITUDE

Looking at the Past with Gratitude: Please, share with us a life-giving event you have lived with MSOLA during the last 6 years.

As I look at the past I am very grateful, especially for the transformative and formative time I had in the novitiate. Some months have passed since I left the novitiate and I dearly treasure what I lived. This might not be an event but for me it marked me: sharing with Maamalifar on community life and other sharings we had. That encounter to share with my sisters each one, their giftedness and areas of growth. It was not an easy exercise to do and especially to point to my formators areas I felt it was of help to check on. It really took each one of us courage to present to the other the areas of growth. For me it helped me a lot. I came to discover many things about myself some which I did not know and also I learnt the importance of the sense of belonging, feeling at ease in the community where I can approach my sister and we share. The beauty of it is, I could feel the difference in relationships after that encounter. The spirit of freedom in sharing and easiness in approaching each other developed. All that we lived is helping me a lot in community living.

Anna Nduku Muia

*****

"I am so grateful for the day I was accepted to make my first religious commitment on 30/04/2015. It was such a life giving even that gathered many MSOLA, beyond my expectations, to witness my commitment. It has marked me as I entered in my new family with a sense of acceptance."

 Jane Francis Namaganda

*****

"I lived the last six years in East- Africa Tanzania and Kenya. A life giving event was first the learning of the language i.e English. This has been a very life giving for me with a lot of struggles at the same time, it contributed a lot in my discernment for missionary life. I wasn’t happy at the beginning I was learning at the same time Kiswahili in order to communicate with the people but at the end, this experience created in me a mature understanding of a MSOLA trying to imagine how our first sisters lived before. Today, I am grateful to the Congregation for giving me that chance!

Secondly, the experience of our sisters making their first and final vows and our brothers for their oaths and ordination. In these events, I have realized how we are really one family, the fraternity becomes real. There is a lot of collaborations, solidarity and people come to know us and what we are there for. Some of these events bring more understanding to the people of what religious life is all about and their call to participate in our commitment because they are there to witness and to give their support (spiritual and material).

Thirdly, the meeting among ourselves from different communities. These meetings have been a life-giving for me whether in the same country, different countries and even the first meeting I attended for the Temporary Professed Sisters. These are the meetings which brings  us together and know each other, to share what we are living in our corners and encourage each other. They help me to understand that we have something in common though living far from each other. What a great gift!

In conclusion, they are the main ones but there are many more experiences which were a life-giving in different ways."

Fides Mbabarempore

*****

"Looking at the past with gratitude: In 2014 November to 2015 February, I was in Zambia, Lusaka Community doing my immersion. Something that was very life giving to me was that every last Sunday of the month, we used to meet as Lavigerie family (M.Afra and MSOLA) in the evenings in one of the communities just for socialization. We would share a cup of tea and some snacks, we would share jokes, prayer; really we used to share life. This united us as one family and I will never forget this beautiful experience."

Redempta Kabahweza    

*****

• The reconfiguration process during which we have seen the birth of the team leaders.
• Meeting of the Temporary Professed Sisters in Dar-es-Salaam.
• My first appointment in Dar-es-Salaam, in Tandale, I felt that I was living the charism to the full.

Vickness Nangogo Muleya

*****

"One of the great events that I have lived was the Temporary Professed Sisters' meeting, which took place in Tanzania. It gave me the opportunity to know some of my sisters who I didn’t know and also to learn from others what they are living which for me was an enriching moment of deepening my commitment. Another event I have lived is the intercommunity meetings within the Entity which was also very enriching. The meeting has in some way helped me to understand a bit about the situations in our Entity which touches the whole Congregation. Also, I’ve always look back at the formation I have gone through all this time and which has made me who I am today. I am very grateful, for me this is the greatest event in my life with MSOLA."

Edith Numgnenuore Yendaw

*****

• "Making my first vows in the Congregation was an important life giving event for me.
• Coming to an English speaking country and learning new languages and discovering new cultures and ways of living it’s a blessing for me.
• Reflecting together in the community about our new structures.
• Having this year an inter community meeting with our Entity leaders in Zambia.
• Starting my apostolate in our project in Tikondane."

Ferroudja Chabane

*****

• The Reconfiguration process;
• The Temporary Professed Sisters' meeting;
• The inter- community meeting in Zambia;
• The day of my first vows.

Adeline Furaha Nkata

*****

• "Reconfiguration: I was happy to be part of the process of this reconfiguration, to meet sisters from different parts of our mission, lo listen to our superiors and the sharing that went on.
• The meeting with the Sisters of Temporary Vows in Dar- es -Salaam helped me to recommit myself in various activities of my community and of the Congregation at large; such as participating in reflections sent by our leaders, writing articles, doing vocation animation... I stopped waiting for someone to do what I can do myself. Whatever I am in charge of I fulfilled it with generosity. It was a life giving for it helped me to share my joys and pains with others. I found that I was not alone facing challenges be it in the relationship with accompanists or in community life. We gave each other words of encouragement, of hope and trust in Jesus who called us. We were encouraged to open our eyes to our reality for deep discernment especially during the guided retreat."

 Marie Ange Ndayishimiye

*****

• "I am very grateful to MSOLA for who I am today. I became a more mature woman. I have grown in my relationship with God, as a woman apostle, as a leader, as a responsible steward. MSOLA widen my horizons.
• Very meaningful and deep was for me the day when I made my first vows in the Congregation and later on when every year I was renewing my Yes.
• Very enriching was for me the meeting for Temporary Professed Sisters in Dar- es -Salam. I could go back to our charism, our life together as MSOLA and to know more our religious family.
• I am also very grateful to Msola for how much my family has grown as well since I joined the Congregation."    

Anna Wójcik 

*****

"I will not go far but I would like to share with you the fruitful meeting I had in Nairobi in November. We were the sisters who are in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda with our Entity leaders(ECA). It opened my mind and helped me to know more our realities in our Congregation and what can help us to move on, where we need to put an effort. I am very grateful for the creativity of our sisters who organized that kind of meetings and to all of the sisters who made their best to contribute to it." 

Priscille Nisubire

*****

"All that I live and do it’s because of MSOLA, because they sent me here for the mission. I share the joys and sorrows of the orphans I work with. After one year they go to Secondary School or Vocational Training, for me its life giving to witness their growth."

Agnes Waweru Wangeci

*****

A life giving event I have lived with Msola during the last six years was our meeting in Dar-es-Salaam, in which I not only participated but also I lived values such as: being co-creator with God, stewardship… This meeting helped me have a greater sense of belonging and it created a more sense of unity. I was happy to contribute and to receive. I am grateful to see it fruits as I take my responsability such as creating awareness wherever I am."

Hélène Kavula Bikwe

*****

"The sense of belonging has grown through the experiences I have had with the sisters in the different communities where I have been. I have always carried with me as my base the Lusaka experience. It has been a base of my sense of belonging. Being the youngest in the community I was helped to integrate myself in the community and the life of the Congregation. For this am grateful that I had lived this experience to grow in the sense of belonging. It has been a point of reference in the past six years and it is what keeps giving meaning to my vocation journey."

Linah Siabana