“You will be a gift to the ‘young church’ of the Diocese of Makeni in Sierra Leone”. These were the words uttered by one of the well-wishers during my sending-off party before leaving Philippines for Sierra Leone. As I’m writing this article, these words re-echo in my mind, strengthening my conviction that Religious are truly a blessing/gift to the community. By blessing/grace I mean, in this context, God’s loving presence to us. With this article I’d like to share how I look at my presence and my life of consecrated man: I consider myself a gift to the Christian communities and to the Xaverian communities of Sierra Leone.

I came here to Sierra Leone on the night of June 23rd, 2008 not as an ordained priest. At the time I had just completed my Theology. I realized, at the anguish of that first night that was going to be the first of the many departures to come. Sadness to leave families and friends was there, but there was also a deep joy at knowing that I was welcome to another home: Sierra Leone,  and to another family, my new family: the Xaverians working there

“God’s loving presence in the Christian communities”

My very first assignment in Sierra Leone was in Madina, with the Tonko Limba tribe. People say “First love never dies”. It is really true. Being a brother at that time I was able to visit new places, to engage myself into new activities, and encounter new cultures, in spite of not being yet fluent in their local language.

I was put in charge of few Christian villages that were not yet “spoiled” by modern technologies and mentalities  of the Western world . I begun my work with preparing people for the “Sacrament of Initiation. This task became my main activity at that time. Every evening I used to visit  a different village. The light in the chapel was provided by a bulb operated by a car-battery. Evening-time was the right time for the villagers because all the household chores and the works on the farms  were already accomplished.

I taught them the three dimensions of our faith: when faith is first known, then lived and finally celebrated. Catechesis with  the people had some funny, and also some dramatic moments. One evening while I was teaching the children the “Joyful mysteries” a girl leading the prayer announced proudly: “The second joyful mystery: Mary visits her cousin Queen Elizabeth”. One not so funny instance was when a girl, who was about to be baptized after a year of preparation, by me when his father drove her was dragged out from the chapel by her father because soon she to be married to a Muslim.

During my almost three years long stay in the village of Madina I didn’t put up structures for people to remember me. I didn’t pay school fees for students to praise  me. I tried to focus, instead, on building relationships with the children, youth and adult. This was possible by visiting them, making them feel important, by “wasting time” with them. Sometimes, it is the ministry of presence, of simply being there that matters to people.

God’s loving presence in the Schools

When I came back to Sierra Leone as a priest last 2011 I was assigned to Mongo Bendugu, at that time, newly opened Xaverian-community. Alongside with the ordinary ministry and the celebration of Sacraments I was luckily given the chance to teach at the local Secondary School. I was given to teach a subject that I hated when I was a student myself: Mathematics. In that specific context was unusual to see a priest teaching a non-religious subject. I did willingly since it was that “unusual” that could attract youth to Christianity later on.

It turned out that my presence at the school did not to convert students, but it was beneficial to bringing the Christian ethics into the teaching and administrative staff of the school. Every Monday at the School assembly I used to give a small reflection on values that Christians and Muslims share;  most of the students were Muslims.

Most of my students hated Math. For some it was a cursed subject, something that they had to do, kind of a daily “cross”. Like any other cross when it is carried together it became lighter with the passing of time. I taught Math to Form I and II students, three times a week. I started with the very basic knowledge in Mathematics. I prepared quizzes and assignments, not to mention the daily Math games.

At the beginning my different approach to Mathematics was looked upon by them as an extra burden to carry but when they came to realize that I was being “professional”, then the atmosphere changed. The success of a teacher is not when students tell you “Teacher you are good”, but when they say: “Teacher, I am good. I understand the lesson now.” I didn’t receive a  salary from the government; but the smiles on their faces and their shouts: “a get am” (I got it), were enough reward to me.

After nearly three years in Mongo Bendugu I was asked, by my superior, to leave the “bush” for the city. Departure from my friends was not that easy for me: I had started loving their culture, the people and the environment in general I was now asked to move on. Pain at leaving the parish was very strong in me, but I realized that the mission is not mine. I am just a servant of this mission. Wherever I am asked to go, I will be serving the same mission of God and of the Church. All of our assignments should be undertaken with a certain amount of joy. I learned on my skin that one has to be available for mission. Not to hold on to it. I remembered that superiors have a difficult task; In resisting to the new assignment I am making their job harder. I run the risk that in keeping resisting changes, I am resisting the good that our lovely God has in mind for me.

God’s loving presence in times of Ebola

When, around the end of July 2014, the Ebola outbreak reached Makeni City, in the Northern part of Sierra Leone, some of my relatives, friends and also confreres from other parts of the world, asked me about the situation some were worried and suggested that I should go to somewhere a safer place.

The first time I learned about this virus was in January 2014. At that time I was not much worried because I thought this was one of the many short-lived viruses. Unfortunately, that was not the case: as at present, the virus has already killed over 1, 000 plus people.

The first Ebola victim who passed away here in Makeni City was from St. Conforti Parish where I am presently working as Assistant Parish priest.

When I heard that an Ebola case was just around the corner I began to panic to the point of upset stomach, for some days, and sleepless nights for almost a month. The fear of contracting the deadly virus was great. Sharing information among confreres helped us to grow in the knowledge of the virus.  Openness to others’ feelings, even if negative like fears, anxieties and worries among our community members etc. helped a lot to lessen personal concerns and uncertainties that all of us were experiencing. This moment of crisis has become a golden opportunity for our Xaverian communities to foster friendship and mutual trust, seeking together a solution to it.

The joyous fraternity among us, especially at the Religious House, helped me to come out of my “nest” and find the courage to go to people who were in quarantine.

My first encounter with possible Ebola patients was on 17^th August 2014. I remember clearly the day very because, for the first time in my life, I had to take a shower with Dettol disinfectant after visiting quarantined houses.

The first visit was dreadful experience for me. Here is what I wrote on my journal on that day: “There are 12 people still alive and 13 were suspected to have died of Ebola. People inside the house have been sleeping on the bare ground and only today did they received mattresses. Soldiers and policemen armed with guns were there to ensure that people stay in their respective houses. I had the chance to talk to one member of the family who is in quarantine (for prudence the conversation was done from a distance). He was traumatized by the situation because the 13 of the victims were all relatives of his. He was crying while telling me that some of his relatives were taken by the medical people to the treatment center and never returned. They died of Ebola. Some members died in the house without the medical confirmation of whether they died of Ebola or not. He strongly believes that they died not of Ebola but of hunger. Three days ago, a two-year old boy died, also. They buried him on the following day. The lack of food and clean drinkable water add more tension to the families in quarantine. This man believed some of his relatives would have been saved if there had been proper feeding possibilities. Their neighbors prohibited them to take water from the wells because they were afraid that they could contract the dreadful disease. They are depending on rain-water or on some generous friends who give them water to drink and to bathe.” Out of twelve people who were still alive during my visit, only five survived: three children, one grandmother and a man. They are all safe now.

 This time of crisis can become a time of “grace” when we become instruments of God’s love to all, not as an individual, only but, must so, as a community . Fr. Jerome Pistoni and I visited, as their Fathers,  the families of the Parish who were  in quarantine.  The purpose of our visit was not to distribute goods straightaway, but to pray with them and to find out how they were doing and ask them about what they were given by the government and NGO, in order to find out what their real needs were.  We were able to involve St. Conforti’s parishioners to be sympathetic with their suffering brothers and sisters in quarantine. A time of crisis like this,  calls for mutual help, setting aside our natural selfishness, becoming more altruistic.  It is a time to show a love that is stronger than the Ebola virus. Our parishioners have showed their “nearness” to those in quarantine by donating money, bags of rice, salt, onions, sugar, condiments, charcoal, and fruits. With these contributions our parishioners have become “partners with God” in consoling sick people.

I was asked many times why I was remaining? My reason for remaining here in Sierra Leone is to be with our people, to continue to give them hope, and to assure them that their fears and tears are just ephemeral. At the time when some Religious men and almost all the NGO workers had started to leave the country, a parishioner came to me and begged me not to leave. She told me, “Father your presence gives us the hope that things will be soon be better.” On another occasion, when I visited one of the quarantined houses, a bystander said to the man in quarantine, “the poroto (white man) is still here, so it is still okay.” My presence in Sierra Leone does not cure the sick people, does not make the dead come back to life, but it is a simple and humble offer  of hope and love.

Conclusion:

We consecrated people are considered by our people as gift or grace to their communities. We are answer to their lonely prayer. To them we are God’s sent angels. Our challenge is not to disappoint them, and most especially Jesus who called us to this service.

We can consider ourselves gifts to our Congregation and to our respective communities in Sierra Leone. My confreres, who are my friends in the Lord, are the recipients of our “apostolate.” Someone has said that the members of our communities are our first apostolate. How strange if we feed the beggar  who is at the door, and not the confrere in the house with me. I have the right to consider myself a gift to my confreres and the other way round.

May this Year of Consecrated Life be a year to remind ourselves that we are a gift to one another. One famous Tagalog song goes: “Walang sinuman ang nabubuhay para sa sarili lamang”: “nobody lives for himself alone” or in the words of Thomas Merton: “No Man Is an Island”!