We, young confreres in the second term of our mission, came from all around the world to gather in Kigali, Rwanda, from 31 August to 21 September 2025. We came to share our stories and our life experiences as apostles, to talk about the joys and pains, strengths and weaknesses, worries and hope we have about the Society of the Missionaries of Africa.
We came to share our laughter, our fulfilment in the Eucharist and fraternal meals. We came to break our frustrations and our loads, our rejections and our suffering, our sorrow and our stress in the one Bread of life. We came to know our rising from our failures and our weaknesses, from our wickedness and our struggles, from our betrayal and from the dead. We came to heal our wounds. We came to console, to revive and to motivate ourselves. We have been called to quench the thirsty and to feed the hungry within us and in our communities.
This was a good moment of “retrouvailles”. For some it was the first time to meet while for others it had been long since we parted from our formation houses. So sharing and listening to each other’s missionary story and experiences were indeed the reason and objective for our meeting. This sharing aimed at helping one another to grow more and more in our missionary life and vocation. And revived by the fire of the Holy Spirit, we resolved to live in love and peace with one another for our whole life long; we shall live and sing God’s praises and “Alleluia” shall be our everlasting song. So, our session had a theme entitled “Taking a new look at my life”.
In the first place, our gathering in Kigali as confrères in their second term of mission appeared as a moment of conviviality. We lived such good moments together; moments of recreations as we played games and shared stories while enjoying a glass of wine and groundnuts. This is something that we miss in some communities nowadays. Even the time for meals was not just a moment to fill our bellies and satisfy our hunger. It was a moment where oneness and brotherhood was once again experienced and revived. Our oneness was also expressed in our daily Eucharistic celebrations where we shared the Word of God, we broke the Bread, we drunk and refreshed ourselves with the Blood of Christ. Oh indeed how good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! (Psalm 133: 1).
Other activities that marked our gathering in Kigali were the outings and visits. We visited our parish, Saint Pierre, in Kimisagara and we prayed together with its parishioners. By introducing ourselves to Christians during Mass, we have made our Society known and given living testimony to Christian life about the regions of the world where we live and work as missionaries. We also visited our new parish in Musenyi (outside Kigali) where our confrères are gradually inserting themselves and rendering their services accordingly. On this same day we visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial site. Listening to the stories and observing the portraits about genocide, our hearts were full of emotions and compassion. We prayed for the dead, for the country and for the families which still live in pain and mourn the loss of their dear ones. We prayed for peace in Rwanda.
The other activity we did was the pilgrimage to Kibeho. As pilgrims of hope, we all went to the Kibeho Marian apparitions shrine where we prayed with other pilgrims. There, we were deeply touched by the blind children who animated the Mass through singing and reading the Word of God. So, we made an appeal for support among ourselves and the outcome of our efforts was handed on to the Sisters who run the school for the blinds. They were grateful for our contribution.
Returning to the sharing of our experiences, it was the first part of our meeting in Kigali. Just like the Apostles who came back to recount to Jesus what they did where he had sent them (Lk 10:17), we too came together to share our missionary life experiences. Indeed, the past eight years were full of experiences which, positive or negative, were opportunities of growth for us. We thank God for our communities and for the confrères we have lived with because they have also contributed to our growth. We thank the Society of the Missionaries of Africa which put at our disposal all that we needed for our pastoral and missionary life, our ministry and various activities.
We shared at length about our vocational and formation journey, a time to remember how and why we became missionaries but also the engagement we made on the day of our Oath. It is always good to revisit and retell our stories for it makes us be aware of where we are coming from and where we are heading to. Sharing about missionary life as young confrères, we experienced a feeling of happiness and encouragement as we listened to each one’s successful efforts in mission. Despite the difficulties related to most of our places of pastoral insertion, we felt that the past eight years of our missionary life was generally a success and we thanked God for that. We also thanked God to see that after eight years of our Oath or priestly ordination, all of us are still Missionaries of Africa a part from our deceased brother Moses Simukonde. May He rest in eternal peace!
Our sharing was deeply centered on community life. In fact, from our sharing, we realized that our success or failure in mission is sometimes related to the community, to how we live and treat one another. We recognized that community life is so important for us missionaries of Africa, and in fact, it is because of community life that most of us joined the Society of the Missionaries of Africa. For eight years of our missionary life, we experienced the support and encouragement of our elderly and young brothers that we have lived with. For that, we thank God and our confrères for the mutual support we have experienced.
We, confreres in the second term of mission, are aware that we are part of the communities where we live and we are called to contribute to their wellbeing. So we called upon ourselves to promote human and Christian values in our communities. Moreover, we felt challenged by all the inputs (the topics) we discussed during the session such as the “dynamics of community life,” “affective and sexual maturity,” “addictions and self-care,” “mission as prophetic witness,” “justice and peace,” “finances of the Society,” “dialogue and encounter.” We welcomed these inputs as a calling to a better way of being, living and doing things in our missionary life. We believe that what we have learnt in this session is going to help us to start anew and to see how to be better community members and advocates of good community values.
May our community life become a living testimony and an example of family life worthy imitating.
By: Hilaire P. Nzambi , M.Afr., Martin Kasongo, M.Afr.