AfricaFrom 9 to 16 August, for the fourth time, a week long meeting took place in Algeria, bringing together young adults from many African countries studying in Algeria and who can not come to Taizé.
“A whole week in Algeria having the same experience as in Taizé is really quite something! Because of visa difficulties, for several years it was not possible to invite young Africans studying in Algeria to come to Taizé. Now, it is once again possible to invite a few: three last year and three this year. During their stay in Taizé, they prepared the meeting in Tlemcen and then they returned to Algeria.”
Sarah writes: “The meeting in Tlemcen went very well. We were more numerous than usual; nearly 130 participants of 28 nationalities of which 23 were African. Many who had no experience of Taizé went home with hearts full of joy, renewed in the Lord and in communion with one another.” Bruno: “I had the impression of spending a week at Taizé in France, in all its diversity, in joy, peace, simplicity and fraternal communion.” Yolande: “The two meeting places, Taizé and Tlemcen, begin with a ‘T’, two words of two syllables, the two are set on a hill top and bring together people of divers backgrounds with the common aim of communion with God and one’s neighbour, in all simplicity.”
In the team who led the meeting there were two young women sent by Taizé, to lend a hand, especially with the singing, and also to enable them to discover the reality of the Church there. One of the young people writes about their presence: “We are infinitely grateful for all they brought us. We know that it is not easy to take such risks, we hope that they are back safely, and we hope that they have received from us something that will be of service to them both on a social level and in their Christian life.”
Everyone is very sensitive to the slightest sign of communion that enables them to overcome the isolation in which they live. They listened together to the recording of Brother Alois’s Thursday evening meditation in Taizé, where he speaks of their meeting. Brother Alois also recorded a word of welcome especially for them. One of the priests writes: “The introductory message and listening to the Thursday meditation were beautiful gifts. It was very moving to hear the young people as they took up the song that followed the meditation. We remain in communion. Please pray for us!”
A visit in Spring 2009
At the beginning of Spring, a brother and a friend of the community spent two weeks visiting the Christians of Algeria. Contacts between the Taizé Community and the countries of North Africa are not just recent: even before independence in 1962, a small group of brothers was living in a poor district of the capital, Algiers.
The goal of this visit was thus in keeping with a certain continuity of seeking together with the Algerian Church the sources of trust in the Lord and the signs of hope in the sometimes very complex and difficult situations experienced by the Christians of this country. Continuity was also tangible with what had been lived during the meeting of young people at Nairobi in Kenya, thanks, among other things, to the large representation of young sub-Saharan Africans who are studying in Algeria. The memorable times of the visit were the Lenten meditations organised by the sub-Saharan Christian students and by the pastoral leaders in the dioceses visited.
We have a lasting impression of two aspects of the small, two or three day long meetings, in each of which a hundred young people took part. For one thing, there was the spontaneous and sincere expression of a simple and overflowing joy, which found practical expression both in the warm gestures of welcome and in the songs and dances during the celebrations. Despite all the worries and problems facing these young Africans and their countries, they have not lost the sense of free festivity, which becomes an expression of joy shared between people coming from countries that are very diverse, sometimes even at war with one another.
Another thing that impressed us was the way that those involved were capable of surpassing obstacles during these quite short, but always very intense meetings, which demanded complete involvement from each participant. The house that had been thought barely big enough to lodge a dozen people welcomed twice that number; the kitchen originally planned for a few religious ended up feeding a hundred famished students; and the walls of the chapel seemed to have widened themselves to make space for the songs and dances of young Christians who had come from more than twenty different countries of the African continent. Going beyond our fears and our certainties, that is what awaits us when we let ourselves be jostled; when we leave space for the Creator Spirit – and life bursts forth where it was not expected.
Amid the changes being lived by the Church in Algeria, our visit allowed us to see, at each stopping place, little signs of this life which continues deep down, like the first trickles of Spring when the snows melt. We saw the precarious situation of those preparing for baptism; the ephemeral character of student communities and the assemblies of migrants; the fragile structures of the Church. But we also saw, above all, how each person, at their own level, is invited to surpass themselves so as to follow God. The Letter from Kenya quotes the words of Saint Augustine, this Christian of North Africa: “You were more inward to me than my most inward part; and higher than my highest.” We returned from our visit, hearts full of gratitude for the examples of people surpassing the limits that we had been able to see and live together with our friends.