Africa
The summer is hot in Bhopal, Indore and Jabalapur. In spite of the heat, many youth came from far away from the city, sometimes travelling many hours by bus to get there to take part in the prayer and meeting. They had organised prayer with songs from Taizé. For some this was a quite new experience.
After our visit in MP region, on 27th we arrived in a station called Rajgangpur, in the Sambalpur Diocese in Orissa. Two young people came to welcome us at the station. One of them, Vikram, spent three months in Taizé last year. After greeting us, he explained that there was a problem with the jeep in which we were to travel. After waiting for an hour and a half for repairs, we eventually set off, on a “kacha road” (not very good) through the jungle, and along which sometimes elephants pass.
Finally we reached the village where the meeting was planned. The parish is surrounded by the jungle; most people use the jeep to travel as there is no other means of transport. Three hundred young people had come for the three days programme. We joined in the last day. Many of them had come from far away villages, most of them from Sadhri speaking and Oriya speaking tribal areas. While sharing with the young people I said what a miracle it is that we have come from such a faraway country to meet all you young people, here in the middle of the jungle. The one thing we can do is to pray together.
Our visit was prepared by the Orissa Catholic Youth Movement. Regional team consists of ten people, including a priest and a religious sister. Starting from the north of Orissa and travelling to different dioceses, we finally concluded our visit in Khandamal district, where last year Christians suffered persecution, which is still continuing in some places. People are still living in fear. Most of them are living in camps. It is a really pathetic situation and it hard to imagine how much people have suffered simply because they are Christian. We visited several camps and a few villages and we were able to speak with the people
We continued our journey to neighbouring Rourkela, which is well known for its steel plant. The new bishop of Rourkela, Mgr John Barwa, is also responsible for the Orissa catholic youth movement. While addressing the youth he said, “The brothers have come to lead us closer to God through prayer, with songs from Taizé”.
After our visit in Orissa, we arrived in the metropolitan city of Mumbai. The life here is such a contrast to what we experienced in Orissa. We were staying opposite the Basilica of Mount Mary and from there we could see many people from different religions come to pray and light a candle for their intention.
We visited several religious communities: the Sisters of St Anne, in Borivali, asked us to animate a day session for the postulants of their community. The Sisters of Holy Cross have a hospital for Cancer patients in the terminal stage; they come from very different backgrounds; among them a little girl of 4 years old with a brain tumour. The sisters and volunteers give peace and joy to those in their care.
The Holy Spirit Sisters run a big hospital in the city of Mumbai. The sister in charge of the hospital, Sr Lissy, spent three months in Taizé in 1989. She was so happy see the brothers after such a long time and she asked us would it possible to conduct a prayer for the students who are studying to become nurses and for nurses working in the hospital. There were 250 of them. The young students come from different regions of India to do their studies there and for the most of them this kind of prayer was new experience.
In Versova, a coastal area where there are many fishermen, at the House of Charity, some Italian and Indian sisters run an house for people who are mentally disabled, abandoned children and people affected by down syndrome. When we arrived, the local parish was having a vocation camp for the youth. This enabled us, through combining the two events, to have a meeting with the young people and to encourage them to search for places that are signs of hope. At end of the day, it was beautiful when we had the prayer together with the young people who are mentally disabled. It was real joy hear “Magnificat” sung with such energy!
On Saturday evening, we had prayer at the Orthodox Church in Kalina. Many youth from the Orthodox Church took part, together with young people from Catholic, Protestant, Methodist, and Jacobite parishes; and, quite unique, someone from the Zoroastrian community.
After our visits in Mumbai, we made our way to Goa, where we had two prayers. One in a village of Anjuna; many youths from this deanery came together for a half day session sharing about Taizé and prayer together. Next day, there was a meeting with youth from Central Goa. This was held in in Blessed Joseph Vaz Pilgrim Centre; sharing about Taizé, a short bible reflection and ending the day with prayer with songs from Taizé.
The last stage of our pilgrimage was in a village about 110 Km from Shimoga town in the State of Karnataka. From south Goa, it took us 8 hours by bus to reach the village. Young people from this diocese have been coming to Taizé for many years. The diocesan youth commission had organised a three day programme for the rural youth, with about 100 youths taking part. One evening we had prayer with bhajans in Kannada and songs from Taizé.
All through our visit we felt how God was blessing us with his love, as we met and shared with these people who are living the Beatitudes!