It is only a few months since I settled in the diocese of Burundi & Rwanda. We are grateful to the Ruler Christ for what we receive and we want to hope that we will be good deacons of His.
Holy Church and Primary School
Our Church was given enough land and today there is a church and a primary school. The church is large and every Sunday it is filled with believers. Catechisms and meetings are held in the church. We want to hope that there will be brethren who could contribute so that a building can be erected for a priest’s office and for Sunday school and whatever other activities for the children.
The school is attended by about seven hundred children. There is no room in the classroom, so half of them go to school in the morning and half in the afternoon. Meanwhile, from this September, a new educational reform is being implemented and Elementary Education is being increased for another two years. This practically means the need to add four more classrooms to our school and similar toilets. We have already been duly informed for months that the school is in danger of being closed if we do not soon comply with the requirements of the reform policy. It is easy to see the scale of the problem.
Staffing problems
A big problem for the pastoral, catechetical and liturgical life of the parish is the absence of persons with dedication and knowledge, the lack of infrastructure and the costs of travel. The parish priest himself faces a problem, as he commutes back and forth to the capital, where he lives. As for persons who are able to support activities, especially catechetical activities, we have in mind our old students, friends and brothers, who we can invite to assist in our work. However, in this case, we have no place to install them, how to maintain them and how to move them. The best solution would be to build a presbytery, since there is land . Ένα μεγάλο μέρος της γης έχει καταπατηθεί από ακτήμονες. Οι αρχές μάς είπαν ότι μόνη λύση και διέξοδος είναι η σταθερή περίφραξη. Οφείλουμε να περιφράξουμε με τοίχο.
The truth is that the land is large and we don’t have the money. So, we become at the mercy of many.
Shortcomings of the school
The place in St. Alexius is rather dry. So many school children are deprived of water. A good thought would be to repair and expand the rainwater harvesting system from the roofs of the buildings to meet the needs of our students. Further, a relatively annual fixed subsidy would alleviate the hunger of the children. Today, they all come to school hungry, leave hungry in the afternoon and at home they are certainly malnourished. On the other hand, it is, we think, understandable that infrequent and occasional soup kitchens only cause problems.
We are sorry to say that, but it is true, we only have a small number of desks and the majority of children sit on the floor. All of them are barefoot, the “richest” ones wear flip-flops and are almost half-naked. One thought was how we could buy a couple of tons of fabric to make them school aprons. We are sorry to report such small needs, but unfortunately for us it is out of our financial reach. Please forgive us.
We are not the only passengers
We did not want to write generalities or give information that has no practical value for the brothers who are concerned about the missionary work and the needs of our small diocese. Our predecessors have worked and delivered enough to us. The Lord bless them. We wanted to address issues that fill our minds and hearts. We have laid them before you. We are not possessed by either haste or anxiety. We have full confidence in the Lord of the vineyard. He has assured us that we need not be overwhelmed by anxiety. May we be filled with His love and encouraged by the way of the Fathers and Saints of the Church, a way of sacrifice and devotion in preaching practical love to the brethren. In the ship of the Church we are not the only passengers. Are we not?
† Burundi & Rwanda Innocentius
