In the town of Dolisie, in the southern Congo-Brazzaville, the Orthodox orphanage “Agios Efstathios” has been operating since 2007. This institution currently accommodates 24 young boys aged 6 to 17 years old, whose needs are attended to by 10 paid employees. The mission of the institution is the protection and Christian upbringing of the runaway children, always under the social principles, values and beliefs of their homeland, as long as they are in harmony with the timeless imperatives of the Gospel. As future Orthodox citizens of the country, children are trained in respect for parents, teachers, family and social hierarchy, sacred and sacred things, customs, traditions and ancestral traditions.
However, this is not an easy task. The lack of a family environment from the very beginning of their lives, the different origins of each, age and intellectual heterogeneity, the communal lifestyle, the psychologically complex stage of adolescence, modern influences and the Western way of life sometimes create problems in their education and behaviour. Love, dialogue, rules of conduct, necessary boundaries, order and discipline, always in the light of the Orthodox faith, are the criteria for the education of young orphans, not forgetting the difficult moments of childhood friction and youthful tensions. Apart from these essential issues, running an institution in Congo-Brazzaville is a complex process. The Republic of Congo-Brazzaville, as a former French colony, follows the legal standards of France. Consequently, legal payroll, uninterrupted payment of social security contributions for the benefit of the workers and strictly guarded labour rights, occasional amendments to the legislation and periodic state inspections ensure that the orphanage can operate legally.
The recent visit on 9 August by the Exc. Minister of Social Affairs Ms. Emilienne Raoul, who publicly expressed her congratulations for the excellent living conditions, as well as the delivery to the director of the document renewing the operating licence, confirms that the orphanage is on the right track. However, the proper functioning of the orphanage also requires large sums of money. The complete feeding of the 24 children with three meals a day, their clothing and clothing, school expenses, the purchase of medicines, the maintenance of the building complex, the salaries of the employees, and also the fees for the technical schools for the older children to attend are an unending concern for the pastor. Securing the total amount of 3,000 euros required monthly to meet the above expenses, in addition to the paternal anxiety for the upbringing and orthodox education of the young orphans, constitute a constant struggle for the Bishop.
It is easy to see that words of praise, expressions of sympathy and understanding, wishes for progress, strengthening and fruitfulness of this struggle, despite the good intentions of those wishing, are not enough.
- Who can understand the agony of the Pastor, when the night finds him anxiously praying to God for the revelation of that practical solution which will at least ensure the food of these 24 children…?
- Who can feel his mental pain when he begs for a little money for the orphans, but receives negative answers because of the existing economic hardship?
- How many souls understand that an Orthodox orphanage is not only a place of survival and protection of children’s beings, but a literal Christian family in which the child must be formed into a responsible Orthodox person and an honest member of society…?
The loving financial support of the Orthodox Foreign Missionary Brotherhood supports the needs of our young children in part. But despite their generosity, this blessed support is not enough, since the expenses are constant, the times are hard and the needs of the Orthodox Foreign Mission around the world are numerous and pressing. My brothers and sisters, allow me to express the humble opinion that the mission is not a romantic story or an adventurous narrative, nor a field of experience in Africa, which is always tempting in terms of its natural beauty. Mission is a common task of the Church body under heaven, in accordance with the Sunday discourses, the Apostolic and Patristic tradition and the two thousand years of Church history, order and experience, without distinction. “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!” And because Christ the King on the Day of Judgment will judge us on the basis of love for our fellow man, based on His words “I have begged and you have given me food, I have eaten and you have fed me, I have eaten and you have fed me, I have been a stranger and you have taken me in, I have been naked and you have taken me in…” (Matt. v. 35-39), let us honestly reflect on the extent of the love that dominates our hearts, a love which, if we truly accept it as a way of being and a natural consequence of the Orthodox disposition, knows how to transcend distances of kilometres, physical obstacles, economic circumstances and individual priorities. After all, ‘God loves a giver who is pure’ (2 Corinthians i.7).
Brazzaville Panteleimon
