In December of 2009 I was sent to work in the newly forming parish of St. Monica, located in Makeni Villa, a suburb of Zambia’s capital and largest city, Lusaka. St. Monica became an independent parish the following year, during 2010. As a still young parish, St. Monica continues to work at building up our structures and infrastructures. Lusaka is one of the fastest developing cities in Southern Africa; like many other burgeoning suburbs, the population of Makeni Villa is growing very fast. The parish was conceived and constructed prior to the rapid growth of the last few years and, as such, St. Monica already struggles to be able to accommodate the faithful. The original hall that has been used for liturgical celebrations quickly became too small to welcome our growing numbers for one Sunday mass. So two masses were deemed necessary: one to be conducted in English, and the other in the local dialect. However we soon realized that this solution did not satisfy the needs of the children of the parish. Their level of understanding was not being addressed, thus they were bored. Moreover, with crowding and a serious lack of benches, the children frequently had to sit on mats—which there were not even enough of, for the 100-plus kids at that time.
These circumstances kept many of the children from even entering the hall for mass. Many would wander about outside, making noise and distracting others. I felt bad seeing the kids of this thriving community flounder: like sheep without a shepherd. Just as our CICM founder Fr. Theophile Verbist had been moved by the situation of abandoned children in China, I was moved by the situation of St. Monica’s children. I felt challenged to do something for the formation of our youngsters. And so, the idea of the Missionary Holy Childhood movement was born at St. Monica parish. Both adults and children welcomed the notion of this initiative as good news.
The first thing we needed was to give the children their own mass, unique to their level. Without many options for a separate venue, we began by utilizing our parish garage for their Sunday celebration. But the group grew very fast, and soon the garage could not fit the 200 or so children attending. We then tried to have open-air celebrations on the premises of the church—but these were often disturbed by the harsh sun or heavy rain. We were looking forward to building a shelter, but have thus far not been able to gather the resources. So, we have actually been gathering in a poultry building, and the children are comfortable utilizing their mats. Since the special children’s mass has begun, their numbers have steadily increased; at the moment there are about 350 members of the Missionary Holy Childhood at St. Monica parish. The children range from ages two to fourteen. Twenty-five of these members will turn fifteen during 2013. At that point, they will move on to joining the young adult movements.
For the human, spiritual and civic growth of the children, we have been blessed with voluntary educators, whom we call animators. At present we have upwards of 30 animators. They contribute greatly to enhancing the children’s faith and missionary spirituality. They help the children to learn and to devote themselves to the prayer, singing and reading parts of their own mass. They also promote the creativity and fellowship of our kids with special activities like “the Stella girls,” who specialize in liturgical dance and choreographic entertainment, the majorette group, and the drama club, which revitalizes the local culture through plays and performances.
This past year we were also able to initiate a program of “ Sunday afternoon for Sports,” where the boys gather for games of football (soccer) and the girls for games of netball (volleyball). During the summer, the group also enjoyed activities such as organized long jump, high jump, sack races and other games. Though we haven’t managed it yet, we dream of organizing a summer school for the Holy Childhood kids. We want to offer a greater variety of games too, teaching international games such as Chess, Scrabble, Checkers, etc. And we plan to one day have some computers in order to train the children in newer technology.
In order to keep the group stable and self-sufficient we have launched some income-generating ventures as well: most notably, the cultivation of a 2½-acre garden plot with corn and other vegetables. These enterprises lend well to their general education, as well as highlighting the missionary qualities of generosity, patience, endurance, love of manual work, teamwork, and more.
Thanks to the dedication of so many wonderful animators, we have accomplished a lot with our Missionary Holy Childhood program. We have been struggling however, to incorporate an essential initiation program that the diocese proposes for all children: it’s called “The School of Jesus.” This training program is a compilation of many basic lessons on Christian life for children of different ages. Unfortunately we cannot implement the training until we have some type of classroom facilities to use. It is a very important course of study, addressing many of the tremendous problems facing our youth and society as a whole. With the prominence of child abuse, trafficking, high dropout rates, child-soldiers and child labor, drug and alcohol abuse, prostitution, STD-AIDS, and more facing our youth, we are eager to fortify their formation with the “School of Jesus” coursework.
Recognizing the importance of education for the youth of our parish, the St. Monica pastoral council has decided that this year we will concentrate our efforts on the project of building some suitable classroom space. All parishioners have been invited to contribute towards this project. Discerning for themselves the importance of such an undertaking, the children have even been mobilized and encouraged to contribute their “widow’s penny” where possible. This parish project may be slow to be realized, but we appeal to our brothers and sisters, friends of good will, to come join us in general by praying for and supporting these children in their spiritual pursuits. May God continue to provide St. Monica parish with growing pains—along with strong and willing agents to respond to them.
Esaïe Buyungi, cicm
Makeni Villa, Zambia
Esaïe Buyungi, cicm, is native of the Democratic Republic of Congo who joined Missionhurst-CICM in 2005, and was sent to Zambia in 2009. In his third (final) year of internship, Esaïe is currently working at St. Monica parish, located in a suburb of Lusaka City, Zambia.
