Meeting of Sisters of Saint Joseph in Tanzania

The Sisters of St Joseph of Chambéry who are ministering in Tanzania and Mozambique met as a missionary group in Songea, Tanzania to get to know each other and to share life and mission. We had the opportunity to participate in a meeting on African Culture, led by two American Maryknoll Sisters, who have been present in the north of Tanzania for about 40 years.

To prepare for this meeting, we had received materials for personal reflection on the experiences and important events of mission in our lives before coming to Africa as well as the impact of the new mission. Together we discussed and shared on the mission today with its lights and shadows, with our hopes and perspectives. We saw that generally we arrived with preconceptions and with our own plans, but when we saw the reality, we often felt useless. We no longer knew how to do many things that were second nature to us in our own countries, for example, how to arrange for transportation or how to act at a funeral. This was all due to local customs which were so different from what we had known. In order to survive, we had to celebrate each little thing we managed to do well each day. We saw that inculturation is a difficult process, but it is a necessary one for living and ministering in another reality. It requires daily conversion and a constant effort to adapt to a new culture, seeking to act with a tender and loving heart.

During the meeting we dealt with several themes: The Stages of Culture Shock, Cultural Elements of Adaptation, and Strategies and Processes of Cultural Adaptation. The meeting was dynamic and included many moments of celebration with the use of symbols, sharing, and personal reflection. An important moment occurred with the transplanting of a begonia, with its symbolism of all it means to adapt to new soil, to suffer the effects of pruning through new hands and new ways of cultivation in a new climate. This entire process was compared to our lives. Each Sister could see which stage she was living on the mission journey, knowing that the process is continuous. The challenge is to assume new postures and embrace the mystery of inculturation, called to “take off our sandals, because this is holy ground.” (Ex. 3:5)

S. Severina Lucia Brogliato (Mozambique)