Brother Albert Nzabonaliba, from Rwanda, is a formator at MIC (Marist International Centre, Nairobi, Kenya) where the young African brothers go after the novitiate. He is relating an experience showing how “the poor” have also taught him a lesson.
Throughout this academic year 2006 – 2007, the community of MIC has worked on the theme: “The love of Christ overwhelms us” (2 Cor 5, 14). It is a subject that I have loved because of its challenging character. It is true that after having experienced the love of Christ, you cannot remain with your arms folded.
It is the experience of a group of four women whom I consider as “my Good Samaritans” (Cf. Lk 10, 29 – 37).
In September 2006, around ten o’clock at night, after having dropped off a refugee visitor in the vicinity of a shanty town of Nairobi, “Kawangware”, the car broke down in a dangerous place. I was accompanied by my mother who had also come to visit me. We were thus foreigners in Kenya.
You can imagine the fear that followed this and how I did my best to find the reason for the breakdown, of course in vain. After several attempts to restart the car, it was then that these “Samaritans” joined us and asked us if we needed any help. Without waiting a second, I suggested they push the car and it was on a hill. They did so willingly. A little further along, towards the end of the hill, another group of three men came to help us and we arrived at the “KOBIL” garage at Dagoretti Corner.
Happy with their help, I gave something to the men who were hurrying to get back home. And curiously, the “Good Samaritans” did not want to leave there without knowing if our problem was being fixed. When they saw that I had succeeded in telephoning a friend about the breakdown, then and only then did they decide to leave.
As for the men, I wanted to reward them, to give them something. They refused despite my insistence. They were unanimous in saying that they found us in trouble and all they could do was help us in this way. That is beautiful. That is human. That is Christian.
The money “mammon” is not the first master of those who have a human heart and who have encountered the love of Christ. Even the poor become free in regards to money, to recognition and to reputation. In effect, these women went home on foot, probably because they had not found 30 Ksh (0.40 US$) to pay for public transport and to return home on time.
This experience taught me a great deal: admiration firstly, then the appreciation of the minimum conditions for living and finally the love of the poor.
In a world where people run after money and are ready to commit crimes of all sorts, the poor are capable of staying apart when they themselves are in need. This is beautiful. At least there are people who believe in Providence (Lk 12, 22 – 24) and who are happy with the little that they have to survive in the big cities of this world.
I have not stopped myself at admiration, on the contrary, there has grown in me, on one hand, this love of the poor who really are “God’s blessed ones; they draw down His gifts upon us and evangelise us” (Marist Constitutions, article 34) and, on the other hand, this confidence that God will not destroy our city because he will always find good people there (Cf. Gn., 18, 17 – 32). It does not matter how small the number is that he will find.
This is an invitation to do good without respite, without expecting recognition of any sort. I remember that when I was a young fervent SCOUT, each time that we finished the meeting, the leader would tell us “Now for daily good actions” without knowing exactly what that would mean. I understood it later. Another Catholic Action Movement (Xavéri Group) very well known in Central Africa nearly had the same slogan: “Charity, Always.”
The love or the charity of Christ overwhelms us… When I informed my confrères about what had happened on our way home, they listened to me and I thought that it was finished. That it had not made a great impression on them. But on the contrary. It was not that long ago that they had found themselves in a nearly similar situation.
They had just come from the apostolate (AFA: Apostolic and Formative Activities) in one of the big shanty towns of the world, if not the most densely populated on our planet: KIBERA. Some statistics say that there are nearly one million poor people there. Without mentioning other places and forms of apostolate of our young brothers at MIC, at KIBERA our young brothers teach the children and young people catechism in preparation for the Sacraments of Initiation.
On the way home, on “Langata Road”, a little further than “Uhuru Gardens” on a hill a car was stopped there in the middle of the freeway stopping the traffic, creating a traffic jam and causing a shambles for the “MATATU” taxi drivers. When our brothers finally succeeded in passing, a few metres further along, one of them made the following remark: “In that broken down car there are only old women; can’t we do something to help them?” Without hesitating a second, they parked their minibus and went to push the car that had run out of petrol.
After their charitable deed, they left happy that they were able to help people in need and they were happy to tell me so. I felt in me the sentiments of Christ who said to his disciples: “Come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while” (Mk 6, 31). It seems that some passengers in other cars that were passing made some comments regarding the identification of these young people doing a good deed. Their only identification was that they were “Good Samaritans” and that is all.
The love of Christ urges us to do good. The condition is simple: let your heart speak. For that, let us open our eyes to see the needs of people, especially the poor. One gesture, as small as it may be, is more meaningful than speeches or projects that enrich us, instead of being enriched by the love of God. If such is the case, perhaps we should stop certain projects that do not take account of the real needs of people. This is an order from the Lord: “Give them something yourselves to eat” (Mk 6, 37).
The love of God is like an ardent fire that burns without being consumed (Cf. Ex. 3, 2) and the one who approaches it becomes like Moses who will free the people of God or like Jesus who has no arms except mine or yours. Before the needs of the poor, we must not fold our arms; rather we must open them and “the standard you use will be the standard used for you” (Lk 6, 38). |
