Burundi: CASOBU – reconstructive work and fight against poverty

4 Mar 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

CASOBU (Cadre Associatif des Solidaires du Burundi) was founded by a group of volunteers from the Focolare Movement in Burundi, one of the poorest countries on the planet. The country has emerged from a twelve-year political and ethnic conflict, with the displacement of a million people and 300,000 dead. The purpose of the Association is to seek for lasting solutions to the problems of poverty through solidarity and mutual support. Its activity cannot be assessed only in terms of infrastructure development and improved socio-economic conditions, but in the spreading of certain values: solidarity, unity and fraternity. CASOBU’s first focus is in rural contexts. They have taken up several projects, with the support also of AMU, the NGO inspired by the Movement for co-operation in development. For several years CASOBU has been involved with community microcredit projects. These have helped several hundred people, mostly women who are family breadwinners,  achieve economy autonomy. In 2008 CASOBU’s social action concentrated upon Ruyigi. The town of Butezi has 6,700 families who live by subsistence farming. During the civil war most of the population fled to refugee camps in Tanzania and now, on returning to their own country, there are numerous problems of readjustment. This initiative takes a three-pronged approach:

• ñ    nutrition and agriculture: after an initial distribution of emergency foodstuffs to 800 families, the aim is to develop independent food sources, with the distribution cassava cuttings, cows and goats to displaced people and refugees;

• ñ    aid for orphans and widows;

• ñ    schemes for the prevention of Aids, run in collaboration with public bodies, and schemes for the prevention malaria, which is responsible for the deaths of numerous children under 5.

The members of CASOBU are trained and skilled people, filled with the gospel spirit of service. Their main aim is to listen attentively to those they meet: ‘We often find ourselves behaving like mothers and fathers of people who more than anything have a burden of pain to share with others.’ In Butezi there is an area where nearly three thousand families live. Only about a hundred of them have clean water, the others draw water from unsafe sources or directly from streams and pools and are exposed to serious illnesses. This means there is need of a new project to bring drinking water to the area, and the first of five has already begun. The strong points of this initiative are: the involvement of local people in the work and in implementation committees to conserve springs and maintain the infrastructure already set in place. The local people accept that they must give the necessary land and accept the difficulties that arise from works being carried out in their fields. All cooperate to rebuild social bonds. The way the members of CASOBU live and how they work strike many people: ‘Often,’ said Innocent from Kayanza, ‘to have a job you have to pay, but here we have noticed a difference. They look in the register of those have already given a voluntarily contribution to the project and they enrol you without any kind of corruption…. Whether you are a simple labourer or a skilled worker, all are on the same level.’ Certainly, not everyone understands immediately what is being done, and patient work by CASOBU is fundamental for helping people realize that these projects are aimed at the common good. Three years after the first project, it is possible to note a significant improvement in the health of families and especially of the children. The latest initiative for access to clean water was in Kibingo (in the province of Kayanza), and it benefited 600 families and 1,200 pupils at the local primary school. Anyone who wishes to participate in the work of CASOBU on behalf of people of Burundi, even with just a one-off gift, can use the following bank details: Account name: Associazione Azione per un Mondo Unito Bank:  Banca Popolare Etica, Rome branch. IBAN: IT16G0501803200000000120434 SWIFT/BIC: CCRTIT2184D Payments should be marked for: ‘Progetti in Burundi’. Burundi is a small country in Africa with enormous lakes, and it is one of the poorest places on earth. In the 2011 report by the United Nations Development Programme it was ranked in the third last place (185th) in the league table of Human development. The most vulnerable groups in the population are Aids sufferers, widows, teenage mothers, orphans and people with disabilities. There is also a need to achieve national reconciliation and to rebuild the nation’s economy and social fabric.

South Africa: With the Gospel Everything Becomes Possible

2 Mar 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

My name is Maria and I work for my country’s government in the health sector. Each day I experience that the words of the Gospel help me to serve my neighbor better and even to resolve the problems of society. By putting the Gospel in practice, relationships at the office have radically changed: they’ve become more familiar, open and free. I share this ideal of life with three of my colleagues, and together we try to perform our jobs as a service to people, to our city which faces many great challenges. There are two levels of government in South Africa: one is the traditional, which sees the Kgosi (chief) as the head. Each chief has specific expectations about the territory and a level of government with elected representatives who have others. Our challenge is to compose an agreement between these two levels, so that every decision can truly be for the good of the entire community, and so that it can always be more involved in the projects that are proposed. For example, we built six clinics in our district. All the work was done in full agreement with the two levels of government, so that each clinic was fully recognized throughout the territory. Several authorities spoke at the inauguration ceremony, also members from the executive committee of the government. A few days before the event, one of the Kgosi had called us to say that he would not be attending the ceremony because of a supposed disparity between the treatment of officials from the local government and the treatment of the traditional leaders. It was a veritable disaster, from every point of view. There was the danger that the people of the village would also refuse to attend. We tried to resolve the situation by going to visit the chief at his home. We offered him a detailed  presentation of each clinic. Thanks to this gesture his attitude changed and he gave his assent to the ceremony, which then turned out to be a great success, an important moment for the entire community. Now we continue to perform each task that is entrusted to us as an opportunity for coming together and helping our city to grow. And, slowly, we see the bonds improving between the population and government officials. Faith and trust are growing on both sides. Moreover, traditional leaders and elected councilors are discovering their own roles in full respect of the roles of the other. And so the child care project is now in the hands of the traditional leaders, and the  project for youths is in the hands of the municipal councilors. It is no longer necessary to explain our choices to the different authorities, because they trust us, and the union among all grows in service to the community. We experience that if we try to put the Gospel into practice, truly nothing is impossible!

USA: A Land Made for the Spirituality of Unity

26 Feb 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

The Union of fifty states known as the United States of America extends across a vast area from the extreme northwest of Alaska to southeast Florida. The first focolarini arrived from Italy in 1961. During those years the first centers of the Movement were opened in Manhattan, Chicago and Boston. Toward the end of the 1970’s focolares were also opened in San Antonio and Los Angeles, followed by Washington D. C., Columbus and Atlanta. Mariapolis Luminosa, located in Hyde Park (New York), was inaugurated in 1986 and is the heart of the Movement in North America. During her first visit to New York city, in 1964, Chiara Lubich wrote the following: “(. . .) It seems particularly adapted for the spirit of the Focolare. There is not an atmosphere of ethnic superiority, but a clear feeling of internationality. There is simplicity. At Mass I prayed for the Movement on this continent and I hope that God listens to my prayer, because I’m praying for the spreading of His reign.” Her prayer was heard. In fact, over the years, communities began to appear throughout the country. As the Focolare Movement grew, so did its interreligious dialogue. With Jews who come into contact with the spirituality of unity, this dialogue is expressed in daily living, professional collaboration and theological study. In many parts of the country a fraternal “dialogue of life” has began and grew with Muslim followers of Imam W. D. Mohammed. Chiara visited the United States seven times. In 1990 she stressed that she had “captured various signs of a united world” in this land. In May 1977, as the guest of Imam W. D. Mohammed she spoke about the Spirituality of Unity to nearly 3000 Muslims gathered at the Malcom Shabazz Mosque in Harlem, New York. Then, at the United Nations “Glass Palace,” at a symposium organized in her honor by the WCRP (World Conference of Religions for Peace), she spoke about the unity of all peoples. Lastly, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. In 2000, Imam Mohammed invited her to return again to the United States: “America needs your message” he said on 2 November 2000 to a crowd of 5000 Muslims and Christians gathered in Washington D.C. for a meeting entitled: “Faith Communities Together”which had been organized by the two communities. Gatherings of this type multiplied in several other cities with annual events that seemed more like family reunions than meetings for dialogue. In her last visit to the US, in 2000, Chiara received the honoris causa degree in Education from the Catholic University of America, in Washington D.C. 3.000 people gathered there: Jews, Buddhists and lots of Afroamerican Muslims, to underline the specific contribution of Focolare Movement to the interreligious dialogue. Meanwhile, the Economy of Communion project began to spread its roots within nineteen businesses which operate in different fields, such as environmental engineering, the arts, education, agriculture, free time and business consulting. The recent visit, in 2011, of the president of the Focolare Movement, Maria Voce and of the Co-President, Giancarlo Faletti, for the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the Movement in North America, gathered together 1,300 people from many communities in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean, including Jews and Muslims. On this occasion, the book “Focolare – Living a Spirituality of Unity in the United States” was released. It responds to the questions people have about the Movement today, through compelling stories of many Americans (children, youths, married couples, elderly, singles, nuns, priests and bishops who belong to the Focolare) whose lives have been transformed by the encounter with Jesus. Readers discover the spiritual values and practices of the Focolare, the various vocational paths of its members and how it helps in supporting the values of American culture, such as freedom, happiness, community and the commitment to the common good in public life.