In an environment which is as fragmented and divided as the one we live in, we are often called to go towards the unknown, towards the peripheries. We are called to go out, sometimes even outside of ourselves, to enter the wounds of humanity. This is the testimony that comes to us from the neighbourhood of Yungay in Santiago, Chile.
Belamy Paluku comes from Goma, but is in Belgium for three month. In his Country, Congo, he is a member of the group Gen Fuoco, a band whose message draws its inspiration from the spirituality of unity, and is responsible for the “Foyer culturel”, a cultural centre in his city. Thanks to his musical talent, the Wallonie-Bruxelles Centre offered him a scholarship to study singing at Verviers, in Belgium. Belamy is a songwriter, whose songs highlight the search for peace, dialogue, the value of suffering. His most popular song is entitled “Nos couleurs et nos saveurs” (Our colours and our flavours), which is an invitation to appreciate the different colours and tastes of the different peoples, because “a world with just one colour and with just one kind of food would be a very poor world”. In the video which we are presenting to you, there is the interview of this young Congolese musician and that of a young Belgian girl.
Belamy Paluku
Belamy, you are from Goma, in Congo. In this moment you are in Belgium for an intercultural exchange for your specialization as a musician. How do you feel in such a different world? «I discover many people of different origins and I realize that each one always has something to give and to receive from others. The diversities of cultures and languages cannot stop us from living together and communicating.» And you Elisabeth, you were born in Belgium, what do you think about this welcoming people who come from all over the world? «It’s true that in Europe, and especially here in Brussels, there is an immense richness of nationalities and different cultures. Personally I have met some young people of the Focolare Movement from Syria, Slovakia, Italy etc. And what always helped me is also the art of loving which concretely makes you take the step towards the other. But I think that living one next to the other is not enough, we can take an extra step. The challenge for us Europeans, who perhaps are rather reserved, is precisely to go and meet the other person and to build bridges until we all become one family, until we truly recognize one another as brothers and sisters.» Belamy, is it from this exchange of riches that you wrote a song? «I come from a region with a constant danger of war sparking off between ethnic groups. This exchange of human and cultural riches seems to me a way to be followed towards the fulfillment of a world of sharing and tolerance. I began from our differences so as to cry out to the world that remaining together, united, we can unfold the puzzle of humanity.» Belamy Paluku is on facebook as Belamusik (the cultural centre of Goma) (more…)
(…) The soul of the New Humanity Movement is the branch of men and women volunteers; their vocation is a total dedication to God without a particular consecration with vows.
Immersed in the world, the most suitable place for their activities, they live the Gospel following the example of the first Christian communities. They wish to emulate their life in this century by being “one heart. and one soul” and, as a consequence, by sharing their material and spiritual goods.
In our world, chilled by materialism and consumerism; impoverished and swerved by hedonism, violence and all existing evils, they try to bring about the fire, the light, the strength and the fullness of life coming from the presence of the Risen Lord. They make every effort, therefore, to see that his presence may shine through them embracing by their daily crosses, they commit themselves through the deepest possible uni¬ty with one another, to generate his presence in homes, hospitals, schools, offices, workshops… everywhere – so that these different ‘worlds’ can be illuminated, guided and supported by him while on their way to renewal (…).
