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nothing has been lost
of your sacrificial silence ...
" African woman" an
interesting term for its complexity... a woman of charm,
 of attraction, entwined with goodness and beauty... ...A
meeting of dreams, of hopes, of ideals, of passions...
Center,
axel of the family, indispensable support of society.
We could apply to her the poetic term of a universal woman.
African woman... woman of
the third world, woman of lands in the process of
development. Our women of Mali and Burkina. These women have all these discreet charms amd many
more.
The
cultures, mentalities, races, the countries with
its different economic situations, stamp these women
with the mark of their traditions, their beliefs,
their
philosophy.
The evolution, the
modernism, the means of communication, the different
cultures, add also their gifts, mistakes, and their
abberations, to this woman making it difficult to define
her simply.
African
Woman, in her different ambiences. The
primitive in rural circumstances, without possibilities of
progress, oppressed by the burden of traditions and
deviating rules.
To know Africa, carries
with you a place in your heart when you feel closely
the situation of women in certain conditions. They
have been born solely for work and child bearing,
without rights to culture nor to rest. Their
short existence makes them pass through life like
shooting stars, leaving behind the constellations of
children
that perpetuate the rising African birth.
Silent, patient women,
capable of extreme suffering...Without aspirations
nor claims, conformed to their lot... They sleep little,
dress badly, eat worse. Women, who are only
praised and grieved for by their husbands and children when
they are gone, leaving a great emptiness in the home.
At the beginning of the
20th century with the appearance of the missionaries in
West Africa, the Gospel, like a scattered seed, began
silently to spread seeds of liberty, equality, progress.
The African land began the slow process of
transformation, the fruits of which point out to a more
free, more humane and less oppressive for the woman. The
right to formation and to school for the children and
youth is one of the adopted priorities by many
governments, taking as a slogan " To educate a woman...
is to educate a nation".
And this schooling, induces many young
people to prepare for high social, educational and
economic duties. Awakened to and aware of the inferiority
situation suffered by thousands of their sisters, whose
living
conditions do not permit them to raise their
dignity nor claim their rights, they battle valiantly for
the promotion and freedom of the African woman, becoming
the cry and strength, protest and accusation of those
who as yet, have neither voice nor vote.
Between these two
realities - the primitive and the liberated woman -surge
a host of young girls, important in themselves because of
their numbers, their situation and its consequences.
Budding youth, fragile, victims of the past and swept
away by the influence of modernism, they also want to be
heard. The greater part of these young girls see
their ideals frustrated. The system of higher
education is far too costly and only those much better
off have access to it; the rest must make do with basic
education. These girls, from very low levels,
apply to our Centers in which the underlying
framework of reception and formation is established in
accordance with the needs of each group. They are supported
with grants and the most capable can take High School
studies or specialize as in the official School of
Nursing, founded in Segou in 1997.
One
 category of girls
stands out especially, those who are particularly ours,
the least considered, the most oppressed. For some years, an avalanche of adolescents and young ladies,
driven by the precariousness and extreme poverty of
certain African regions, have emigrated to the big
cities in search of money to feed their families or
to save for the wedding, with nothing more than
the hope of rescuing their families from
misery. Inexperienced, illiterate and often
ignorant of the language, they arrived in flocks at the end
of harvest time ( November and December ) to begin their experiences
so much sadder than hunger and the
ignorance they have left behind in their homes.
They
are those called " house workers " in some countries :
here... " those good for nothing ". With no laws,
no rights, no regular hours, for a miserable wage.
They are the first to rise at five in the morning and do
no stop work until late in the night.
In the big cities, it is
imperative to support them, befriend them.. to rescue
them from oppression and slavery in which they are
drowning. The new house in Bamako responds to this
urgency, opened at the beginning of 2000. The initiative
of our sisters to create the first center of welcoming,
formation and support for these young girls was welcomed
with great enthusiasm for all the existing movements in
the city in defense of the servant girls, all open
to a candid and generous collaboration that fill us with
hope and joy. Since the house in Bamako raised her
walls with this specific aim, the benevolent shadow of
Vicenta Maria with her dreams, her spirit, her Charism,
manifested marvelously, strengthening our faith,
throwing away fears and assuring us in her will to
consecrate our energies, to support, to make it grow and
put in the path of salvation the weak feet of the
forgotten and scorned girls by this society.
IT IS
A CHALLENGE THAT BURNS AND IMPELS US SO THAT VICENTA
MARIA CAN ONCE MORE TRIUMPH IN THESE YOUNG AFRICANS!
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