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I am Ma. Jeanne, of
Malinese nationality, but a native of Burkina.
My parents came from muslims families, fortunately
knew the Catholic missionaries and were baptized. Four
of their children were brought up in this faith.
Speaking
of the African continent seems to expect much, given
that it is not easy to touch all the realities live out
in Africa, besides, being constituted by various ethnic
races, costums, languages, that try to embrace it all. Aware of all the varieties of realities,
rich, but at the same time, complex, I will limit to
say only in the measure that I may be able in the
environment where I have grown and lived.
The reality that I
knew in Burkina is an traditional Islamic environment,
where the woman is considered principally as a
mistress of the house. All her formation is a
function of a homemaker. Her primodial duty is to
be a mother and transmit and teach the tradition and the
cultural values ( submission, fidelity, respect to the
customs ) to her child. In each village or
ethnic group, the environment is marked by its own
idiosyncrasis. Therefore, the dream of all
the girls is to get married one day, have children and
thus, to honor and respect the tradition of the parents,
of the family.... in order to continue the generation
and the clan.
The influence of the
French colonization and the presence of the missionaries
started to change something in this reality that reduces
a woman to a mistress of the house. I have
inherited something of this formation, because my
parents have known and wanted to transmit it with pride. Later
on, I came to know the Religious of Mary Immaculate in a summer camp. I went to Niono with them for motive of studies. During the time that I was with them, the testimonies of
the sisters and the examples of the other girls served
me inorder to determine my vocation.
I can say, that the story
of my calling seems, though a dream, is a mystery...Without
any doubt, is the story of the love that the Lord has
wanted to have with me. It was not easy to
identify it, accept it... As a daughter of my epoch, I
have wanted to touch it, hear His voice like the small
Samuel or like Moses. At times I have demaded before His
call, to evade difficulties and remove from my life
impediments that could disturb, " I would ask for
certainty and guarantee " in my vocation and
would avoid... But He became deaf to my petitions and
would continue calling me...
I entered fighting with my mother, because I did not enter into her traditional plan in
which for her, as I have said already, the honor of all
women is in the marriage...
in the measure that I have known
the Congregation, the example of St. Vicenta Maria
would feel me with comfort and satifaction, at times it
would question me, I did not understand how a girl from
a good family, would leave all inorder to share the
fortune with the poor, humble girls...
her attitude of resignation, of detachment have been a
great stimuli in my life... I discovered that she did
not become more than but imitate in every moment her
Lord... Today I feel that I live my Consecration
because I have found with Christ the Gospel.. He
has brought me closer to Him like " the Good
Samaritan "; I feel the Congregation as a place
where He has carried me in the hand, feeling the need to
help and put me to the service of other needy girls like
what Vicenta Maria did...
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