La Spezia (Italy). From 2 to 22 August 2024, a group of young people, a Daughter of Mary Help of Christians of Our Lady of the Cenacle Province (ILS) in Liguria, Emilia, and Tuscany, and a Salesian of Don Bosco lived a missionary experience in Cotonou, Benin. Here is their story:
“Come in on tip-toe with your sandals in your hand.” This is the phrase that accompanied us during these three weeks of mission. The latter took place in Cotonou, Benin, in Laura Vicuña Community of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians of Cotonou, of Mother of God Province (AFO), which from the first moment made us feel at home. In this experience, we were in contact with different realties that showed us some aspects of this fascinating and contradictory city.
One of the realities in which we carried out our service was inside the Salesian Oratory of Zogbo, a neighborhood in the outskirts of Cotonou. Here we participated in the summer activities proposed, such as basketball, crafts, football, dance, and choir. There we met many young people with whom we shared moments of play and fun. We were amazed how, walking through the streets of the neighborhood, inhabited by so much poverty, the oratory is one of the few meeting points, or perhaps the only one that is carefree and joyful for the children of Zogbo.
Daily life, complexity, trust: these are the words that can describe the reality of the “Foyer Laura Vicuña” present within the community that hosted us. Daily life: the girls who are hosted here live as in a big family, sharing not only moments of joy, celebration, and fraternity, but also, and above all, those of fragility, suffering, and difficulty. Complexity: Each of these girls carries behind and within itself a history marked by suffering, since some of them are victims of violence, abuse, and mistreatment, but despite this, one can see in each the strength, the hope for a better future, and much love. Trust: the Sisters of the community and all the educators take care of them as if they were daughters, looking for new opportunities every day to try to ensure a better future for them.
Although these girls have a difficult history, over time they trust and let themselves be loved with courage by the FMA and the entire educating community. In these three weeks, we lived with them moments of prayer, play, dance, creativity, and study workshops; also, there were moments of sharing their daily work, such as cooking, washing clothes, and gardening. These girls, despite the difficulties they have encountered and still encounter every day in their lives, continue to dream and strive to realize their dreams by totally trusting Mary and God, leaving us speechless.
In the city of Cotonou is located the largest open-air market in West Africa, Dantokpa, on about 20 hectares of land. In the heart of this large market is the SOS Baraque, not an indicative name but a real one. Here, thanks to the work of social workers, girls who work at the market all day find a place for rest, recreation, fun, and to be carefree. Our service here took place between African dances and Italian dances, bracelets and beads, between a game of wari, an African game, and designs at will.
The girls inside the market work all day in precarious conditions, carrying on their heads goods of various kinds and weight, having the possibility to eat only one meal a day. When the girls came through the door, it was as if magic happened; they were given back what they had taken from them: being children. They were for us wingless guardian angels, because they took care of us, showing their love and affection and protecting us, becoming the adults of the situation when we happened to leave the Baraque to visit the market.
This experience showed us the different nuances of the special mission that this community carries out every single day with love and care. Each nuance of this mission takes on a different color for us: green for the hope, trust, and immense faith that have been felt in every place we have inhabited and visited. Red is the color of the loving affection, of the good that hovers over the city of Cotonou. Pink was for us the color of care, attention, and respect towards us. Yellow fully describes the joy, the enthusiasm and serenity that characterized these 3 weeks. Purple was the color of the humility and simplicity of the people who live there, but also of the sacrifice and difficulty we encountered in this experience. All these nuances are joined by a thread: the gold thread. “This golden thread, desire of God, is God. It is the gaze of the guide who looks up; it is the prayer of those who feel small, who feel sinful. It is the gaze towards the children that leads; it is the gaze towards the poor you want to help; it is the gaze of love.”
