"The Body of Christ has AIDS"

The Mission statement for the Pan African Province of Christian Brothers reads....
Our mission is
the liberation of oppressed youth
through broad based education and care,
leading to a life free from poverty,
ignorance, injustice and HIV/AIDS

During the months of September –December 2007, one of the themes we dealt with in the novitiate was HIV/AIDS. Throughout the month of September our activities included self-informative classes on the pandemic and group discussions. We also had the opportunity to meet with people living with HIV and people who have been working with HIV patients for years. One of the things we learnt from their rich experiences was how to live and deal with people infected with HIV.

The peak of our activities was on October 1. We decided to dedicate that day to the HIV/AIDS patients we had come to know. We invited them to our house and spent the day together with them interacting and socializing, expressing our solidarity with them and pledging our support and prayers.
December 1st, 2007 was another significant day. The whole novitiate community joined the local and international community and victims of HIV/AIDS to observe World HIV Day. The venue was the local main market-place, Aboabou market. There the attendance was called upon to act and do all they could to fight the disease and the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS.
Just as Teresa of Avila says: `Christ has no body now but ours, no hands, no feet, upon this earth but ours’. So if we are the body of Christ, it is our responsibility to reach-out to build the reign of God.
Sonny Kanneh

Novices on Community/Pastoral Experience

Having completed a year in the Novitiate our novices are now on a three month Community-Pastoral experience. Breaking with tradition, this year the novices have formed three communities of four each in and around the "Tamale Metropolis".
Fred, Phelix, Paul and Belden form community at Skekina, Gurugu. Their main ministries include working in a health clinic, food distribution and organising classes for children from the immediate environs.
Pascal, John, Wycliffe and Samuel are based in Nyankpala. All four teach in the Primary and Junior secondary school in the village.
Julias, Jackson, Casimir and Sonny live in Gurugu Jalapa and cycle everyday to teach at the CB run school in Kanvilli.
Over the next few days we will be able to give you more news and reflections on their experience thus far.

Snapshots of the Novitiate

Our Community

We came together as a community in February of 2007. Our community of 15 has 12 Novices and 3 on the Novitiate Team.

This is who we are ...

Standing L - R: Prince Bai Tarawalie (Sierra Leone, Novitiate Team), Henry McGann (Ireland, Novitiate Team), Samuel Munyua Ngumi (Kenya), Maisiba Wycliffe Bosire (Kenya), Phelix Omondi Odera (Kenya), Casimir Francois Ekani Nanga (Cameroon), John Edison Benya (Sierra Leone), Jackson Mwika Mubela (Zambia), Vivek da Silva (India, Novitiate Team)

Sitting L-R: Pascal Gibba (The Gambia), Paul Sugar Yallah (Liberia), Fredrick Odhiambo Otieno (Kenya), Belden Hawala Nseele (Zambia), Julias Oluoch Ochieng (Kenya), Sonny Sylvester Alwama Kanneh (Sierra Leone).

Greetings ... Amaraaba!!

Greetings brothers and friends! we have had some difficulty getting regular news out to you during the course of the year. This was due to reasons generally beyond our control...slow internet dial up connections, virus invested computers and the like. This year we have installed an ADSL line thanks to Ghana Telcom. Hopefully through this page we will be able to keep you posted with all the news. I am not going to try and back date any of the news so will start from where we are ... always a good place to start!!