Br Paul Noonan Formation Centre, Tamale: Trip to Kintampo Waterfalls

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Trip to Kintampo Waterfalls

March the 3rd has been one of the good moments in Ghana when the community set off for Kintampo waterfalls. After a 2 hour drive it was Akwaaba (welcome) to Kintampo - Ghana’s famous falls. The falls were discovered in the 18th century on the Pumpum river. The caution was given “let us protect our beautiful natural resources”.

We first went to stage 1 of the waterfalls, after which we went to stage 3 which requires going down 152 steps constructed by Taysec in 1996. Feelings of anxiety filled the men and the coming up was exhausting. The pleasure trip at the aforesaid falls was really exciting and on the other hand reflective to me.

It was interesting as the water seemed to be increasing as it is said that “its volume rises depending on the number of people” This gave the men zeal to sit and enjoy the fast running water. The cool chilling breeze was great.

Praise to the spirit of the great waters, womb of all life, power to dissolve boundaries, to taste and to feel, to cleanse and to heal, great blissful darkness of peace.
I believe that the earth does not belong to me, instead I belong to the earth.

Whatever befalls the earth befalls me. I did not weave the web of life but I am a mere strand in it. The tour taught me one lesson enough for all earth lovers “I have no right to contaminate this lovely mother, because if I spit on the ground, I spit on myself.
(Sydney)

No comments:

Post a Comment

What do we want this novitiate to be?

There is a saying that goes something like this: “If we don’t do what we believe in, then we’ll end up believing in what we do”. Without a vision that is authentic and alive to guide our actions, then we can settle for rationalizing the status quo or what is convenient and comfortable.
One of the first things the new team in Tamale did was to spend time beginning to articulate its vision of a novitiate beyond the basics laid down in our Constitutions. Here are some elements of what we came up with:
Novitiate is a journey, a process that involves KNOWING, EXPERIENCING and CHOOSING.
It is an INITIATION into Christian Brother religious life, so a “rite of passage” into a new identity, a time of learning and testing.
Novitiate confronts the novices with the Brother’s vocation as a call to brotherly solidarity and community, not to privilege, status and security.
It involves exploration of the basic values of faith and vocation, and the challenge to embrace these out of personal conviction and free choice.
Novitiate means understanding that a religious vocation makes a claim on the whole of the person and his life, including his inner life, his relationships and his professional activity (ministry). Furthermore, it challenges the novice to see the dynamic inter-relationship of these areas and to learn what their integration means.
Novitiate is a time of DISCERNMENT. The novice learns more deeply who he is, and what this Christian Brother life is. There is a constant back-and-forth movement between these two poles as an answer is sought to the question, “Is this where I am meant to be? Is this the life that will enable me to find my true self in God?”