OFFICIAL WORKING VISITS TO WEST AFRICA BY THE COORDINATOR JULES, JANUARY –FEBRUARY 2007

Jules, the Coordinator benefited from his presence in West Africa, during the training session on Door to Door strategies against HIV/AIDS in Mali to visit some national movements. He also had interviews and official meetings with them with an aim of touching the realities on the ground.

A- MALI

After the training session HIV/AIDS, Jules met the national bureau and the IMCS Mali-Pax Romana Mali chaplain. The national president Mr. Severin Kamate emphasized that after the visit by Jules in 2004, the World Social Forum in 2006 with the presence of Zobel from the international team has flagged off the national bureau and allowed to meet with the other IMCS members in the west African region .Our participation in the Ghana meeting led to the discovery of other realities of IMCS in other countries. On my return from Rwanda , I shared the recommendations of the assembly with others and Sister Julia; our chaplain presented a report of our participation at the Episcopal conference.

Currently IMCS Mali is member of the coordination of catholic movements and groups of action which renders our presence effective. This session HIV/AIDS permitted us to spend four days exchanging information and learning. It is the first in the lifetime of IMCS-Mali and will certainly contribute to a much stronger and dynamic IMCS-Mali for the church and community service concludes Severin.

According to Tidianie, the national treasurer, she benefited from Sister Julia’s support, the chaplain who made IMCS-Mali what it is today. It is through her I discovered and I am attached to IMCS.

Jules, the Coordinator while thanking the members of the office for the support they put in, remarked that the movement cannot live longer unless there is a regular way of carrying out activities that permit members to express themselves, to participate and to bring forth their suggestions on the problems and realities of their lives, of the church and society in general.

During the meeting with Sister Julia, the Mali chaplain, she noted that IMCS was rooted in Mali and it became a reality to the church. The training that the IMCS Pan African coordination has organized in Mali will definitely reinforce the movement. My challenge however, is that I will be able to inculcate to students a spirit of volunteering their services while using the available resources concluded Sister Julia. Jules assured the Sister that the Pan African coordination team members will do all the best in their capacity to give the necessary support to the students for their action.

B- SENEGAL

After Mali , Jules pursued his goal of “encouraging students in Senegal to use their knowledge to serve others” as a contribution to the improvement of life standards in their milieu study.

The meeting took place in the end of the university days with the theme:” The stakes of the rebirth of the black man for the students today”, which allowed the students and teachers and other parties from institutions of higher learning to have an intellectual reflection on that topic.

Mr Blaise Birame, the chairman of the community of Catholic students of Dakar (CECD) noted the success of the University days before remembering that the first edition was on “The role of the student in politics and HIV/ AIDS” before pointing out the contribution of the St Dominique fraternity through the head Chaplain Fr. Bertrand Akpagbe in the success of different activities organized by CECD.

Whether with the association of Catholic students in Polytechnic schools or with that of campus students, with the grouping of university Catholic students (GECCAS), Jules was delighted at their commitment for each other and told them not to be indifferent to the prevailing social-political situation in the country.

The official visit of Jules was in the beginning of the electoral campaign for presidency 2007, which saw 15 political leaders run for power. He encouraged the students to follow their faith in the course of their life, in church and in the general society through their actions to enlighten the population on committed leaders and their contribution as far as sustainable development is concerned. Jules concluded that as much as one could be a Christian he or she should have a sober conscience to politics in view of assuring that the human dignity of every member of the society is respected at every instance.

The visit to St Clarisse Nursery which is run by Franciscan Sisters was a great step forward. Sister Charito of the Philipinnian origin, GECCAS students’ spiritual guide is among the sisters in charge of this center. It has recruited 40 girls as caretakers for 50 babies who are either orphaned or abandoned. These girls do their work in turns while learning how to read and write as they learn good domestic skills. They are highly sought for domestic services in many homes in Dakar .

It must be noted that the former chairman of CECD Pierre Georges SENE who currently is on attachment at the Research Development Institute is always very active and he accompanied us to our several work visits with students associations.

The review was done with Father Bertrand Akpagbe, the head chaplain of Dakar students. He expressed the satisfaction upon seeing Jules in Dakar , knowing each other by name and e-mail only did not have the same impact as meeting physically and sharing personally. For Fr. Bertrand, students are not equally committed but luckily there are always devoted people in each group who show others what to do.

Our biggest task is getting to have an effective orientation center for new university students to prevent them from wasting their time before they finally settled down. He concluded that the center will also help guiding young professionals to organize themselves better during their insertion in active life.

The coordinator Jules confessed his complete satisfaction for the organized interviews with different students’ groups during his stay in Dakar , Senegal .

At IMCS -Pax Romana, our objective is to reinforce students’ capabilities and encourage them with the help from chaplains, to act in their milieu of life and study in their best capacity in conformity to the church teachings.

C- TOGO

Benefiting from his passage for Mali , Jules the coordinator had many official meetings IMCS - Togo members in Lome as well as in Kara in the northern part of the country where a new branch of IMCS-Pax Romana has been created. The national IMCS office in Lome expressed its gratitude to the IMCS-Pan African coordination for their endless efforts in communication and training of its members.

The new national office members leads by the former chairperson Paulin Tiliwa who is currently the national coordinator are preparing for two activities: blood donation which will help most students undergo a medical checkup hence knowing their HIV/ AIDS status and the three day sensitization campaign against HIV/AIDS in the Lome University and film projection with the aim of helping their fellow students to beware of the pandemic. This campaign is financed by the Partnership of Decentralized Support of European Union for Togo .

The interview with Father Phillip François VIAL -the chaplain, helped to clarify some misunderstandings. Jules invited them for a downright collaboration reminding them that in IMCS-Pax Romana, we train students to come up with good projects which can be financed to help them bring their contribution in the fight against certain problems facing our society. This contribution has to be done according to the Catholic faith and that is why the spiritual accompaniment of the chaplain is always important to the lives of the IMCS -Pax Romana members.

IMCS-Togo being in charge of the West African sub region, Jules encouraged them to reinforce communication with other countries in the region and to think of organizing activities which can drive the members to reflect on issues affecting the lives of students in the region. Jules emphasized that the Pan-African coordination will do everything in their capacity to reinforce the national movement and the sub regions in conformity to the work orientation document presented by the delegates of PAA in October 2006 in Rwanda .

In Kara University , the coordinator pointed out that the problems members face being a new branch are real and he urged them to organize some small conferences, debates and cleanups among themselves and other activities that will attract other students’ attention.

Jules encouraged them to keep in touch with the national office in Lome in every activity they engage in, in favor of IMCS.

 Before I am able to give my contribution to students for action, I thank God who has kept me in good health throughout the West African journey. I extend my sincere gratitude to all those who contributed to make my stay in West Africa , enjoyable for the success of this mission in favor of the youth.

I deeply express my gratitude to all the partners for their financial support which helped us to accomplish this mission in West Africa .

Together let’s make an avenue for a peaceful and just world in which the weak would not feel oppressed by the so called powerful people in the society.

Jules Yaovi WAHARE, IMCS-Pax Romana Pan African Coordinator.