FRONTIERS • VOCATION

‘What Unites Us is Love’

BY FR RAFAEL ARMADA | COMBONI MISSIONARY

THEOGRACIA BOUZOU is a Comboni missionary from the Central African Republic (CAR). He currently studies at St Joseph Theological Institute at Cedara, Pietermaritzburg (PMB). Born on 30 July 1991 in Bangui, the capital, he shares with WORLDWIDE his impressions on his vocational journey and on his country. Since the contested elections of 27 December last year, more than 200 000 people fled CAR, due to insecurity. Rebel groups control most of the country and are trying to seize Bangui.

Theogracia, would you tell us something of your family background?

My father had three wives, my mother being the last. I have two step-brothers and, from my mother, I am the first born, followed by a brother and a sister. When my parents married, my father left the other two wives, but he continued supporting them. He also treated us, all his children, equally and nobody could even realise that we were born from different mothers. Later on, my father passed away and my mother married CAR’s present ambassador to Russia. Due to the recent unrest, my mother had to leave Bangui for Cameroun until the situation was more settled, so as to avoid any retaliation against her being associated with a government official.

How did your vocation journey start?

When I was young, my parents used to bring me to the church and, little by little, I started feeling the call. At first, I only knew diocesan priests and I wanted to go to the minor seminary. Then my younger brother got sick and the money my father had spared for my studies was used for my brother’s care. However, I did not lose the call. I continued my studies and I asked a diocesan priest to be my spiritual director. He introduced me to the congregation of the Society of African Missions. I became close to them, but I realized that I did not identify with their spirituality.

As my spiritual director left for France, I was in contact with Sr Zenaid, a daughter of the Sacred Heart congregation and we formed a vocation group in my parish. We started meeting monthly in parishes with young people. She spoke to me about Comboni and directed me to their Parish of Fatima, in Bangui. The parish priest, Fr Leonard Djandi, from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), invited me to visit the postulancy and to know more about the Comboni missionaries. There I met Fr Isaac Chanda, from Zambia, among other members of the community. They welcomed me very well and they gave me a book about the life of St Daniel Comboni. A few months later, I joined the group of aspirants.

As I started to know the Comboni missionaries, I expressed to my father my desire of joining them. However, he was more in favour that, after my secondary studies, I would work and help the family, but I insisted on my vocational call. When I was supposed to go to the semi- nary, the war between the Seleka and anti-Balaka rebels broke out. The formators asked us to remain at home and do the pre-postulancy from outside. Finally, I could go to the seminary in July 2013.

Our community hosted people who ran away from the rebel attacks and asked for refuge. When I finished my pre-postulancy, I completed a three-year course of philosophy in the diocesan seminary of St Mark, together with members of various congregations. After graduation I was sent with another companion to the novitiate in Benin. It was a good experience for me. During that period, I had the opportunity of a three-month community experience in Paouh where Vudu is commonly practised. I had contact with its believers who explained this religion to me and I could understand it and lose my fear of it. Afterwards, we were sent to Togo, as a group of three novices. There, we shared the life and faith of the villagers, visiting them in their homes and participating in liturgies with them. Once we completed it, we returned to Benin where I professed my first vows on 4 May 2019.

How do you assess the political situation in CAR?

Since I started my formation, the political situation of my country has not been stable. Even if there is peace in the capital, the provinces do not have it. There are rebels everywhere and they take the little that the population owns. They also disturb priests and steal from the church.

At the beginning of the war, the Seleka and anti-Balaka rebels were great enemies, both supporting the two political rivals, Michel Djotodia and Francois Bozize. When one hears anti-Balaka, the first impression is that it is a Christian movement, in confrontation with the Muslims of Seleka; but the two groups are not all Christians or not all Muslims. Bozize has now united Seleka and anti-Balaka in the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC). They say that they want to build the country together in a peaceful way and overtake the actual president, Faustin Archange Touadera.

If we talk of international involvement, the United Nations (UN) soldiers have been there since the beginning of this situation, but their presence has not brought any improvement. They share guns and munitions with the rebels. Should there be peace, they would not have work, and that is why they provoke unrest. I do not see any benefit from their intervention. They are in the parish, but the rebels come and kill the priests and the Christians and they do nothing. The actual president has asked the help of Russia, Tunisia and Rwanda since the UN soldiers are doing nothing.

What about the exploitation of natural resources in the country?

Regarding the exploitation of CAR petrol, the neighbouring countries, such as Chad, Cameroun and RDC, were not happy, since they were losing their oil market and they started supporting the rebels.

The exploitation of minerals, especially gold and diamonds, used to be done by France. They requested the lion’s share of the revenues, with little remaining for CAR. Bozize objected to it: “No, we cannot accept that deal!” He then asked for an equal portion of the returns. France refused it and brought in Djotodia with the Seleka rebels to chase Bozize. However, France was not satisfied with Djotodia either, since he couldn’t prevent the Seleka from looting state properties. So, in January 2013, Djotodia stepped down. Then, France decided, in common accord with the Parliament, to bring in Catherine Sambapanza, for a six-month transitional government, but she did not have a good relationship with France either. Elections were organised in 2016 and Touadera won.

He came to realise that continuing a relationship with France would not benefit the country in terms of the exploitation of natural resources. He started a new relationship with China, Russia and other countries. As France saw that they were losing influence in CAR, they decided to disturb the peace. They contacted Bozize and brought him back from Uganda where he was in exile, with the intention of restarting their business. They created the CPC coalition aiming at removing President Touadera from power. However, Touadera sees that now it is time for CAR to exploit their own resources, 60 years after their independence.

How is the presence of the Catholic Church in CAR?

We do not know what we would have done without the Catholic Church. She is the one welcoming those attacked or those who get their houses burnt by the rebels; even Muslims find refuge in the Catholic parishes and seminaries. If it was not for the Catholic Church, a war between Muslims and Christians would have occurred. We must thank the Archbishop of Bangui, Cardinal Dieudonne Nzapalainga, the late Imam Omar Lamaya, President of the Islamic Council, and Pastor Guere Koyamet who stood united for peace. They formed the interreligious dialogue group. We saw the positive results coming from this dialogue, though the politicians were against it. The clergy from the Catholic Church talked without fear about those stumbling blocks for dialogue. The Catholic Church makes a great impact in my country.

How has been your stay in South Africa so far?

Since I arrived, I only attended classes for two months before COVID disrupted them. Apart from my theological studies, I was also appointed to do my pastoral work in the prison, but I have not been able to go there. At least I could make rapport with the dwellers of our neighbouring informal settlement of Jikadjo, in PMB. As a Comboni missionary, I have tried to see the reality and I appreciate South African culture, its people, their way of interacting and their practise of faith. As religious we have a great challenge; we need to be very creative and motivate others in their pastoral involvement.

How is your experience of living in an intercontinental community?

Yes, our community is formed by students of various continents and that is a great challenge. We need to accept others as they are and be open to learning about other cultures. As any human being, we also have our moments of confrontation or misunderstandings, but we try to take them with eyes of faith, living as apostles. What brings us together is love, so we must look at the goodness of others. If one looks at the other’s weakness, one cannot love the person. I did not experience real difficulties in my relationship with others since I came to PMB. When I arrived, I struggled with the language, but some of my companions helped me. I can say that I enjoy our religious and community life. We are open to approach each other and resolve any issue if there is any misunderstanding.

What are your first impressions of South Africa?

I see that people in South Africa have a lot of freedom, in their movements and in doing what they want. In my country, some of their behaviour would produce great scandal. We do not have the same culture, but who am I to judge others? I try to understand and to be open to this reality as a missionary. I feel that South Africa is part of our continent, though it is more developed than other African countries; here you find everything. South Africa has also more inequalities than my country. What disturbs me here is the violence against women and children. For instance, one of the sexual workers was killed in PMB because she tried to steal the phone of one of her clients. How to respond to these realities as religious is a challenge.

What is your dream as a missionary?

As a Comboni missionary, I believe that we must go out, beyond ourselves, to reach out. The world is changing and we need to be creative, to open our minds if we want to give a new pastoral answer to it and to respond to its challenges as a congregation. The mission is the gift of God and I am open to go wherever I am sent. In our missionary activity we need to promote the human being and empower them so that they may be able to help themselves. At the moment, for example in South Africa, we Comboni Missionaries do not have schools, hospitals, youth centres; we need to think if we can do something about it.