Following the tradition of the Society, for the
members to be equipped with two languages or more, it was high time we were to
seal the academic journey by going to the source. French being very important,
is the key statement one always refers to create the urge and thirst for it, as
we continue to aspire to join the royal kingdom of service. The journey to and fro’ was accompanied by the goal
of coming back to Jinja more eloquent in French than before in the lifetime.
The early returning one month before the
culmination of the long holiday was proved to have been worthy of being
sacrificed. Being a month of cold weather, the moan was always; “aujourdhui,
il fait froid”, ‘it is cold today’. Some days the expression went further
with correspondence to the weather, ‘aujourdhui, il fait très froid’,
‘it is very cold today’. All this made life in foreign countries both enjoyable
and an arena of learning a lot.
In Kimisagara, Kigali, the one-week stay in the
community created a better picture and environment of being a missionary. With
different confreres present, they cordially did their best to create a splendid
moment for our urge to learn this beautiful language. Being given a warm
welcome and a clear proceeding, we were ready to continue with the voyage we
had started since the year 2016. The location of house,
on one of the gorgeous hills of the country, gave a tranquil view of the whole
city and a clear invitation to explore other areas as we insert into the
society; of which I believe is one of the effective ways of learning a
language. Interacting with this beautiful creation of God was not the only way
but class time needs to be credited for its impact. Much credit to Monsieur Landry,
the lecturer in Kigali for his incredible work and the base he established as
we proceeded to “the Great Bukavu”. Merci beaucoup monsieur!
Enjoying the beautiful scenery in Rwanda’s capital
was not terminated there but advanced as we journeyed through the hills and the
beautiful escarpments towards Rusizi-Ruzizi border. Luckily, there being no
great population as postulated before, the processing and crossing over was
swift. We crossed safely as others, among our very group were ‘warmly welcomed’
to the prodigious land of Republique Democratic du Congo. The Grand
Maison not to be further than 200 M from the border, the walking
distance was quite gratifying as we got the chance to
hear the ‘Kiswahili of Congo’- Congolese Swahili. It was fun as some of the
Swahili speakers among ourselves laughed at the language as we compared it and
even calling it ‘dead Swahili’ in correspondence to the statement; ‘Swahili was
born in Tanzania, grew up in Kenya, fell sick in Uganda and later buried in
Congo’. Again, this was just for fun as we all strive to be joyful and
thereafter achieving the ultimate goal, happiness.
The three weeks were noteworthy days for the
continuous discernment process. Aided by many factors present in the area, we
all came to an agreement that we
learnt a lot and not just French, a language. With the help of Aimé Milenge,
the enseignant in Congo, all went well. It will always continue
to be our pleasure to continue to relate with these beautiful creation of God
in Congo. God bless all who made the stay more comfortable in Bukavu. The
natural features such as the Lake Kivu, the immediate feature, and Rwanda
across it, made the place far much more beautiful.
Sincerely, it was a boundless experience for many
of us, if not all. We thank the Almighty God for the moment of learning in the
two beautiful countries and for enabling us to journey to and fro’ safely after
the enjoyable arena of expounding knowledge. The extension of the gratitude
goes to the formators on behalf of the Society of the Missionaries of Africa
for believing in us. Lastly,
appreciation goes to all who were involved both directly (and not mentioned
above) and indirectly, for their inordinate support in order for us to have
this phenomenal experience. We will live to cherish that moment as we aspire to
be multilingual people, equipped well for the fulfilment of God’s mission
wherever He will send us to attend to His creation.
