RDC 13 - CALLED TO SERVE
Project Location
The project takes place in four areas in the western part of the country: Bokoro, Idiofa, Kenge, and Kinshasa.
The isolated rural areas of Bokoro, Kenge, and Idiofa are characterized by limited educational and social infrastructure; long distances between villages and schools, often difficult to navigate; limited access to healthcare services, and no post-secondary education. Here, families live primarily from agriculture and small informal businesses.
In the urban area of Kinshasa, however, we find a much more complex reality, characterized by severe social inequalities and high costs for education, transportation, and housing. Young women arriving from the inland dioceses often feel disoriented and lack structured support.
In these contexts, many girls desire to embark on a journey of vocational discernment, but economic, logistical, and educational barriers risk preventing this.
Project description
The vocation to consecrated religious life represents a precious gift for the Church and the world, a prophetic sign of hope, service, and selfless love. This project was born from the desire of the Comboni Missionary Sisters to accompany young women on a journey of listening, discernment, and spiritual growth, offering spaces for authentic encounters, witnesses of fraternal life, and concrete service. The goal is to foster personal discernment, helping young women discover God's plan for their lives, with particular attention to the vocation to consecrated religious life in the Comboni Order.
The training program includes numerous trips (via local public transportation: buses and motorcycles, as the roads are very poor) to visit parishes and schools, with time for meetings, sessions, retreats, and personalized support. The program's activities include:
- Vocational testimony meetings with time for dialogue and questions.
- Discernment workshops: structured small-group sessions to help young women reexamine their history, deepest desires, and personal aptitudes in light of the Word of God.
- Service experiences: involving young women in activities for the poorest and in parishes (sharing missionary outreach).
The project's methodology is experiential and relational, integrating the sisters' direct testimony, the centrality of prayer and the Word of God, active listening, personal guidance, fraternal life, and service as a place of discernment.
Given that these projects reach very impoverished communities, we would like to support five young women who have been supported by the Comboni Missionary Sisters for some time through French language training, scholarships (partial or full), and some personal expenses.
The vocational promotion project aims to be a sign of hope and a service to the Church, offering young people the opportunity to encounter Christ and discover the beauty of a life given totally to God and the poorest, according to the charism of the Comboni Missionary Sisters.
Objectives
- Encourage and accompany girls who wish to undertake a journey of vocational discernment, offering human, Christian, Biblical, missionary, and Comboni formation in the various centers.
- Support five aspiring girls with a partial or full scholarship to begin university.
Beneficiaries
Direct: 23 young women aged 16 to 32 searching for a vocation
Indirect: families and society
Local Contribution
Families contribute:
- to the payment of the girls' syllabus and local transportation,
- to the moral and relational support of the aspirants,
- to their collaboration in training activities.
This involvement increases the sense of shared responsibility and strengthens the educational bond between families and the missionary community.
The parishes in the participating areas:
- help identify girls interested in the vocational path,
- host meetings, catechesis, retreats, and community events,
- provide a stable point of reference for the itinerant missions.
In this way, the project becomes an integral part of the pastoral life of the area.
Referent sister of the project: Sr. Shoko Luviringa Marie
Project's costs