During his public ministry, Jesus showed particular affection for those who suffered most. The sick, the blind, the wounded came to him because he possessed a healing power that made them whole.
Two thousand years later, the Church he founded follows in the footsteps of her Master. This is how Faith and Light began and spread across the world.
The African continent offers a powerful example. The first communities were founded by missionaries who had encountered this movement in Europe. Word spread. The vision took hold. Communities multiplied.
It is beautiful to know that God loves us—and people with disabilities—in such a special way. He loves the poorest among us and tells us that every person possesses inherent worth. But that worth must be discovered. Over time, despite the enormous difficulties of reaching across Africa, Faith and Light became a reality: more than two hundred communities in twenty African countries.
- Read also: Faith and Light communities around the world, today
We have supported Faith and Light in Africa for about nine years. With our African brothers and sisters, we have encountered loneliness, war, and famine—but also great joy. Africa is among the world's poorest regions and faces immense challenges. Yet these communities stand as beacons of hope and happiness, in the teeth of hardship. Father Lelo, who serves the community in Luena, Angola, bears witness to this. That community has existed for seven years, though we have never been able to visit. It has lived through war, hunger, and disease. Some of its members have been killed. Still the community holds fast to its path of faithfulness to the Father's love for his weakest children.
We believe it is important to share something of what we have learned in this vast and troubled continent.
Consider Rwanda, where genocide destroyed most families or sent them fleeing. When the war ended, community members faced a tragic reality. Countless disabled people lived in the streets, having lost their families. This is why Emilia and her mother now belong to a community in Burkina Faso. In these communities, the number of disabled members is staggering—forty to fifty people, most of them orphans.
They call those who welcome them into their families "God-Father."
This story is not unique to Rwanda. It echoes across the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the Kivu region. We visited Burundi recently and found parents who had walked vast distances, carrying their disabled children, simply to attend a community gathering. They expected nothing material—though they needed nearly everything. Yet for their peace of mind, their sense of belonging, this meeting was essential. "Papa Mumbo," a member of the Lubumbashi community in the D.R.C., told us this when we asked what Faith and Light had given him.
We cannot forget the testimony of Emilia's mother, shared at a training session we held in Burkina Faso.
This young mother was alone. Her husband had left for Côte d'Ivoire to find work. Both his family and her own had rejected her. Not only in Burkina Faso, but across much of Africa, a disabled child is seen as a curse to be eliminated. Her family imposed an ultimatum: they even gave her poison to kill the girl. Emilia's mother told us that God had given her this daughter as a test of faith, and she was determined to fight for her. The community, she said, gave her the strength to do it.
Jesus is truly present in these communities. His love is real. We can almost touch it.
Africa now has one main zone comprising South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. A secondary zone connects Kenya and Uganda (both English-speaking countries). Communities have not been established elsewhere—not only because of vast distances, but also because of political, linguistic, and ethnic tensions between neighboring nations.
Political instability in most of these countries makes communication between them—and with the outside world—nearly impossible. Months can pass without anyone knowing whether mail has arrived. Visiting can require endless waiting. Five days after our last trip to Burundi in September 2000, when we went to visit two of the oldest communities and assess the country's needs, over two hundred people were killed.
Africa is a powder keg. Peace today can give way to war tomorrow.
We must maintain constant vigilance to understand even a little of this reality.
- Maria J. Souto Neves, 2003