{"id":19614,"date":"2016-12-19T17:32:36","date_gmt":"2016-12-19T17:32:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wearelikeyou.org\/?p=19614"},"modified":"2016-12-27T20:38:11","modified_gmt":"2016-12-27T20:38:11","slug":"sisters-hospitallers-celebrates-the-50th-anniversary-of-their-arrival-to-liberia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wearelikeyou.org\/en\/sisters-hospitallers-celebrates-the-50th-anniversary-of-their-arrival-to-liberia\/","title":{"rendered":"Sisters Hospitallers celebrate the 50th anniversary of their arrival to Liberia"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was December 26th when the first community of Sisters Hospitallers was settled in Virginia, an outer area of Monrovia, Liberia. Four women, four sisters, brought the seed of hospitality to that fertile land that soon embraced them. They were Sr.\u00a0Mar\u00eda Jes\u00fas N\u00fa\u00f1ez<\/strong> (R.I.P.), Sr. Carmen Lasa<\/strong>, Sr. Consuelo Zazpe<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Sr. Clotilde Elvira<\/strong> who, sheltering orphans and abandoned children, embodied those words from that our founder Mar\u00eda Josefa Recio said to the first sisters then, and now to all of us, “be charitable\u00a0with them… and be like real mothers for them”.<\/p>\n

50 years of service, 50 years of hospitality, 50 years in which the happiness that sprouts from walking with the last ones can be inhaled in every corner of our community in Liberia.<\/p>\n

It\u00b4s been 50 years walking with impoverished but hopeful people, in a place where diseases and wars haven\u00b4t been able to beat life. Today we look back with grateful eyes because it\u00b4s our past, our History, what encourages\u00a0us to walk, to keep on announcing that God\u00b4s Kingdom \u00a0has come, that a different world is possible.<\/p>\n

December 8th was the day. The community house and the health center at Pipeline were stiffed up to celebrate the Golden Jubilee. From early in the morning, it was a day to express gratitude for the dedication of so many sisters, collaborators and volunteers who have made possible the task of the Hospitallers in Liberia. And of course, it was a day to remember all those children\u00a0and patients who were and are the focus point of the hospitaller mission. They are, as Saint Benedict Menni reminds us, the living images of Jesus.<\/p>\n

The Mass was celebrated together by the Archbishop of Monrovia, Rev. Lewis Ziegler<\/strong>, the Bishops from the two closest dioceses and the Apostolic Nuncio,\u00a0H. E.\u00a0Miroslaw Adamczyk<\/strong>. Many Liberian priests and religious communities, along with staff\u00a0and the local Parish community joined the sisters to celebrate that day. Many boys and girls who stayed at the center, now adults, didn\u00b4t want to miss the celebration, either.<\/p>\n

The General Government was represented by Sr. Ana Luc\u00eda Castro<\/strong>, third General Counsellor, and from the Provincial Government came Sr. Bego\u00f1a P\u00e9rez<\/strong> and the Provincial Secretary Sr. Ana Mar\u00eda Oroz<\/strong>. Sr. Lourdes Sanz<\/strong>, representative of the Provincial for Africa, came from Foso, Ghana. From Spain<\/a>, along with Sr. Monserrat Esparza<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Mikel Tellaeche<\/strong>, Superior and CEO of the Aita Menni Hospital, five volunteers came, all of them members of the We Are Like You<\/a><\/strong> project that helps the Saint Benedict Menni Center in Monrovia.<\/p>\n

\"Volunteers<\/a>

Volunteers from Aita Menni, with Sisters Hospitallers from Liberia, Spain and England<\/p><\/div>\n

Words of gratitude from the Archbishop touched more than one. The Mass became a happy party where the gathering\u00a0of a huge family was celebrated with african songs.<\/p>\n

After the speeches from representatives of civil and religious bodies, the fun part started. The children who stayed at the Center years ago sang a Spanish song learned from the sisters, and it was very moving. The current staff from the Health Center sang a song as well, and the Spanish volunteers played a small act where the establishment\u00a0of the Order was related. A local musician, Emanda B., dedicated a song to Sisters Hospitallers, and a soccer match with the Liberian Amputee Team served as\u00a0final event of a day full of\u00a0strong feelings.<\/p>\n

\"Theater<\/a>

Theater play on the establishment of Sisters Hospitallers<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Soccer<\/a>

Soccer players<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Soccer<\/a>

Soccer match<\/p><\/div>\n

The community in Liberia keeps on walking and welcoming. Keeps on dreaming on new projects for the Liberian people.\u00a0There were four the first to come in 1966; 50 years later, in 2016, it\u00b4s Sr. Florence Adevor<\/strong>, Sr. Inca Gonz\u00e1lez<\/strong> and Sr. Colette Banka<\/strong> who keep the hospitality doors opened. Let\u00b4s stay, we the Hospitaller family, “united all in heart”, as Sr. Mar\u00eda Angustias Gim\u00e9nez<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n

On December 10th, a\u00a0pilgrimage to Virginia, organized by the Diocese of Monrovia set the end to the events of the 50th anniversary of the arrival\u00a0of Sisters Hospitallers to Liberia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was December 26th when the first community of Sisters Hospitallers was settled in Virginia, an outer area of Monrovia, Liberia. Four women, four sisters, brought the seed of hospitality to that fertile land that soon embraced them. They were Sr.\u00a0Mar\u00eda Jes\u00fas N\u00fa\u00f1ez (R.I.P.), Sr….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":228,"featured_media":19576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sisters-hospitallers"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wearelikeyou.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wearelikeyou.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wearelikeyou.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wearelikeyou.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/228"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wearelikeyou.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19614"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.wearelikeyou.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19623,"href":"https:\/\/www.wearelikeyou.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19614\/revisions\/19623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wearelikeyou.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wearelikeyou.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wearelikeyou.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wearelikeyou.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}