Mango Madness
By Fr. Melanio Viuya Jr., cicm
Fr. Melanio Viuya Jr. cicm
It Is The Little Communities Which Create Hope
By Fr. Melanio R. Viuya, Jr. CICM
Malaria Strikes
From December till April I was supposed to visit the 69 villages of the parish in order to animate their Basic Christian Communities. Looking at my list, there were still six villages left to be visited. But this present bout of malaria prevents me from going, for the moment. Since a coin always had two sides, this illness gives me much needed rest and opportunity to write some line about my experiences in the villages.
Try the Basic Communities!
By Fr. Melanio R. Viuya Jr., CICM
I just arrived from the village of Lida, 70 kms away from the parish convent. Even on foot it’s difficult because one has to cross the forests and the rivers with my Land Cruiser. Fortunately this old and rusty vehicle still runs rather well. It has already done more than 60, 000 km on very bad roads in the forest, I guess one has to multiply every kilometer by 3 to have an accurate picture of its true suffering.
Christ is born black in ‘Zaire’
By Fr. Melanio Viuya Jr., CICM
Zaire, now called the Republic of Congo, is as big as Europe. We have all seen on Television the terrible internal civil war and the horrible plight of the Rwandan Refugees. But in the meantime life goes on. In a humble corner of the former Zaire, Fr. Viuya recalls his second Christmas away from the Philippines.
First Journey
It was my first journey to the village alone. My confreres were rather apprehensive. They gave me 15 liters of potable water, six hundred grams of rice, one hundred grams of sugar, some salt, a folding bed, a mosquito net, a loaf of bread, some medicines, and a petrol lamp. I was pretty ashamed to go to the village carrying all these. To be biblical or to be practical, that’s the question. However, I discovered later that I was necessary to bring most, if not all, of these things for in the village “there’s nothing”.
A Voice for the Voiceless
By: Fr. Melanio Viuya, Jr., CICM
Melanio Viuya was born in Tarlac, Tarlac. He joined the CICM’s and studied in Baguio and Quezon City. In this article he tells us about his mission work in Zaire as he prepares for his ordination. The strange thing is though Zaire is a fabulous wealthy country, Melanio has a different story to tell. The question is why so much poverty amidst so much wealth and what has the gospel has to say?