Christmas in Kyabé
by Lindjo Joseph Alpha SJ, Côte d'Ivoire
Kyabé is located in the Lake Iro Division, in the southwest of the Republic of Chad. It is the capital of this division and is 900 km from N'Djamena, the capital of Chad. It is a rural environment where Arabic speakers live alongside the Sara-Kaba, the indigenous people of the region. The latter are mainly traders, while the former are more often farmers. Accessibility to the towns during the rainy season is almost non-existent from July to November due to the poor condition of the roads.
The parish of St Peter Claver covers an area of 17,000 km2 -more than half the size of Belgium- and serves a population of 200,000. There are 323 villages with an average of 440 inhabitants per village.
This vast parish is administered by a single priest, Father Manuel Fortuny Salas SJ, assisted by two scholastics who serve as regents. The parish is divided into four sectors: north, east, west and south. Each of these sectors includes a number of villages.
In this huge parish, some villages celebrate the Eucharist only twice a year, at Christmas and Easter. The parish priest begins to celebrate Christmas Masses on 18 December and ends his rounds on the same day.
The parish priest begins to celebrate Christmas Masses from 18 December and finishes his rounds at the end of the first week in January. The Eucharist is always a great event for the villagers. Each Christmas celebration brings together all the inhabitants of the surrounding villages. Some people travel up to 60 kilometres to attend. The host village usually provides shelter for all visitors who have to stay overnight. The priest arrives a day early to hear the confessions and to talk with the Christians. This is always a time of great spiritual renewal and sharing for them. Everyone contributes a portion of the food that will be shared during the day. The evening mass is always very lively and is followed by singing and dancing until dawn. The celebrations end after the morning mass.
During my regency at Kyabé from 2008 to 2010, I experienced these moments of sharing and community life as times of intense living for both myself and the parishioners. For me, it had a "taste of heaven". I could not help but be touched by the simple but profound faith of these communities, by their great generosity and their ardent desire to participate in the mysteries of our salvation. Since I left Kyabé, I pray that the Lord of the harvest will send more harvesters.
Lindjo Joseph Alpha
Institute of Theology of the Society of Jesus Cocody les 2 Plateaux
27 B.P. 884 Abidjan 27 Côte d'Ivoire
