“As if it were today” | Tales from Muhanga 8
From the diary of Father Giovanni Piumatti during his time in Muhanga (North Kivu). Reflections still relevant today
Being present: a simple lesson…
On Sunday morning Concetta, Enrica and I were at Mass.
I followed a very beautiful scene, which is not a distraction.
In the first pew came a mother with the baby in the stroller; the mother, standing or sitting, held her hand on the stroller and rocked it slowly.
The baby did not whine, much less throw tantrums. He was very quiet, yet mommy would not stop rocking the stroller, gently; every now and then the baby would stand up a little, reach his little hand back, because mommy standing behind him he could not see her, and mommy would take his little hand.
That was it.
A thought popped into my mind.
Mommy simply wanted him to feel that … she was present !
That rocking was a big thing: it told him that he was not alone.
In that mixture of singing, talking and praying, Mother was beside him, she was with him. And she made him feel it, even without being asked and even without handing her the cookie right away.
And he felt it gratefully, that’s why he reached out his little hand to her, without asking for the candy.
There! To stay in Muhanga, to come to Muhanga, for a month or more is exactly that. For me and for you. Today this is the most important and urgent thing ; I have said it many times before, because I am really convinced of it.
Muhanga is not all of Africa, but Muhanga is Africa.
What does he expect from us ?
I think he expects this gesture that I have contemplated.
It is not the case to feel or act like mom in front of the poor little brunette baby. Even more than mom, that woman I was contemplating was the friend, the sister present: one step ahead of feeling.
That rocking of the stroller said that it is not necessary to do who knows what.
If you really have a desire to say “I’m there!” anything can say it; it is not necessary and it is not enough to text with 2 euros, it is not enough and it is not necessary to forage UNICEF or create a non-profit organization; but it is necessary to create that rocking, that it is also a physical gesture, that you touch, that it is seen, that it lasts....
(Father John Piumatti, Nov. 20, 2016)
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Source and image
- G. Piumatti, Muhanga. Parole e storie d’Africa, pp. 420-421