Marist Messenger

The Archdiocese of Cotabato has a population of 1.5 million people living in three provinces: Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato. Of the population, 48% is Catholic and 47% is Muslim. The rest belong to the other religions and to the Indigenous Peoples. It is estimated that 60% of families live below the poverty line. This is particularly true of the Indigenous Peoples who are mostly Tedurays, Manobos, and Bilians. These live in the mountain areas of the Archdiocese. Many Christians have settled there, too, in the last 30years. Travel and communication in these relatively remote areas are very difficult, making it even more difficult to cope with problems of sheer economic survival.

I was born in a small rural village called Wedza, in the Mashonaland province on the Eastern highland region of Zimbabwe on the 31st of May 1967 and I am turning 39 years in a few days time. The average life expectancy of an African woman in Zimbabwe is now 34 years and for the African male 37 years due to HIV and AIDS. So I am glad to say that I am well past the die-by date.

This phrase ’boundary riding for the Pope’ was used by the late Fr Ron O’Gorman to describe his ministry in South Westland, a remote parish in the South Island of New Zealand. This colourful and adventurous priest was known to visit his flock on horseback, and among other things climbed to the summit of Mt Cook, and was one of the pioneer chaplains to Antarctica.

Walking into the adjoining room, I gazed at the young person bending intently over the old guitar, fingers curled around its neck, while the right hand caressed music from the strings. Suddenly my mind was taken back to the time when I fulfilled a long-held dream to own a guitar.

Today it is mostly a pedestrian city – buses run along the two main streets and only those who live in the city are permitted to bring cars into the central region. Narrow cobbled streets and a proliferation of churches – many of which ring bells at important times of the day from about 7.00 am to 7.00 pm – all contribute to the sense of delight at living in such a place. The most common building material is brick; simple red brick was used by the Romans and this was the material for nearly all of the thirty and more churches in the city. Many of the buildings, given the age of the town, have an air of decay, but then many others are in the throes of renovation and restoration. Mostly the restoration consists of plastering, or replastering, over the bricks – improves weather resistance perhaps – but an engaging feature of this updating process is the leaving of elements of the original brickwork exposed through ‘windows’ in the plaster covering.