EMMAUS HOUSE CWers from ALBANY NY meet South Africans they have helped - Aug 4, 2011 The Evangelist - Diocese of Albany NY's news paper
Frank Cordaro
The Evangelist - Diocese of Albany NY's news paper
EMMAUS HOUSE, ALBANY
Catholic Workers meet South Africans they have helped
BY ANGELA CAVE
STAFF WRITER
http://www.evangelist.org/archive/htm2011/0804emmaus.html
Until recently, it was only a dream for an Albany Catholic Worker
family to travel to South Africa and meet the village of Zulu people
they have been supporting for almost a decade.
Fred Boehrer and his wife, Diana Conroy, run Emmaus House in Albany.
The couple, their three children and a Schenectady priest realized
their dream this summer.
“It was very overwhelming,” said Fred Boehrer of Emmaus House after the trip.
Fundraisers in the Albany Diocese encouraged by the Catholic Workers
have supported the installation of water taps to 15 homes in the
village of KwaNdebeqheke on the east coast of South Africa. They have
also contributed toward the proper burial of AIDS victims, who had
often been wrapped in sheets and thrown in ditches.
Catholics from the Diocese have helped eight children with school
tuition, books, clothing and two meals a day each year since 2003. All
education is tuition-based in South Africa, and sometimes hard to find
in rural areas.
“We’ve seen their names on paper, and they’ve mailed some letters to
us, but to meet them in person was very special,” Mr. Boehrer said of
the children. Of the students, who range from age nine to 17, one
wants to become a doctor; another, a lawyer.
Face to face
About 200 people greeted the American group with traditional song and
dance to express their gratitude.
“We’ve been praying for these people for so long,” said Rev. Robert
Longobucco, pastor of St. Helen’s parish in Niskayuna and sacramental
minister at Our Lady of Fatima in Schenectady.
Father Longobucco, a member of the Catholic Worker community, used
money left by his late mother, Lorrie, to help fund the trip to
Africa. His parishes, Emmaus House and the Shrine Church of Our Lady
of the Americas in Albany also collected nearly 125 backpacks to
distribute to the children. A children’s Rosary group from St. Helen’s
sent along 50 rosaries.
“We know that we were carrying a community with us,” Father Longobucco
told The Evangelist. “It wasn’t just six people going there.”
The local connection to the remote South African village began when
natives Mpume Zondi and her son, Nhloso Mpontshane, turned to Emmaus
House for living space. Ms. Zondi was a visiting professor of African
studies at The University at Albany (read a previous story at
www.evangelist. org).
They lived at Emmaus House for a year — during which they described
the troubles of KwaNdebeqheke, the village of Ms. Zondi’s mother,
Celestine. In some homes in the village, children would walk a mile up
a mountain every day to collect stream water for bathing, drinking and
preparing food.
The province has a 30- to 35-percent HIV/AIDS infection rate. The
government also cites a 25-percent unemployment rate, though citizens
say it’s higher.
Grandma at work
Celestine Zondi, known as Gogo (Grandma) Zondi in her village, taught
at a Catholic school for blacks during apartheid, the former policy of
racial segregation and political and economic discrimination against
non-European groups. After retiring in 1998, Celestine Zondi opened a
preschool program and started the burial program for AIDS victims.
Now 78, she’s planning to open a soup kitchen; the Catholic Worker
community plans to buy her a freezer.
“I think she is a living saint,” Mr. Boehrer declared.
“It was really an honor” to meet her, agreed Father Longobucco. “Her
humility and her strength both show up in equal proportions.”
During the trip, the priest concelebrated a Mass in the Zulu language.
He was struck by the presence of 500 people forming a single line to
enter the church when there were only 20 cars outside.
“It felt almost biblical [in] a way we can’t represent in our
culture,” he remarked.
But communion time struck a familiar chord with the priest: “The
difference and the sameness was all-present at the same moment. That’s
the beautiful thing about being Catholic.”
The Catholic Workers knew only a dozen Zulu phrases, but were able to
sing “Siyabonga, Baba” (“Thank you, God”) at Mass.
The group stayed in a bed-and-breakfast in the city of Durban, which
is surrounded by stone walls cloaked in barbed wire left over from the
time of apartheid. Mr. Boehrer said their experience can inspire the
people of the Albany Diocese to stand in solidarity with others.
“We have a responsibility to be good stewards for each other,” he
said, “and we really felt that on this trip.”
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Fred Boeher <fred...@gmail.com>
EMMAUSnCW HOUSE
45 Trinity Pl
Albany, New York 12202
(518) 482-4966
http://albanycatholic.blogspot.com/2006/11/emmaus-house.html