Youth Small Christian Communities in Eastern Africa Symposium
Presented by Alloys Nyakundi, the symposium focuses on Youth Small Christian Communities (YSCCs) in Eastern Africa. YSCCs are smaller groups of young individuals based on campuses, colleges, schools, or parishes who meet weekly to share the gospel and life experiences. The symposium emphasizes the importance of creating avenues for youth to gather, reflect, and support one another through faith. The event aligns with Pope Francis' dedication to youth and underscores the need for actions to accompany words in reaching marginalized groups.
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WE CREATE THE PATH BY WALKING: YOUTH SMALL CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES IN EASTERN AFRICA YOUTH SYMPOSIUM AT TANGAZA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE ONE HAND WASHES ANOTHER HAND. (Ugandan proverb encouraging team work) What is a Youth Small Christian Community (YSCCs)? Presented By; Alloys Nyakundi
What is a Youth Small Christian Community (YSCCs)? This are smaller groups of young people which are campus based, college based, school based or parish based who meet weekly to share the gospel of God and their experiences in life.
1: See The paper is being presented by youth in the Eastern Africa Small Christian Communities Training (Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa). The youth are drawn from different universities and parishes and came together under inspiration of Mwanajumuiya Father Joseph Healey a Maryknoll missionary based in Nairobi Kenya to teach other youth on the importance of Youth Small Christian Communities (jumuiya za vijana). Basically we conduct workshops in primary and universities and parishes. Through this YSCCs we have created an avenue for the youth to meet weekly to share the gospel of the coming Sunday and relate it to what they are going through in their lives. Also after the gospel reflection they share on the challenges they are going through in life and then try to find solutions and even advice one another. Team under AMECEA secondary schools, colleges,
Cont This youth symposium comes at the right time when our Holy Father pope Francis has dedicated this year to be the years of the youth in preparation of the Synod of the youth that will take place come next year October. This according to me is showing the great love, concern and care the Pope has towards the youth who are the majority in our catholic church. Am saying the majority because if you look at most of the catholic families, more so in the African set up they have more than two children. Am writing this paper with a lot of enthusiasm hoping that this year for the youth will be handled in a different way from the year of the families where we had many sweet words, many resources used but no implementation and follow up has been made.
Cont The sayings, if you re going to talk the talk, you ve got to walk the walk, or walk it like you talk it are 20thand 21stcentury American alternatives to various old sayings which epitomize the notion that talk is cheap, for example, actions speak louder than words, practice what you preach and put your money where your mouth is. Pope Francis challenges us by the consistency of both his words and his deeds to reach out to the poorest and neediest in whatever ways we understand the meaning of these words. In particular, he challenges SCC members and others to reach out to the marginalized and those on the periphery of society. So also as the youth we decided to create the path by walking because we want to reach all the youth out there in the society and encourage them to meet and share the joy of the lord
Cont Our team came with the idea of starting YSCCs at a time when we realized that majority of the people who attend SCCs mostly are adults women. The big question at this time was where are the youth? And why don t they attend YSCCs? Happily enough we got this answers through the YSCCs workshops we started conducting in different schools, universities and parishes. Examples of the places we have conducted YSCCs workshops are Meru diocese,Wamwangi secondary in Nairobi archdiocese, Consolata Shrine parish in Nairobi archdiocese, Christ the Teacher Kenyatta University archdiocese, St. Peters parish Makindu in Machakos diocese and St Teresa of Calcutta girls high school of Machakos diocese. Below are the findings on why the youth don t enjoy attending the YSCCs and even the church. Parish in Nairobi
BELOW ARE DIFFERENT CASE STUDIES OFYSCCs Report on the Youth Small Christian Communities (YSCCs) at Kenyatta University Christ the Teacher Catholic Parish in Nairobi, Kenya ByAlloys Nyakundi
Kenyatta University Catholic Church in Nairobi, Kenya has nine Small Christian Communities in which the students are the main stake holders followed by Kenyatta University staff. It is also an example of school-based or campus-based Youth Small Christian Communities (YSCCs). Our Chaplain is Father Lance Nadeau, MM who is anAmerican Maryknoll priest. The nine Youth Small Christian Communities (YSCCs) are: 1. St Dominic 2. St Patrick 3. St Francis 4. St Catherine of Siena 5. St Michael 6. St Augustine 7. Cardinal Otunga 8. St Perpetual of Felicity 9. St Ann
The entire YSCCs meet weekly on Wednesday as from 6:45 pm to 8:45 pm inside the campus in various lecture halls that are booked at the start of the semester except St Ann s which meets on Thursday. St Dominic comprises students who stay outside the campus. St Patrick and St Ann comprise students who study at the Ruiru Campus which is a branch of Kenyatta University. St Francis, St Catherine of Siena, St Perpetual, Felicity and St Michael are for students who stay inside the campus. Cardinal Otunga is for the alumni and lastly St Augustine is for those who are not students.
YSCC LEADERSHIP HIERACHY 1. Coordinator 2. Vice Coordinator 3. Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) Representative 4. Treasurer 5. Secretary 6. Publicity Secretary See a write-up and photos of the activities of these nine YSCCs on the Christ the Teacher Parish, Kenyatta University Website, http://www.kucatholic.or.ke.
SCCs are also divided into smaller groups called families of fifteen students or Family SCCs. The larger YSCCs of about thirty people meet once in a week (every Wednesday). The smaller families also meet once in a week on a day of their choice that doesn t collide with the day of the YSCCs meeting. I want to use an example of St Dominic that has four families: St Jude, St Patrick, St John and St Maria Goretti. St Patrick meets on Monday evening, St John meets on Thursday evening, St Jude and St Maria Goretti meet on Sunday evening. In the Family SCCs we also share and reflect on the gospel of the coming Sunday. We do more sharing and solving problems facing us as students. Families also meet at different hostels where the students stay.
FAMILY LEADERSHIP HIERACHY 1. Father 2. Mother 3. Secretary 4. Treasurer
PROGRAM OF THE WEEKLY YSCCs 6:45 pm to 7:10 pm Rosary prayer 7:10 pm to 7:20 pm Song session 7:20 pm to 7:50 pm Reading of the gospel of the coming Sunday 7:50 pm to 8:20 pm Topic of discussion or a debate 8:20 pm to 8:30 pm Announcements 8:30 pm to 8:45 pm AOBs, final prayers and departure to our rooms
YSCCs ACTIVITIES Our throughout the semester that bond us together both to the community and to our fellow students. For example: jumuiyas carry various activities
#1 Charity work: YSCCs conduct various charitable activities, for example visiting the children s homes, visiting prisoners, visiting the sick in hospitals and visiting the physically challenged, i.e. the blind. St. Dominic YSCC members from Kenyatta University washing clothes while doing charity work at the House of Mercy Children's Home in Nairobi, Kenya on Saturday, 15 October, 2016.
#2 Animation of mass Every YSCC is given a chance to animate mass every new semester through various ways for example, dancing, prepare for the prayers of the faithful and arranging chairs in the church. Through this the YSCCs are involved fully in preparation of mass and church activities.
#3 Fun day and end of semester bash YSCCs organize get together which breaks the monotony of the status quo. Once or twice they organize for fun activities for example, dance, play football and have a meal together. They finally end the semester with a bash where they share about their challenges and their strengths. They also cook food which they eat together and even give some awards to their leaders.
#4 Visiting and helping fellow YSCCs members. All YSCCs have organized a way in which we visit some of our friends who have problems. If a friend is sick, we choose some YSCC members to go on behalf of the YSCC to see him or her. We make some little contribution which is given to that person. Sometimes fundraising to help some of our members who are unable to clear their fees, their rent and even buy food for those who don t have food as some of us come from different backgrounds and the majority from poor homes. we also organize
COMMUNICATION The YSCCs in Kenyatta University use various ways to continue sharing even after our YSCC and family meetings. Bearing in mind that the majority have embraced technology, we try to use social media in spreading the gospel such as the daily readings. There are Face book Pages and every YSCC has its own WhatsApp.
FINANCES University throughout the semester and they all need money. Most of our finances come from the student contributions. Then friends and people of good will, for example Mwanajumuiya Father Joseph Healey a Maryknoll priest, once in a while support our activities in terms of financing some of them. We ensure there is accountability, transparency and openness in handling our finances by writing a report to the Parish Pastoral Council on how we spent our finances. Kenyatta carries many activities
#1 Mixing of the YSCCs model of church and other small apostolic groups of the church, for example, the Charismatic Group, Evangelizers of the Word, dance troop, choir, Legion of Mary and many others. Sometimes people confuse these small groups with YSCCs. Since they feel comfortable belonging to one of these small apostolic groups, they don t see the importance of the YSCCs. Also, the two models sometimes collide.
#2 Some students see YSCCs as a waste of time. They don t set aside time for attending the YSCCs and keep them busy elsewhere -- sometimes doing nothing.
#2 Poverty, i.e. most of the students comes from poor humble families whereby meeting the demands of daily living is a challenge. This hinders them from contributing to the activities of the YSCCs.
WHAT MOST YOUTH WANT ADDRESSED IN THE YSCCS During both meetings, the members read and reflect on the Gospel of the coming Sunday. Each YSCC has got social media platforms where they share the daily readings, announcements from the six YSCCs and parish events. These forums include WhatsApp, facebook and Skype.
Based on our experiences, the youths have certain topics that they like to discuss during their meetings. Some of these topics include: they feel that these topics cannot be discussed alongside grownups hence the need for introduction of YSCC. Sex and dating (especially boy-girl relationships) Job opportunities. The Issue of unemployment have been on the rise and hence then youth like to debate around job opportunities and income generating activities. Sports and Use of leisure time. Most of the youth spend their free time in gambling games that end up wasting a lot of their time and money. Justice and peace. Many topics related to justice and peace is clustered around politics, especially during this year, 2017, the main topic discussed by the youth is his general elections. Social media trends. The youth today spend most of their time on social media platforms such as twitter and Facebook where they get their information such as the trending topics Popular music and fashion video games, Social network and information technology.
CHALLENGES A big number becomes a very big challenge. Based on the example of the Small Christian Communities in Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya most SCCs have more than 100 members. If you try to divide the members, some are not ready to move out of these SCCs. Some may even stop attending SCCs due to the attachment they have already created with their fellow members. This becomes a challenge, however to solve this SCCs in Kenyatta University are further divided into families which consist of 10-15 members and it basically functions as an SCC... Members are attached strongly to their specific SCCs. How to answer challenges from their Protestant friends especially Pentecostals on the Bible, Catholic Church teachings, etc. University has different denominations where each attracts a good number of students. These poses a challenge to the catholic youth in answering the many questions posed to tem y the members of these other denominations. Recent research shows this is the main reason that African Catholic youth want to learn more about the Bible. Kenyatta
Fund raising projects (money). members of the YSCs in Kenyatta University are students, it is a great challenge for them to raise the funds needed for different projects within the SCC such as conducting charity works and purchase of SCC garments. Issue of long range goals and achievements and how to be financially successful in life is also a challenge. Generation gap communications problems between themselves and their parents. Politics this is always a fascinating topic in SCCs, especially connected to election time in African countries, this is because of the divergent political views held by different individuals. Culture including African ethnic group identity and challenges and pop culture especially in cities. Since most of the
IMPORTANCE OF YSCCs Prayer-when people come together during sacs, they are able to pray for each other s needs ad to encourage each other through the word of God. Spiritual growth-in SCCs, there is the centrality of the word of God. This helps in improving the faith of Christians through the sharing of the word of God and relating it to their spiritual life. Togetherness and living as a family. In the YSCCs, the members live with each other as a family hence enhancing unity. Encouragement- members of an YSCC consult and support each other during hard times such as bereavement.
Happiness. Members of SCCs share happy moments during activities such as cultural nights, parties, outings amongst others. Support of the needy students. SCCs in Kenyatta University have a welfare committee headed by the vice chairperson which caters for the needs of students for example finance, emotional, psychological and food.
Nurturing and molding. YSCCs shape behavior and moral of students in Kenyatta University hence the members do not engage in uncouth behavior such as strikes. Learning the Catholic faith. Through YSCCs, the members learn the catholic teachings hence this deepens their understanding of the catholic faith .For instance, within the Kenyatta University Chaplaincy, there is a group called the Evangelizers of the Word, which educates the SCC members on the catholic faith.
Activities undertaken by members of YSCCS a. Charity work such as visiting children homes and hospitals that includes cleaning the compound, washing clothes and giving out food. b. During SCC meetings, they have prayer partners. c. Smaller family-type groups in the SCCs where students visit each other in their rooms to pray and share about their daily problems and challenges d. Door to door visitations to get more students to join the SCCs. e. Helping new students to get settled on the KU campus, to foster a good spiritual life and to cope with various challenges. f. Mass animation on Sundays. This includes participating in the liturgical dancing, reading the Bible, taking part in the prayers of the faithful and arranging the church after mass
MERU DIOCESE WORKSHOP FINDINGS They fear the adults They get bored They don t know the meaning of prayers and importance of SCCs. Our behaviors as Christians discourages them They are not exposed to meeting many people and this makes them shy off. They see the SCC to be for the adults. Because in some of the SCC women are the majority and this makes the youth to fear. If there are no family prayers in a family then the youth don t see the importance of SCCs.
REPORT ON YOUTH SMALL CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES IN CALCUTTA GIRLS SECONDARY SCHOOL, MAKINDU PARISH, MACHAKOS DIOCESE By Alloys Nyakundi
St. Teresa of Calcutta girls secondary school, Makindu Parish, Machakos Diocese, Kenya has seven Youth Small Christian Communities in which the students are the main stake holders followed by staff. It is also an example of school- based Youth Small (YSCCs). Our Chaplain is Father Mathew Yakan, who is anApostles of Jesus priest. Christian Communities
The seven Youth Small Christian Communities (YSCCs) are: 1. ST. MICHAEL 2. ST. PAUL 3. ST. MARTINS 4. ST. ANGELUS 5. ST. AUGUSTINE 6. ST. TERESA 7. ST. JUD The entire YSCCs meet weekly on Sunday afternoon as from 2:50 pm to 4:00 pm inside the school in various places e.g. dining hall and outside classes.
YSCC LEADERSHIP HIERACHY 1: Coordinator 2: Vice Coordinator 3: Secretary PROGRAM OF THE WEEKLY YSCCs 3:00 pm to 3:10 pm Opening prayer and sharing of our past week experiences. 3:10 pm to 3:40 pm Reading the gospel of the coming Sunday 3:40 pm to 4:00 pm Topic of discussion and final prayers
TOPICS THE YOUNG GIRLS LIKE TO DISCUSS Sexuality Peer pressure Life after school Impact of social media to the youth Unfaithfulness in many families Single families
REPORT ON HOLY CROSS CATHOLIC PARISH DANDORA YOUTH YSCC Dandora parish has six Communities and it s an example of Parish based Youth Small Christian Communities. The six small Christian communities are: 1. St. Kizito (Region1) 2. St Gonzaga Gonza (region 2) 3. St. Marcelino (Region 4B) 4. St. Perpetual (Region 4A) 5. St .Achille kiwanuka (Region 3) 6. St. Sylvester 1st (Region 5) Youth Small Christian
St. Banabakintu was the first Youth Small Christian Community which started in the year 1995, later it became large and it was subdivided into St.Kizito and St. Gonzaga Gonza in 1998 and 1999 respectively. Thereafter St. Buzabalwayo and St. Bazekuketa were also formed in 1999. St. Buzablwayo was subdivided into St. Achille kiwanuka and St. Sylvester while St. Bazekuketa was subdivided into St. Marcelino and St. Perpetual respectively.
Initially there were three Youth Small Christian CoSt. Banabakintu 1. St. Buzabalwayo 2. St. mmunities namely: 3. Bazzekuketa
LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE All six YSCCs have an average membership of thirty people and they meet once in every month with their parents from their region to deliberate and plan for the coming months activities. The leadership structure of the YSCCs is as follows; Chairperson, Vice- chairperson, Secretary, Vice/organizing Treasurer. NB: All YSCCs form the parish youth group they meets on Sundays 3:00pm.
PROGRAM OF THE YSCCs 3pm-3.30pm. rosary 3.30pm-3.40pm. 3.40pm-4.15pm coming Sunday s gospel 4.15pm-4.30pm 4.30pm-5.00pm discussion 5.00pm-5.15pm Opening prayers/praying the Praise and worship Reading and sharing of the Prayer partners Bonding session/day's topic AOB/Closing prayers
BENEFITS OF PARISH BASED YOUTH YSCCs *Promotes cohesion and peace amongst the youth. *Encourages team work through various joint youth activities. *Nurtures talents through inter Youth Small Christian Communities sports and games. *Teaching of positive morals and lifestyle change through various seminars. *The youth also help one another to know how to pray and read the Bible.
CHALLENGES *There are no proper programs that can assist the youth get some income for their personal upkeep. *Increasing number of young parents in the YSCCs *some leaders are not really committed to provide good leadership in YSCCs *Tribalism is rampant in the YSCCs. *Political intolerance especially now that we are in an election year. *Many youth are not very keen on sacrificing their Sunday afternoons to attend YSCCs
EMERGING TRENDS IN THE PARISH BASED YOUTH SCCs *Social media has made it easier to reach members who might be away but are still part of the YSCCs. *Many parishes are now realizing the importance of having YSCCs for the youth unlike in the past where they were mixing with their parents *Through the YSCCs many are discovering their vocations in life.
JUDGMENT In our judgment and view from the above case studies it s very clear that Youth Small Christian Communities are and will be vital in our Catholic church. I ask our Pope, Bishops, Priests and the Lay people to support the youth in their quest to form YSCCs.
IMPORTANCE OF YOUTH SMALL CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES Helps youth Catholics feel that they are the church and more responsible for the church life and decision making. It is evident that the youth small Christian communities encourage stronger interpersonal relationships, acceptance of the Word of God, review of life and reflection upon reality in light of the Gospel. They are agents of evangelization Promote the use of the Bible among the youth i.e. many SCCs are called lectionary based SCCs meaning in their weekly meetings they use the gospel of the coming Sunday. Opens an avenue for the youth to pray and listen to God. It s a place where we meet and share the needs, experiences and really life issues for example sex, boy girl relationship, media, gambling and employment. Through the youth small Christian communities the members are encouraged to be responsible and also take responsibilities. SCCs are agents of reconciliation and the SCC is itself both a path and a place of reconciliation.
ACTION Starting a nationwide campaign in all catholic parishes to spearhead the forming of YSCCs Make YSSCs more appealing by having programs that will also benefit the members socially, economically and psychologically. Conducting YSCCs workshops at different parishes, Dioceses and schools. Below is also a reference and hyperlink to our Small Christian Communities (SCCs) Website (including Communities Facebook www.smallchristiancommunities.org and Facebook page: https://www.com/www.smallchristiancommunities.org . You can access the free online ebook, articles and our activities on SCCs in EasternAfrica. In our website. Global Small Page). Collaborative Christian Website: the
CONTACT PERSONS 1. Makindu, Kenya Kenya Email: alloysnyakundi8@gmail.com Smartphone: 0711-954980 Skype: mbegeraalloysnyakundi@gmail.com Mr. Alloys Nyakundi 2. Nancy Njehia, Muranga, Kenya Smartphone 0707079759 Email:nancynjehia2@gmail.com 3. Everline Nyaituga, Nairobi, Kenya Smartphone: 0711166011 Email: everlnenyaituga@gmail.com 4. Brian Omondi Nairobi, Kenya Smartphone: 0713998334 Email: brianjamesomondi@gmail.com
