“My experience in Brazil is greatly strengthening my faith and my missionary journey. I not only give, but I also receive and learn a great deal from these people.” Sr. Gabriela Lado, a Comboni missionary, speaks to us about her work with Christian communities in the Amazon.
Missionary life has taken me far from my home country, Uganda, to the Brazilian Amazon rainforest—specifically to the municipality of Kujubim in the state of Rondônia. Although our primary work involves forming Christian communities, as Comboni missionaries, we are also committed to defending the environment.
It is not an easy task; speaking about caring for nature in such a complex context is often interpreted as opposing development. That is the view held by those who prefer to devour – and I use that word deliberately – nature for their own gain, without a thought for the poor who inhabit this land.
The large-scale cattle ranchers, operators of vast soybean plantations, major landowners, and illegal loggers exploiting these lands do nothing to support family farming or traditional fishing.
On the contrary, they bring devastation, deforestation, and the intensive use of toxic substances – particularly those associated with soybean cultivation. The consequences harm the local population; many families are forced to sell their land and move to urban outskirts, where job opportunities are scarce and they are ill-prepared for city life.
Amidst this catastrophe, I admire the people fighting to preserve the forest. These are families who do not need to destroy the forest to make a living. They protect the rivers, respect the land, and care for their environment, knowing that their lives depend on it. They commit to family farming, growing vegetables and fruit on land still free from large plantations, and take their produce to market to support their families with dignity. We maintain close contact with these families, with whom we work on a pastoral level.
As Comboni missionaries, we have set ourselves the goal of establishing small Christian communities and training their leaders. In my case, I also provide guidance to young people and to the parish groups for the Missionary Childhood and Adolescent Missionary movements. Regarding the latter, I am working to establish new groups in communities where none yet exist, to nurture a missionary spirit in children.
I seek to integrate this activity with our community work by involving the children, their group leaders, and their families in the visits we make to people’s homes. To form and build new Christian communities, we begin by visiting families – whether Christian or not. Indeed, many people do not know Jesus because they have not yet heard the Gospel message.
We want to be an “outgoing” Church – one that does not wait for people to come to us, but rather goes out to meet them, draws close to their needs, accompanies them and helps them grow in their journey of faith.
During these visits, we encounter many difficult situations – struggles with faith, material deprivation, broken families, unemployment, suffering, and illness – and we do our utmost to address these needs.
As communities begin to form, we organise weekly groups to reflect on the Word of God, and we see to catechesis and the training of local leaders. It is a task I call “ant work”—small-scale, steady, and persistent effort. Yet, little by little, families join together, small groups are formed, and from those groups, communities emerge.
At first, we are the ones who preside over the Liturgy of the Word and bring the Eucharist, but at the same time, we prepare people to carry on this mission and take on these responsibilities in the future.
When I encounter communities where children are living in need—or even suffering from hunger—I share this reality with the Missionary Childhood and Missionary Adolescence groups. These children and their families respond to the need by bringing rice, beans, or whatever else they can offer. We then revisit the families in need, sometimes inviting priests to accompany us.
Occasionally, we go with members of the Missionary Childhood group to play with the children of those families. At the end of the visit, we pray together and share the Word of God. In this way, it is not just me acting as a missionary; the children, too, are growing in this spirit.
When they are involved from a young age, they grow strong in this regard, learning that faith is not only about going to church to pray, but about combining prayer with concrete action in daily life. My experience in Brazil is greatly strengthening my faith and my missionary journey. I do not simply give; I also receive and learn a great deal from these people.
