On June 2, 2008, a solemn high Mass was celebrated at the chapel of the Lomé provincial house, presided over by Archbishop Michael BLUME, the Nuncio in Benin and Togo, with almost all the confreres of the new TOG province, the postulants and a good number of SSpS sisters in attendance, to mark the transition of Togo/Benin from being a Region to a Province. From the Eucharistic table, the gathering proceeded to another one with an agape that evening. On June 3, the confreres came together to finalize the text of the updated vision-mission statement of the new province, on which district communities were working since the general visitation last November. Then the provincial council, in its very first meeting, adopted it unanimously.

With TOG becoming a province, AFRAM now has six Provinces:

GHA (1977), CNG (1977), ANG (1993), BOT (1993), KEN (1999) and TOG (2008), one Region (MAD, 1994) now with a council of five instead of three, and three Missions MOZ (1997), TCD (2004) and the newest ZIM (2008). We are present in 14 countries in the Zone with more than five hundred confreres.

(Xene A. Sanchez)

Prophetic dialogue is a buzz word in our congregation. And rightly so, life is a dialogue at all times. In that dialogue of action/day-to-day life, where people of goodwill irrespective of religious, cultural, ethnic or any other differences come together and work toward a common good, is a crucial one. Such a dialogue of action/ day-to-day life is in progress between Soweto Catholic School and a group of Kenyans, mainly of Indian descent living in Nairobi, predominantly with Hindu and Sikh religious backgrounds. The school management in Soweto has been looking forward to starting a mid-day meal program to enhance the learning ability of the pupils, about 540 in number. However this intention, for a long time, remained a distant dream due to lack of funds. Imagine feeding over 500 children daily! With the meager fees of 5100/- Shillings that the children pay for the whole year, even paying a decent salary to the teachers has and continues to remain a challenge. However, with the help of a group of Kenyans, mainly of Indian descent living in Nairobi, the feeding program was introduced in May 2007 and is still running, with certain challenges. When it was introduced, neither we nor the collaborators thought it could be sustained for this long. Even amidst the great struggle to get and sustain a chain of donors to continue the program, through selfless effort of many, especially a youth wing of Sikh religion, the mid-day meal program goes on rather well. They make occasional donations of maize, rice, cereals, cooking fat and some sports items. And our dialogue of dayto-day life to find new partners/ collaborators remains as constant and steady as ever.

(Mervin Neronha)