CONGRATULATIONS FROM THE AFRAM ZONE

Dear fellow Coordinators,

Heartfelt greetings from the AFRAM Zone!

Congratulations for your election as Area Coordinator in the AFRAM Zone.

With due respect to the Statutes of the Zone and the Guidelines and Principles for Zones in the SVD 4.4.4.4 (cf. Manual for Superiors) I had to wait for all your respective provincials to appoint you officially as Area Coordinators before I could get in contact with you. Finally the list was completed in the end of April.

It is my great joy to CONGRATULATE you as Area Coordinator of the Zone. Your election was a fruit of a long process and of lots of discernment. First, the coordinators of the provinces, regions and missions were asked to propose candidates; second a list has been established and submitted to the Zonal Assembly members, third the Major Superiors after consultation with his council asked you whether you were willing to be a candidate; fourth, they gathered together to retain from the long list three or four names; fifth there were elections in the Zonal Assembly and you were chosen; sixth, it was noted by the Generalate and seventh, you were informed and appointed by your provincial/regional.

The AFRAM Zonal Assembly took place in Lomé, Togo last 7-13 February 2010. Two of the Area Coordinators were reelected as well as the Zonal Coordinator. Here is the line-up of the Coordinating members of the Zonal Assembly 2010-2013:

Chairman of the Executive Committee              Fr. Zeferino Zeca Martins (Prov. ANG)

Vice-Chairman                                                   Fr. Tadeusz Grenda (Mission Sup. ZIM)

Zonal Coordinator                                              Fr. Xene Sanchez (CNG)

Area Coordinators:

Formation and Brothers’ contact person            Br. Guy Mazola (CNG)

Communications                                                 Fr. Mirek Wolodko (TOG)

JPIC                                                                    Br. João Fortunato Facatino (ANG)

Mission Animation                                             Br. Rudy Chamenyi (GHA)

Biblical Pastoral Ministry                                   Fr. Sebastian Quadros (MAD)

It is our wish that there will be a lively exchange among us, i.e. Coordinators of different Areas with the Zonal and Generalate Coordinators, Area Coordinators with the Provincials, Regionals and Mission Superiors and Area Coordinators with the Coordinators of the different provinces, regions and missions.

THE AREA COORDINATOR.

What is a Zonal Area Coordinator? This might be the first question that you asked. Here are some descriptions that I have discovered in the AFRAM files with some adaptations:

1.    He should be someone who is more vested with what is going in the zone

2.    He should keep contact with all the coordinators in his area.

3.    He should be the point of reference for organizing the networking in his area

4.    He should be a liaison between the provincials, the other area coordinators and the Generalate

5.    He should organise coordinators meetings possibly every three years. These meetings should be venues of on-going formation for provincial/regional coordinators (see calendar below).

Our Zone has six provinces one region and three missions. Each province and region should have coordinators in Formation and the four areas of our characteristic dimensions. The three missions, depending on their size and financial capacity are not expected to have coordinators.

What to do?

1.      Contact your predecessor. In a separate file I will give you the address of your predecessor. Please ask him to hand in documents and files in your area. It is of great interest for you to get acquainted with the correspondences and records of the past Area Meetings/Workshops. He can share with you more concrete and detailed description of your role and activities. He may also prompt you with possible plans for the future.

2.      Contact the coordinators of the provinces and region. It is very important that you write regularly to the provincial and regional coordinators (and mission coordinator if there is any). Do not be disappointed if there are no feedbacks. Patience, insistence and perseverance are needed qualities of coordinators. Ask them for a progress report of what is happening, consult them, encourage them and see what you can do in common. Start looking forward to the next Workshop that you will be organizing (see calendar below).

3.      Keep in contact with the Zonal Coordinator. I am trying my best to send you updates through email – Coords-Link. If you have some questions or need some advice please don’t hesitate to write. I will be very grateful if you send me a copy of all your circular letters to provincial coordinators.

4.      Keep in contact with the Generalate Coordinator. The Generalate has a confrere in charge of the coordination in your area. He will be of great help to you because the Generalate have access to more information outside our Zone. The Generalate Coordinator normally attends the area Workshops and can help in the organization.

5.      Read AFRAM Documents. Please try to familiarize yourselves with the basic AFRAM documents. We have the AFRAM Statutes (I will send copy by email), the minutes of the AFRAM Zonal Assembly, the reports of the Zonal Area Coordinators plus some reports of the provincial coordinators (see our Website www.svdafram.org), the documentations of the previous workshops done in your Area.

AFRAM Calendar

AFRAM Formation Board         Congo                  June                 2010

Biblical /Communication:           Madagascar         Easter              2011

JPIC and Mission Animation      Kenya                  April                2011

Formation of Formators              Ghana                  June                 2011

Zonal Assembly:                         Zimbabwe           Sept                 2013

As you notice there are three Workshops planned for 2011. There was a suggestion to move one Workshop to 2012. The opinions were divided since in 2012 there will be a General Chapter and many of the areas have not held their workshops last term. The Generalate is open to the possibility to hold the Workshops as it is planned (as is above) as long as the respective host provinces for see them in their budget.

Expenses. Most of the activities of the Area Coordinator are done through emails (letters by post are expensive, very slow and unsure). The Zonal Coordination could refund expenses for the Internet and other office materials (publication of brochures, minutes of the meeting, etc.). As to travels, as we agreed in the last Zonal Assembly, the respective provinces take charge.

Thank you! Let us keep in touch. I wish you all the best with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Fr. Xene A. Sanchez, AZC