mocratic elections in South Africa which saw Nelson Mandela carry off the presidency of the nation in 1994.
DEVELOPMENT: TO BE LEAVEN OF TRANSFORMATION FOR OUR SOCIETY It is necessary to change the adage according to which « it is not the one who is hungry that eats, but the one who has the food ». This is inadmissible in a society which shouts loudly that solidarity is one of its fundamental values. At its creation, the Marist International Centre of Nairobi was a contextualisation of the Hermitage community. The Brothers were prepared to make themselves capable of anything. The development department was one of the characteristics of the formation programme. The Brothers learned to supply the ordinary needs of the community. Thus, there were workshops for carpentry, motor mechanics, welding, electrical work, agriculture, etc. After 15 years, it was realized that it was necessary to enter the world of interdependence. One had to be realistic: one cannot do everything. All the same, formation remains centred on the mystery of redemption and invites active participation in placing one’s forces and talents at the service of society. And rather than keep one’s hand held out for more, it is necessary to produce and take pride in the produce of one’s efforts. Especially as everyone knows that “when gathering becomes too easy, bending down becomes difficult“. We can no longer return to the civilisation of gathering! The land was given to us to make it bear fruit. Africa holds unlimited wealth, but it remains the poorest because these riches are rather sources of conflict. One is seated on buried treasure while nursing one’s destitution! Can we be resigned and let this situation last? When we applied for accreditation as a University College, the CHE asked us to identify our specific contribution by rapport with the Universities of Kenya and the other Colleges in Nairobi. Ours was that religious studies and development studies are the two very important constituent axes of our programme. We consider passion for God and com-
passion for humanity to be the raison d’être for all the other options. Only passion and compassion can cause human beings to accept all life’s risks. Audacity and creativity are the fruit of this fire within. The students and staff of MIC, now MIUC, are called to be leaven of transformation. And the young Brothers who rub shoulders with other students are very important agents. The different workshops and extra-curricular activities consist of listening to the calls to transform our society and our church in order to carry all the changes necessary to an integral human development. Charles Howard had found the encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis of Pope John Paul II, « An Urgent Appeal » to engage us in favour of improving the human condition, and we have no excuse: «Nothing, then, says the Pope, justifies despair or pessimism or inertia. It must be said with sadness, but it must be said; just as one can sin through egoism and the excessive appetite for wealth and power, one can also commit faults, when confronted with the urgent needs of multitudes of human beings plunged in the situation of under-development, through fear, indecision and basically through cowardice... (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis No 47).
A PROPOSAL IN CONCLUSION The MIUC could be even more influential if it took some initiatives to strengthen the bases of the culture of peace and reconciliation. Everyone agrees that the African continent is very rich in values which should lead to unity and universal brotherhood, but unfortunately the many visages of apartheid constitute a destructive gangrene awaiting a painful amputation. As
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