Ngabo from Rwanda

/in /by

My name is Ngabo Leonard. I would like to share with you on how I joined the Focolare Movement and an experience on how being a gen  has helped me.

I knew the movement in 2009 through my aunt when I was in P5. The Focolare had prepared a wonderful party called ‘colorant la cite’ (Colouring the City). During this party, I discovered that everyone was happy and showing love. I was so excited that I asked my aunt if I could join the movement then but she told me that she was going to invite me to the next meetings; from that time I started going to the mariapoli and all Focolare activities. After getting formation, I finally got to be a gen.

I would also like to share an experience I lived recently. In June of this year, my cousin had a birthday party. She had earlier informed me in May that I will have to attend. We even started preparing for it, she told me there was going to be a dress code and I had to buy new clothes. This was to look good as she had requested me. On the eve of the birthday, she called me informing me that her parents had said that she could only invite 20 people because of the COVID-19 restrictions. This meant that she had to cancel some invites and I was among those who would be removed from the guest list. She tried explaining to me that there were classmates whose invites could not be cancelled and that I and her would plan to celebrate together a day after the birthday party. At that time, I didn’t understand why I had to be the one to be removed on the guest list but I told her it was okay.

 Later, I started asking myself how a Gen should behave in such a situation. Immediately, I remembered that we have to love in every situation. The following morning I called her and wished her a happy birthday but I discovered that I wasn’t the only one who was sad about the situation. She was also very annoyed at her parents who did it to her. Finally, I was the one who started consoling her by letting her know that it was fine and we would celebrate and enjoy the birthday the day after the party. Indeed our time came and we had fun.

What I noticed is that when you show love to someone and you don’t judge them, that compassion comes back to you. We should never judge someone harshly.