Since Friday 10th April l’Ile Blanche -in France- has had some special guests: the bursars of the different Units of the congregation of the Daughters of the Holy Spirit (DHS). They are gathered for five days, from the 10 to 16 April.
Those present are: Sisters Amelie Zougmore Burkina Faso; Mercy Aghahowa Nigeria; Julienne Matchou Wanie Cameroon; Emiola Fakorede France /Belgium; Yvette Rainville and Mme Donna Woodruff the director of finance USA; Mr. Thomas Dorlanne responsible for finance and administration, Simone Dontsa Jiohou assistant to the general bursar, in formation; Anne Donnelly the general bursar; Olga Kiendrebeogo general councillor. The bursars of the delegations of Chili, and Kenya, and the bursar of England/Ireland were not present. As we do not speak the same language (English and French) we have two translators: Saideh and Tatiana.
We are gathered to reflect about the financial issues of the congregation. At the end of the meeting a draft economic directory will be presented. The purpose of it is to have common guidelines for the whole congregation from which each Unit may base and adapt the guidelines to its own context. Among the subjects we have sharing and solidarity with the family, budgeting, patrimony, exclaustration, departure from the congregation, burial of a sister. We also talked about the role of a bursar, the projects in each Unit and health insurance in the Vice-Provinces. Our days are made up of sharing of experiences, re-reading and the correcting of the texts that were sent to us beforehand.
This kind of meeting is to be encouraged because it’s an opportunity to meet each other personally. We also learnt about the realities of the other Units. This calls us not to remain focused on the realities of our own Unit, but to see the congregation as a whole.
Amélie (for the group)
