The novices from West Africa and Zambia arrived on the 29th of January and those from Kenya arrived on the 2nd of February. None had any hassle at the airport or on their travels. So that was a good start for them. As soon as the novices got here we were down to preparing the liturgy for the opening of the novitiate on the 5th of February. The men began by learning one song each from their respective cultures that we would use in the opening liturgy.  There was a lot of preparation that went into the liturgy.

When the day of the 5th arrived we had about 35 people in the house for the "initiation ceremony" of our Third African novitiate. We made use of a lot of the African traditions and songs for the ceremony. We began outside the chapel singing a song from Ghana in Dagare which called on people to "shout with joy and enter into the house of the Lord." While the people entered the chapel the new novices waited outside.

They were invited into the chapel following a dialogue between John, the novice director, and Michael de Klerk, the Province leader. The novices came in singing and dancing to the Mende hymn 'Kristi Ma Blei Sia' which invites the people of Christ to offer praise and thanks. John then welcomed all the people who had gathered and then invited Br Atty Sobayeni to pour the libation from a calabash to invoke the ancestors, especially Br Colm Keating, after whom the novitiate in aptly named.

Once the calabash had been passed around for all to drink from it, we invited the Word into the gathering with the chant "Behold I Make All Things New."  The short readings used spoke to us of the call of Abram, Jeremiah, and the first four disciples of Jesus. One of the novices then read the words from Luke's gospel of Jesus in the synagogue proclaiming, 'The spirit of the Lord is upon me.'

The readings were interspersed with the singing of the chorus of 'Here I am Lord.'  Michael Burke, the deputy Province leader then gave a brilliant and thoughtful reflection. The novices were then called forth by John with the question, "What do you seek?"  Each novice, having responded to the question, was received into the novitiate by his accompanier presenting him with the Bible, the Constitutions, a relic of Blessed Edmund, and a prayer candle. In turn the novices expressed their gratitude by singing the Swahili hymn 'Bwana Nakushukuru Asante' thanking God and asking God what return shall I make in gratitude to you?

Br Mark Hallissey, the senior brother in the South African Province then blessed each novice with either water, rice or millie meal, depending upon the novice's culture. Br Michael Chalmers prayed the final prayer beautifully drawing on all the aspects of the liturgy. Michael de Klerk then said the final word of thanks emphasising the importance of this day as something that will bring new life not only to this province but to all of Africa and the Congregation.

For our final hymn the novices danced around the centre piece for the day which was a cooking pot on burning coals. All present were invited to dance with them as they sang in Mende 'We give thanks to God for his goodness to us'. The celebrations continued with a braai (the South African version of a barbeque) in our gardens. A good time was had by all and some stayed on later than others under the star filled African sky.

After all the festivities Sunday was a quiet day. On Monday began the orientation week for the novices with each one telling his story. The sharing of the stories was really a privileged time and the depth and honesty were such a blessing and grace.  Two days were taken giving each one ample time to tell his story and a bit about his country. Following those two graced days we had a day of expressing our hopes, fears and expectations. From that we drew a little vision statement for ourselves as our guiding beacon for the year. The next day we looked at the program for the year and set certain norms for ourselves clarifying priorities and setting guidelines. The whole week went well and it was a good start.

We are still working at setting up ministry places for the men but there is so much happening around the city that the problem is not finding the placement but choosing from the many options.