Joséphine, a second-year novice of the Daughters of Jesus of Kermaria of Congolese origin, shares with us her experience of a placement in Limoges, France.
A diversity of experiences
I was sent on placement to Limoges from October through Oct to November 2024. I’m delighted to share my experiences with you.
I enjoyed the time I spent in five different places: a ‘social’ restaurant ( the Bonne Assiette), Secours Catholique, a Food Bank, a dispensary run by the Order of Malta and the Parvis de Clarisse. These placements allowed me to have a diversity of experiences by meeting different people.
My work included :
- serving hot meals to poor people at the Bonne Assiette, mainly migrants with nothing to live on.
- preparing food orders at the Food Bank to be delivered to associations that help the homeless.
- serving coffee and other drinks at the Parvis de Clarisses and Secours Catholique.
- welcoming people without social security coming to the dispensary for dental care and being present with them.
Loving in the way that Jesus did
Thanks to these small services, I was able to meet the face of Christ hidden in the person of the poor.
By being with these people in difficulty, I gradually came to feel that they were teaching me to ‘love in the way that Jesus did’, a love without interest, with a relationship of mutual trust. Through this experience, I discovered that the Lord shows himself in the simplest, most everyday gestures. A little smile, a small gesture of attention and listening, a word of encouragement can lift a person in difficulty out of their situation and give them hope.
Receiving rather than giving
Despite their situation, for me they remain people with a certain richness. With their qualities, they are capable of bringing light into our lives. The time spent together with them was a give and take. I was very touched by what I saw and received from these people in migrant situations. They were the people who changed the way I looked at the poor, with the patience and hope they have. I thought that the poor couldn’t heal my own wounds, but on the contrary they were models for me.
Sometimes we get fixated on what we bring to the poor and don’t pay attention to what we receive from them.
After listening to a young Guinean who told me how he arrived here in France by what means of transport and for what reason, I had tears in my eyes that I couldn’t stop. In the evening, when I was doing my rereading, I went back over my personal story; sharing with this young man enabled me to see things or situations through God’s eyes and not from my own wounds or the wounds of others.
Through this experience, I realised that poverty is not only material poverty, but also loneliness, for example people living alone. A woman I met at the Parvis de Clarisse told me that she felt very poor, even though she lacked nothing. Despite her material wealth, she also needs others.
A fraternal life
This sharing enabled me to review the importance of fraternal life in the community. Despite our limitations and weaknesses, we all need each other’s support. This experience helped me to step outside myself and open up to others, leading me on a path of conversion and hope.
My time in Limoges allowed me to try to live out the charism of the Daughters of Jesus ‘Honouring the Sacred Humanity of the Son of God’ (Rule of Life, no. 3). This desire to give and to serve remains strong in my heart.
May the Lord reveal his face in me so that I may be his true witness every day of my life.
Joséphine Iloko
Second-year Novice
Daughters of Jesus
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