“We felt the need for a proposal inspired by the Salesian spirit in favor of Christian married couples,” recalls Fr Adolphe-Marie Akpoué, Salesian, the project's initiator. At the time, the religious was parish priest of the parish dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua near Zogbo, in Cotonou. “In Zogbo I saw a team of committed lay people who, for three months, prepared young couples for marriage. But there was no structured movement for already married couples,” explains Fr Akpoué.
It is in this context that in 2015 the idea of the "Don Bosco Houses" was born. “In response to the appeals of the 2014 and 2015 Synods of Bishops on the family, we started the first cell of the 'Don Bosco Houses' movement in Africa and Madagascar,” he explains.
The genesis of the "Don Bosco Houses" movement on a world level goes back, in fact, to much earlier: it was 1965, in Spain, when the project of the "Don Bosco Houses" (Hogar Don Bosco) took off as a form of ecclesial movement of Christian spouses and family apostolate, inserted in the Salesian charism and inspired by the spirituality of Don Bosco. In Benin, the "Houses of Don Bosco" today have 20 couples as members and 15 pairs of sympathizers, who are involved in various activities related to family ministry.
Alfred and Andrea Avodaho, doctor and nurse, have been coordinating the “Don Bosco Houses” in Benin for five years. The groups hold monthly meetings for the exchange and sharing of experiences. They also animate the School for Marriage in collaboration with the parish commissions for family ministry, and at the same time hold periodic meetings and assist their members in difficulty.
According to the explanations of the coordinating couple, “this Salesian movement allows couples to re-appropriate the teachings received during the preparation for marriage, to follow post-marriage formation, and to strengthen the bonds of trust and love within couples.” After five years of existence, the time has come to take stock and identify the perspectives of the movement.
“What a movement does is the assimilation of its identity by its members,” adds Fr Akpoué, who for this reason recommends to the couples of the movement in Benin, “to try to know and live more the Salesian spirit of sweetness, charity, patience, simplicity, trust and - above all - the family spirit.”
The Avodaho family seems to be aware of these challenges and, together with the couples who are members of the movement, want to extend them to various parishes where the Salesians are present in Africa. In this way they want to work so that, “in families, the relationship between husband, wife and children can always improve, thanks to the appropriation of Christian family values.”
Juste Hlannon
Source: La Croix (Africa) - https://africa.la-croix.com/au-benin-les-foyers-don-bosco-sinvestissent-dans-la-pastorale-de-la-famille/
