After spending two months learning French in the city of Lubumbashi, at the Saint Francis de Sales Sales Salesian community in Imara, Fr Makuła readily agreed to hold his first training session at the MoJo in French. The 18 participants learned a series of techniques and received tools to create professional content using Android phones or iPhones, so as to be able to better respond to the main challenges of today's youth evangelisation.

Most of the work sessions, of 4 hours each, were dedicated to practical work. A moment of approach to nature, the environment and other areas of knowledge... And then the various students filmed, photographed, enjoyed creating content to be displayed and, in general, received criticism and suggestions to improve their work and apostolate.

In his concluding address, Fr Makuła said that "the Salesian Congregation in general, and the Salesian Province of Central Africa in particular, will have no future without digital technology". In line with the vision of Pope Francis, he explained that the Church and the Salesian Family are called to adopt an integrated approach to the means of social communication and urged to give their utmost to arouse new digital missionaries.

At the end of the course all the students agreed that they had learned plenty, thanks to the various projections and the materials offered and their commitment. Yarlive Badibannga, one of the participants, said that she had not only acquired knowledge, but also had lived a new experience in the shooting, processing and dissemination of images through social networks.

For David Kabongo, a television journalist, this training has been of great use and an important addition which has returned him to spontaneity in the processing of digital data, and has allowed him to brush up on television notions already learned and rarely practised.

During the practice sessions on the second and third day, the La Colombe staff noted that there are still many challenges, from shooting to quickly editing the content. But Fr Amani urged the continuation of the work and practice in the sector, also considering the possibility of further educational studies in the future.

The 18 students, men and women, are now called to integrate the different photo/video shooting plans, rules and techniques into their daily practice. They also have an in-depth knowledge of digital editing, and know how to master specific applications on their mobile phones and personal computers, such as CapCut, Adobe Premier Pro, Canva and various other important tools for rapid processing of slides, videos and photos, which will increasingly be part of daily professional practice in the community they are part of.

The Social Communication Sector can now look with satisfaction at the list of francophone digital missionaries in the Central African Province, in addition to those English-speaking ones already trained in Zambia, Malawi, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Madagascar and, looking at the rest of the world, also in Sri Lanka, where the initiative of these workshops started in February of this year, promoted and carried out by Fr Makuła together with the professional Aleskandra Stankiewicz.

After Zambia, Malawi, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Madagascar, this course – designed primarily for the Salesian places in Africa – is still planned in four other countries: Tanzania, Madagascar, Poland and the Vatican.

Jean Baptiste Petemoya Ilunga
Radio Don Bosco/Lubumbashi

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