My name is Rolphe Paterne Mouanga, of Congolese nationality (Brazzaville). I am originally from Pointe Noire, the economic capital of my country, and I am 31 years old. I come from a family of five children, three boys, and two girls, and I am the second. I have an F3 high school diploma (electricity) and one as a technician.
For the past two years, I have been working in Bolivia, having been sent as a missionary of the 152nd Salesian Missionary Expedition, and I work as a trainee in the "Don Bosco Central" community in Santa Cruz.
Myself and another young missionary, David Eyenga, are the first African missionaries in this province, and this sometimes arouses the curiosity of some young people, because we are close to Colombia and Brazil, and sometimes we are mistaken for being precisely Colombians or Brazilians. It is during the introductions that they realize we are African and then they immediately want to know what Africa is like. Being one of the first missionaries from Africa in Bolivia, personally, my biggest challenge is to achieve complete integration, because so far it has been gradual, and the part where I have to grow the most, if you can call it that, is cultural knowledge: Bolivia has very great cultural diversity, and each Department lives differently from the other. Every time we visit a department, we have the impression that we are in different countries, even though we are in the same country.
The greatest joys are given to me by the openness, welcome and accompanying effort that my confreres in Bolivia have towards me. They help me every day in integration; and then I must also add the collaboration and sharing that we have with the laity, which is something I love. Working in the pastoral sector of my community, I am in direct contact with young people and my conversations with them allow me to get to know them and integrate joyfully. Being a sportsman, young people are often surprised to see a confrere who shares different disciplines with them, and it makes me very happy that some of them also want to practice many disciplines like me...
