Finding oneself again with the people you love is always beautiful, and if it’s been a few years later, the party becomes even more heartfelt. Here is the spirit that today, June 28, 2018, has certainly filled the hearts of Sister Maria Regina Channel MSCG (of the order of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus), Father Paolo, the Rotalian artist Gentile Polo and other lay volunteers in the Cabrinian Mission in Ethiopia.
At about thirteen hours, in front of the splendid flowered balconies of the Maso Milano Restaurant Pizzeria (Via Sporeggio 24 – Tn, Italy), the warm exchange of hugs and news was inevitable.
The artist Gentile Polo, in memory of the welcome given to the Mission of Dubbo (Ethiopia) and of the profound esteem for “Sister Regina”, had the pleasure of giving her the opera “Girl at the Dubbo Market”, made in china and tar on paper.
As for me, as an assistant for the Studio d’Arte Gentile Polo and as a person, I am grateful for the opportunity to meet the other fellow gentlemen of Mr. Gentile Polo and to embrace Sister Maria Regina, whom I had often a way to hear the story of the Rotal artist.
Sister Maria Regina, born Fortunata, Canale, graduated in Literature and Theology, General Assistant for the Europe of the Congregation, belongs, since the age of 16, to the order of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The order was founded in 1880 in Codogno (Lodi) by Mother Francesca Saverio Cabrini and is present in seventeen countries in the world with over 400 religious. One of these countries is Ethiopia, where in 1999 Sr. Maria Regina opened a community with three other sisters
“As a sign of solidarity in the world in one of the poorest countries on the planet” (Laura Badaracchi, “Francesca Cabrini, for 100 years she is the mother of migrants” in Famiglia Cristiana.it of 28.12.2017)
The mission is based in Dubbo, in the Wolajta region south of Addis Ababa, and is involved in education, promotion of women as well as helping families and in the field of health and treatment of diseases.
As an aid to the Mission, in addition to various projects, volunteers often contribute to the laity who bring their practical contribution in field work thanks to personal skills and specialization.
Even the Rotalian artist Gentile Polo brought his prolific artisanal and artistic contribution to the Mission of Dubbo for several years, leaving a very positive memory and a profound esteem in the heart of the mission and of Sister Maria Regina.
Warmth and radiant smile emanate from this great little southern woman who shared lunch with us sharing memories and telling new anecdotes.
Between trains to Milan that did not stop and a little encouraging dietician, the laughter was not lacking, the more ‘that in Milan you eat plenty of good and in front of a nice plate of spaghetti with the rock also Sister Mary Regina had to surrender to the will of the Lord.
Among the final thanks Sister Maria Regina gave the present ladies, voluntary or not, a welcome present with two illustrated volumes “… because they have life in abundance – the Cabrinian mission in Ethiopia” of the Cabriniano Museum of Codogno and “Love and death in the Kingdom of Swaziland “by Glenn Alan Cheney, Ed. New London Librarium, 2012, in addition to a culinary delight with an elegant pack of biscuits from Codogno (LO) of the Premiata Pasticceria Cornali (Via Roma 71/73, 26845 Codogno – Lodi Tel: 0377 432062).
In front of such a thought I could not not share with Sister Maria Regina one of these delicious double cookies as a thank you. The dessert has made light greetings and final hugs with the wish to see each other again in the future and the invitation to the Missionary headquarters in Codogno (LO).
Wishing Sister Maria Regina Canale a big good luck for her next missions, we send all the readers a warm greeting from the Studio d’Arte Gentile Polo!
http://www.facebook.com/pg/ArtePoloG
http://www.cabrinimsc.it/default.asp?id=454
(Lucia Martorelli – Gentile Polo Art Studio)