Father Simon Agede has been a vocations promoter in Lusaka, Zambia, for a little over a year. He talks to us about the difficulties and joys of this work, meeting so many young people.

I am Ghanaian by birth and have been working in the Comboni Province of Malawi-Zambia since 2022. Although our circumscription includes two countries, I have always been in Zambia, first as a parish assistant in Chikowa and for a little over a year in Lusaka, the capital, as a vocations promoter.

I dedicate most of my time to meeting young people who want to become religious and missionaries, which requires me to travel around the country. I am aware of the importance of visiting the homes and parishes of young people to meet their families and find out if they are willing to accompany their children in their desire to be missionaries.

Starting a difficult path like missionary life without the support of the family can be very difficult. I regularly organise three-day retreats for young people from different places who receive missionary teaching and formation to help them discern. The main difficulty I encounter is financial.

Zambia has a very high unemployment rate, especially among young people. Unfortunately, some of them end up falling into alcohol and drugs, which have led to an increase in crime in the country. People suffer a lot to earn their bread and this poverty also affects the families of our candidates, who sometimes cannot come to the retreats because they do not have the money to pay for the trip.

Another difficulty is training. Some young people are very eager to become missionaries, but if they do not pass the Baccalaureate we cannot admit them to the pre-postulancy because they must have a sound education to start with.

There are also many joys in my work as a vocation animator. I like to go and meet young people to listen to what they experience in their daily lives and to get to know their families and their parish priests. I try to share my vocation with them, so that they know that I too have had difficulties.

I encourage them to do their best to respond to the call they feel. I talk to them about the importance of prayer, going to Mass, and joining a parish community group. I also share the Word of God with them and try to teach them the basics of human formation.

I know that some of them need financial help to study, but we cannot give it to them before the pre-postulancy. Since this formative stage takes place in Malawi, I am responsible for helping them get their passports. I am also concerned that we can only admit a few candidates each year, even though many express their desire to join the congregation.

We also face financial challenges. Another challenge is that some diocesan priests do not want the boys to join missionary congregations and do not write the letter of recommendation that we ask for. To avoid these inconveniences, I try to establish good relationships with the parish priests and talk to them to resolve misunderstandings.