By Sr. Alice Lansang icm
Sr. Alice Lansang has been living with the Aikewara people in the faraway jungles of Brazil for many years now. Over the years she has come to learn and respect the local culture of these indigenous people. One of those things she has come to realize is that body painting is not just a pastime but has powerful cultural meaning.
By Sr. Alice Lansang, icm
Let me tell you about a peasant woman in Brazil, Maria Aparecida, who has taught me to be a disciple.
Her quiet strength, her enduring patience wells up from her deep faith. Countless times I have heard her say, “I have faith in God...” that Ze, her husband, would be cured of alcoholism. Poisoned by the bottle and jealousy; Ze tried to prevent her participation in the community. Yet courageously she managed to fulfill her different tasks as wife, mother and community leader.
By Sr. Alice Lansang, ICM
Indigenous people all over the world are under pressure. Their humble forest homes are coveted by miner and ranchers. We have told the story in every issue in the Urgent Action section of MISYON. Nowhere in the pressure so strong as in the Amazonian region – the last vast remaining rain forest in Latin America.
A Filipino nun, Sr. Alice Lansang, ICM, has chosen to live here with the Suruis people, a branch of the Aikewar nation. Here she tells of the humble part she played in trying to protect their land from the ‘lowland’ invaders.
By Sr. Alice Lansang, ICM
The first law of colonization is: Get the gold – No wonder the original peoples, who were almost totally wiped put by colonists, are still suspicious of foreigners. So Sr. Alice Lansang, coming from a land itself colonized, knew she had to tread gently.
When I entered the convent way back in the 60’s, I would often dream of living and working among our mountain people, after the example of our pioneering Belgian sisters. However, the congregation had other plans and needs. It dawned on me that Gods dreams didn’t exactly match mine. Or was it a question of timing? At any rate, I held on to this dream.
