Joseph Mongol Aind is a PIME missionary brother. He comes from a family of Bangladeshi tribal Hindus. He studied at a Catholic school in Rajshahi, where he read the Bible and studied the catechism. "When I came home on the weekends, I would explain to my family that the Lord has sent his Son to earth to save His people." He worked for 10 years in Cameroon, helping people with mental and physical disabilities. The Christian community lives peacefully with Islam, indeed "we have many Muslim volunteers and everyone recognizes the value of our mission."

Rome (AsiaNews) - So "began my mission. I went with Fr. Mariano, a PIME missionary in Bangladesh, to visit the sick in hospital. I was giving them soap and biscuits. They were all  convinced that I was a seminarian, but I was just a student. However,  then I started to wonder what the Lord wanted from me, because the people I met told me I was a good Christian. And then I said to myself: 'If I want to believe in God, I have to help those who suffer'. I understand that you can not love God if we do not love each other. From this encounter with the sick my vocation was born".

Brother Joseph Mongol Aind, is the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions’ (PIME) first Bengali missionary brother.  He speaks to  AsiaNews about the origins of his vocation and about his missionary work  in Cameroon over the past 10 years, taking care of the sick and assisting disabled and their families.

Joseph Aind is from an tribal Orao Hindu family. He is the youngest of five brothers and two sisters, who helped their parents in the fields. "I used to work the land and milkthe cows - he says - but then my father realized that I was good at my studies and decided to let me continue school. I was lucky, my family was poor and could not afford to send all of us to school. My father chose me, so that through my studies I could help improve our living conditions in the future".

Br. Joseph studied in a Catholic school in Rajshahi (in the western part of the country) where PIME missionary Fr. Zanchi, and the Missionaries of the Immaculate (female congregation associated to PIME) carry out their missionary work. Here, he read the Bible, took part in religion classes and studies the catechism.

He says: "I started reading the Bible, but I was of the Hindu faith, and also very religious. I sang in the temple, and I used to wonder what I could do to meet God. "

Fr. Zanchi realized that the boy was looking for something and involved him in the activities of the college [school], encouraging him to sing at Mass and prepare for the celebration with the altar boys.

"I told him that I was not capable. I was very shy and I was ashamed to sing and pray in front of everyone. Among other things I was part of a large class and he always chose me. I was not smarter than others. " "But I - I would say - since I had also read the Hindu religious texts, I understood the difference with the Bible better than others and I was expressive as I read the readings of the liturgy."

When he returned home, on Saturday and Sunday, Joseph would read the Bible to his family: "I explained to them that God sent his Son to earth to save His people, and I was so happy because I explained how we too could save our brothers and sisters”.

Over the weekend, Fr. Mariano would take him to visit the sick in the local hospital of Borni, where his family resides. It was from this encounter with the sick that an awareness of his missionary vocation matured within. "The sick - he tells AsiaNews - were happy to see me, my visits made them happy. They believed that I was a Catholic, not a Hindu. They would say to me me: 'You must be a seminarian or [missionary] brother , you cannot just be a student. You speak with us, you waste your time to come here'".

In 1994 Joseph started high school and encountered the Taize community, gathered in Rajshahi for its annual meeting. "I was fascinated by the life the brothers led, and Fr. Mariano realized that I was ready to join a religious order. Not through the priesthood, but by through mission, because I wanted to be closer to the sick, the needy. So he proposed that I enter the PIME missionary community in Bangladesh".

He spent the next three years studying nursing in Bangladesh, and was then sent to Cameroon as an expert medical care giver. During his years of college studies, he confirmed his Catholic faith and the first missionary intuition of his youth: "In the suffering face of the sick, I saw the suffering face of Christ on the Cross."

In 1999, he arrived in Italy to form the PIME house in Busto Arsizio. In 2004 he returned to Bangladesh, where he worked for a year in a hospital and for the next three months in a leper colony.

Finally, he followed a course in caring for the mentally and physically disabled. "This whole training - he explains – was of great use to me when I began my mission in Cameroon in 2006, where I was in contact with the handicapped in the 'Bethlehem Fondation' center for the disabled in Mouda [about 30 km from Maroua, capital of the province in the extreme north of the country - ed].

"The center was created by the work of PIME missionary Fr. Danilo Fenaroli, and by the Silent Workers of the Cross (SODC) and welcomes women and widows, orphans and disabled people. He explains "I devote myself to physiotherapy for the rehabilitation of the sick and numerous initiatives for the mentally disabled."

The missionary says that people with disabilities "can be very aggressive and violent if they are not engaged in activities that keep them busy. This is why I teach them to grow vegetables, to feed animals. I showed how to sow and plant trees".

Cameroon is a beautiful country, he continues, "but the population knows little about agricultural techniques and livestock. So I brought aubergines from Bangladesh - they had never seen them-, carrots, tomatoes, papaya. I brought my experience of being a tribal Bengali, coming from a humble family, that lived off the cultivation of the fields".

 Moreover form his visits with the families of the disabled, he realized that their diet was very poor, without the consumption of fruit and vegetables. So he taught the families how to cultivate the cottage gardens for the daily needs of the family.
Brother Joseph made his solemn vows in 2009 at the new church "Ave Maria" in Gulta, in the diocese of Rajshahi.

He emphasizes that the center where he works welcomes people regardless of religion or belief, and the life of the community is one of harmony. He reports: "In the area, 50% of the population is Catholic, 25% Muslim and the rest of animist cult. We never had problems with the local Islamic community, in fact, we have many Muslim friends".

"The key - he says - is that everyone recognizes the value of our missionary work among the needy, and so they welcome us with joy, invite us to their homes, to eat with them, to see the progress of our cottage garden”.

Peaceful coexistence between different religions [despite recent attacks by Islamic militants of Boko Haram who are trying to destabilize the area - ed] is confirmed by the fact that many volunteers Muslims and Catholics are working together with him and Fr. Danilo in the center.

He concludes, “I'm very happy with the work we have done over the past 10 years in Africa, although there is much more to do."

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