The formulation of the title follows an order that sounds good to the ears. In reality, what I am going to say, without any confusion or exaggeration, is part of my vocation as a person. It is simply my vocational itinerary. That would be correct, even without sharing all the contours of my life. Olivier Okito Zanga is my name acquired from my family, whose father is Jean-Paul Okito and mother, Angélique Lusanga. Four children were born to them, of whom I am the eldest since the dawn of 07 February 1994. I did my primary and secondary schooling in my hometown of Kikwit, in the diocese of the same name, in particular at the Collège jésuite Sadisana, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. After graduating in 2013, it was in the same year that I began my vocational experience with the Claretian Missionaries. Aspiring to join this religious institution, I participated in the retreats and formation sessions organised by the team in charge of vocation ministry at the time. And of the first Claretian Missionaries I met, among them Fathers Robert Ndjoli and Aimé-Césaire Metena, cmff, and Brother Beaudouin Mwanangulu, cmf, the immediate attraction was their commitment to the service of evangelisation in our diocese, as priests and brothers, in short, as missionaries. I understood from the beginning that the Congregation was made up of brothers, deacons and priests, following the teachings we had received.
Admitted to pre-postulancy, five of us began our journey in the congregation in 2014. And it was in 2015 that, already four candidates, we began our postulancy with studies in philosophy at the University of Saint Augustine of Kinshasa (USAKIN). From this postulancy experience, which covered various aspects of academic, religious and community life, I was able to forge a path rooted in the essentials of Christ the Lord, through the example of Mary and Claret, and in work well done.
In the mists of those early studies in philosophy, a field not necessarily linked to my secondary studies where I studied Mathematics-Physics, necessarily linked to my secondary studies where I studied Mathematics-Physics, I was able to adapt more fully by taking advantage of the conditions offered by the formation house, then known as the Père Claret Scholasticate (in Kimbondo, Mont-Ngafula), and the teamwork as a promotion that we formed. As a Brother candidate I found myself in this group, largely made up of priest candidates. With the support of our various formators, including Fathers Melchiade Luputu, Michel Mambulau and Tryphon Bimbangu, cmff, I forged a personality within the balance offered to us and a good deal of freedom to make the religious choice that was right for me.
It was in 2018, at the end of our philosophy studies, that my choice was finally renewed and reinforced in the course of several discussions with the Major Superior, then Reverend Father Joseph Mbungu Mutu, cmf, and according to our formative rhythm. We then travelled to Equatorial Guinea to learn the Spanish language in preparation for the novitiate and the mission for which it inexorably prepares and opens missionaries. From 2018 to 2019, this linguistic experience opened my mind to another culture in this vast “Africa of cultures”, to respect the expression of many literati of our continent. Opening myself to Spanish culture through the popular soil of Equatorial Guinea was a great advantage. From there I met the only missionary brother, Angel, who shared with me his missionary experience in this land, and the challenges that, according to him, our congregation faced and still faces. One of these challenges was to re-evaluate the vocation of the brothers by presenting the integral charism, mission and composition of the members of our congregation. This challenge seems to me even more pertinent today than it did five years ago.
Moreover, my novitiate experience was one of the most beautiful that I would have liked to repeat if I had to, and with pleasure. The reason is clear: it was in the novitiate that I undertook a journey within myself to meet Christ explained and broken down in our charism and spirituality, which are of exemplary skill and a model contemplative fullness. In addition, I practised, more concretely in the novitiate, a work on myself around the witness of life as the first effective tool for missionary evangelization. Being aware of being “Christ’s lieutenant as a brother”, according to the expression I remembered from our novice master, Father José Milam Oyana, cmf, is what characterised my missionary commitment in all that I was asked to do, in the apostolates (school and parish in this case) and especially with young people.
On 12 September 2020, our first religious profession took place in Bata (Equatorial Guinea). After this stage, in accordance with the decision of the Major Superior and his Council, I returned to Congo to begin my specialization studies in Medicine at the Protestant University of Congo (UPC), based in Kinshasa, while my three other confreres (Fabrice, Georges and Ghislain, candidates for priests) each embraced a destination for their theology. My experience at the Protestant University of Congo was quite different from that of some of our Catholic universities with specific vocations (formation of religious, missionaries, priests, etc.), such as our original USAKIN. At UPC, the programme is full of everyday things. I go to class every day, from 8.30am to 5.30pm. Some days we find ourselves with only one class in the whole day’s schedule, while other days we have a two-class shift, the first from 08:30 to 12:30 and the second from 13:30 to 17:30, the two separated by a one-hour break. When evening falls and classes are over, I have to make the journey home, which involves a lot of gymnastics in Kinshasa’s difficult transport system. By the time I reach the Curia community, every day is the same or almost the same, I am tired and exhausted, buoyed by countless traffic jams that I have to negotiate and overcome in spite of everything.
Needless to say, I take on these “two lives” in my vocational experience: in the community I respect the rhythm while fulfilling the already demanding requirements of the University. In our Curia community, I am secretary and administrator to the bursar (I deputise for him). The work is in line with our lifestyle: Mass with Lauds in the morning, followed by breakfast, followed by some small tasks when I leave for the university. In the evening, we have Vespers followed by community meal, in a constant cycle.
As for the university, we are seven consecrated men and women (four nuns, two religious and a diocesan priest), of whom I am the only brother. I would like to emphasize the collaboration that exists between the others and us consecrated men and women in this very heterogeneous Protestant structure, which makes difference seem like a richness. Cradled in the respect of others for what we are (consecrated), it is the emphasis on the witness of life that we, and I in particular, are anxious not to lose. So it is that, in the midst of this gigantic oasis in which it is easy to get lost, I have carved out a more resilient personality to be Claretian and to bear witness to it unashamedly, through creative fidelity in maturity.
Ultimately, if my desire to be a Claretian Missionary is fulfilled, remaining one in these contexts is a process and always a grace that I implore the Lord. Burning with charity, I will then be able to enkindle my loved ones with the love of Christ and succeed in this vocational and specialization experience, with a concern for mission and responding to the challenges of the Congregation and our Delegation.
Kinshasa (DRC)
August 2024
