Father of all nations and ages, we recall the day when our country claimed its place among the family of nations; for what has been achieved we give you thanks, for the work that still remains we ask your help, and as you have called us from many peoples to be one nation, grant that, under your providence, our country may share your blessings with all the peoples of the earth.

Collect from Mass for Independence Day

Interviewer - Would you share a bit about your background: family, childhood, early education, etc.?

- Br. Blair NUYDA A.A. - I grew up in a small family. I’m the only child of an engineer and a nurse. My grandaunt lived with us. She was a very religious person and she would bring me to Mass often. To keep up with the needs of the family, my mother had to work in the United States when I was in high school. As a student, I was very much involved in campus journalism and in parish liturgical ministry. Being a delegate of the historic 10^th World Youth Day (1995) in Manila proved to be a life-changing experience, the initial attraction to heed the call to dedicate myself to follow and serve God as a religious.

At the request of the two superiors general of the Assumptionists and the Oblates, the members of an ad hoc committee to study the feasability of an international congress on education at the Assumption met in Paris on June 19 and 20, 2013.

The committee's work consisted in following up on a proposal for such a congress developed by Fr. Richrad Lamoureux and Sr. Claire Rabitz, former superiors general, and Br. Jean-Michel Brochec, an Assumptionist who dedicated most of his life to education and who edited the booklet entitled Teaching and Education in the Spirit of the Assumption.

The spirit of our founder impels us to embrace the great causes of God and man, and to go wherever God is threatened in Man and Man is threatened as the image of God (Rule of Life, #4b)

Assigned to the new community in Goma (Democratic Republic of the Congo/DRC) to be involved in radio communications, I find myself, instead, for the time being, in the sphere of the ‘formal’ word-of-mouth communication that takes place in refugee camps near Goma-Sake, with those who have had to flee militia violence in the area. It is a preferential option for the poorest levels of society, especially the most vulnerable displaced persons; the elderly, the handicapped, widows and widowers, unaccompanied children, and heads of households also need someone with whom to communicate in order to be healed of the loneliness they are suffering. This is my new way of ‘communicating  in another way »: confidential conversations in plastic-sheeted huts or simply outside in a field. These huts for the displaced are popularly called « blindés » (« armoured shelters »). The life lived there is not very attractive at all!