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 I was asked to go on the Habari Gani retreat by
several of the coordinators when a space had opened up. The word Habari Gani
means "What's the News." This retreat was something new for our city, and our
Black Catholic parishes, and I was exited to go. Since I replaced someone else,
the trip was paid for already for me; it seemed like I was destined to go on
this trip and learn about God. By me being new, I thought the trip was just
going to have people that I knew from the IMANI leadership team and youth group,
but when I first arrived at Xavier's chapel, I saw friends from school and
friends before the storm, so this retreat reunited me with old friends.
 When we were packing things on the bus, everybody
was blessed by the elders of the community. I then knew that this was something
serious and not just a field trip. The bus ride was about two hours long, and
when we got to our location, it was dark. We had no idea where we were, well at
least the youth didn't. We were at Camp Beckwith in Alabama, an open area of
cabins surrounded by woods and a lake. Before anyone unpacked we started with an
icebreaker which had been different from any other icebreaker I had done at my
church before.
The next morning our leader, Mr. Ansel and the other
adults woke everybody up at 6:19 a.m., for a sunrise prayer service on the pier.
At the end of the service everybody dedicated their morning to an ancestor. We
would walk to the end on the pier, look towards the sunrise, and say the name of
the person you were dedicating the day to.
Following the service we continued with more fun
activities. We were told that we were in a college setting and that we would
have core courses and electives. We all met in the conference room for a session
on Black Catholic History. This was very educational and everybody was taking
notes. We learned of many black people who were Catholic and who were involved
with the church in different ways. We also discovered the great sacrifices they
made for us and why it was important for us to carry on the legacy. As night
came, everybody was split up into their families which were four groups. Two
families would pair up with one another and we would go in different rooms and
watch a series of power points and have different discussions. These were our
"college electives."
After these breakout sessions, everybody met back in
the room in which we all had assigned seats and on the seats were our folders,
name tags, and a T-shirt. In the folders, there were letters from people all
over the U.S. that were praying for us on this retreat. The T-shirts were very
nice. The shirts reminded us that, we were the first to attend this particular
retreat. Then we had a graduation ceremony.
We also met by the pier for a bonfire that night.
Mr. Ansel spoke to all of us, and it was very calming and helpful for us. Mr.
Ansel wanted us to think of all of our problems, and he wanted us to know that
we would find a way to get through them through God. We were then blessed with
oil and the sign of the cross was marked on our foreheads. As the night was
closing to an end, we all roasted marsh mellows by a bonfire.
The bus ride back was extremely short because nobody
wanted to go home. When we got back to Xavier's chapel, we attended closing mass
there Sunday morning with the young adults from Xavier University's Campus
Ministry community.
I'll never forget the Habari Gani retreat (you can see pictures under the photo
section of www.holyhotboy.com). Since then, I have continued to work with youth
ministry. Next year I will help to plan the next Habari Gani retreat.
Eddie Francis is a Junior at St. Augustine High
School in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is the Junior Class president at St.
Augustine and is an active member of his youth ministry at St. Jude/Our Lady of
Guadalupe parish. He is also an active member of the IMANI leadership team of
the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
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