San Damiano Foundation & Village to Village
St. Francis of Assisi St. Claire of Assisi
St. Clare had a way of expressing the transforming power of contemplative prayer: “ Place your mind before the mirror of eternity! Place your soul in the brilliance of glory! And transform your entire being into the image of the Godhead Itself through contemplation”. – Pastor’s Message from St Clare of Assisi Catholic Parish
Mission Statement – The mission of The San Damiano Foundation is to communicate through films the spirituality of St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi. The church of San Damiano in Assisi, Italy, is the birthplace of the Franciscan movement. In that small, dilapidated church, St. Francis heard the voice of Christ speak to him from a painted Byzantine cross telling him to rebuild the Church. It was a moment of transformation for the future saint. The San Damiano Foundation desires to help inspire similar transformation within individuals, within the Church and within our society.
The San Damiano Foundation recognizes the power of film to touch and inspire people, making it a perfect medium to communicate Franciscan spirituality and concern for the poor, social justice, peace and nonviolence.
The films produced by the Foundation will explore the active and contemplative dimensions of Franciscan spirituality. They will either illustrate St. Francis’ love of the poor by showcasing the work Franciscans and other Christians are doing with the poor around the world or enter the heart of contemplative prayer as embodied by St. Clare. Some films will be produced for broadcast on public and commercial television stations; some will be geared for distribution to churches and schools.
The San Damiano Foundation recognizes the power of film to touch and inspire people, making it a perfect medium to communicate Franciscan spirituality and concern for the poor, social justice, peace and nonviolence. The vision for our films is twofold: to raise funds for Christian charities aiding the world’s poor, and to awaken the hearts and minds to the plight of the poor,hopefully inspiring viewers to serve those in need through acts of compassion and mercy.
Africa’s Medicine: – The healing methods and medicine developed in Africa differs in many aspects from western medicine. Western medicine is technically and analytically based, while the traditional African medicine takes a holistic approach.
It is believed that good health, disease, success or misfortune are not chance occurrences but arise from the actions of individuals and ancestral spirits according to the balance or imbalance between the individual and the social environment.
Traditionally, every rural African community would have a traditional medical practitioner, to which they would go for advice on a number of issues, including health-problems. These traditional “doctors” have an invaluable botanical knowledge of plant species and their ecology and scarcity.
The community would rely upon this knowledge, as well as the spiritual and practical skills of the traditional healer, since they themselves were not allowed to gain this knowledge.
This is because throughout Africa the gathering of medicinal plants was traditionally restricted to traditional healers or their trainees through spiritual calling, ritual, religious controls and, in Southern Africa, the use of alternative (hlonipha) names not known to outsiders.
Traditional healers use plants in a variety of ways, depending on the illness to be cured. Parts of plants can be applied directly to wounds and cuts or, if necessary, prepared as powders that are used like snuff. Sometimes plants are even used in the form of smoke or fumes, or as infusions.
Village2Village Project Mission – To provide comprehensive, empowering, respectful and compassionate care for vulnerable children and their families, one life at a time.
Our Priority: Children who have at least one parent affected by HIV/AIDS or violence, and their families.
Our Location: Serere, Uganda; a county of rural villages in Soroti district, in the Teso region of northeastern Uganda. In time we may expand to serve those in need in a variety of locations both inside and outside of Uganda.
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