Echo from West Africa: “Let the little children come to me…” (Mt 19:14)
Dear brothers, sisters, friends and collaborators of the great Assumption family,
From Abidjan, I am pleased to share with you a significant step in our educational mission. In this pastoral year 2025-2026, our “Good Shepherd” community has opened its doors to the world of early childhood with the creation of a nursery and a kindergarten in the Angré district. This new work marks a deepening of our commitment to education and to life at the heart of a rapidly growing urban environment.
For several years, we have been present through a literacy centre and a women’s training centre in home economics, sewing, embroidery, cooking and pastry-making, serving young girls who have dropped out of school or never had access to schooling. By accompanying these young women toward greater autonomy and dignity, we perceived a new call: to welcome the very young, where everything begins. Welcoming a child is welcoming a promise; it is an act of hope for the future.
A work that extends our charism
As a Religious of the Assumption, I am deeply marked by the vision of Saint Marie-Eugénie of Jesus, for whom education is a lever capable of transforming society and shaping people able to change the world according to the Gospel. Opening a nursery and a kindergarten forms part of this dynamic. We believe that education begins in the earliest years, when the mind awakens, the heart opens, and the first gestures of fraternity are learned. We want to offer children a space where they are respected, encouraged, valued and loved.
A mission enlightened by the spirituality of the Incarnation
Our spirituality as Religious of the Assumption invites us to place “God and the things of God” at the heart of daily life. Through this work dedicated to early childhood, I discover each day how the Incarnation gives meaning to our presence: God reveals himself in simplicity, in fragility, in the laughter of a child.
Accompanying first steps, soothing tears, encouraging discoveries… these are ways of participating in the presence of God, who draws near to humanity in its vulnerability.
A response to the needs of the families of Angré
Families in the Angré district express a real need for safe, educational and caring spaces for their children.
With the opening of this nursery and kindergarten, we aim to offer:
One of the most moving signs of this educational continuity comes from a young woman currently in training at the centre:
three years ago, she gave birth to a little girl. Today, while she continues her training, her daughter is enrolled in the Assumption kindergarten.
Seeing mother and child advance together — one learning a profession, the other discovering the world — is for us a living testimony of what integral education can be: accompanying women, supporting families, helping children grow.
This story expresses the essence of our mission.
A school where joy and fraternity flourish
In resonance with the theme of the Jubilee Year, “Pilgrims of Hope”, we dream that this work will become a place where joy, fraternity and trust become pathways of learning for children and their families. For us, Religious of the Assumption, each child is a promise, each mother a hope, each family a story in the making.
Today, with the opening of this nursery and kindergarten, we reaffirm once again that education remains a Gospel path, a service of life, and a concrete way of hoping for our society.
To you who read me — Sisters, Friends, Laypeople, Collaborators — may God fill you with peace, light and hope. May He bless your communities, your educational missions, your families, and all the children of our great Assumption family.
Monèmou Yöyö Yvette de l’Enfant Jésus
Religious of the Assumption