Twinning was an initiative of the De La Salle Christian Brothers that began in 1995 and encouraged relationships between middle and secondary schools in the Lasallian Region of North America (RELAN) with 15 ministries in four countries of the Lwanga District of Africa: Kenya, Nigeria, Eritrea and Ethiopia. While the RELAN schools helped support the Lwanga ministries financially, the students also built relationships as brothers and sisters in the Lasallian family by sharing challenges, accomplishments, stories, and experiences. Over the course of 30 years, our students were awakened to the Gospel truth that “whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:40).
Today, the Spirit is calling the Institute to adapt to evolving global needs and more interconnected structures. As the global Lasallian family takes up the vision of 1 La Salle under the leadership of Brother Superior General Armin Luistro, FSC, we discern the call to tether our efforts of solidarity to this wider initiative. This is not a departure from our commitments, but a deepening of them. It is a renewal that calls us to broaden our imagination and to engage more intentionally in education and formation for the sake of the whole Lasallian world.
This new 1 La Salle initiative will transform international support into a coordinated, global effort for learning, engagement, and equitable resource-sharing based on where the needs are greatest, and deepening fidelity to the Lasallian mission and the Gospel call to justice.
We are grateful for the Twinning program and the lives that were changed in this work of solidarity. As we transform our efforts to the 1 La Salle movement, we entrust ourselves to God’s Spirit and to the intercession of Saint John Baptist de La Salle as we embrace the promise of 1 La Salle. May this new initiative form our young people into disciples of Jesus, awaken our communities to the cries of the poor, and draw us ever deeper into the love of God who makes us one.