Your fruit will remain

229 The Marians first arrived in Africa in 1984, when they were invited to spread the cult of Mary in the Diocese of Ruhengeri in Rwanda. Initially, they concen- trated on parish work. In 2004, they began to serve the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Word in Kibeho (the Gikongoro Diocese), where they opened the Center of Marian Formation. Their activity spread to Cameroon, to the Diocese Doume Bong-Mbang in 1999. After three years there, they took over the Parish of Atok where they set up the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy. In the Ukraine, the Vicariate of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was opened in 1990. Its work, apart from pastoral care in parishes, (among others in Kharkov, Chmielnicki, Sevastopol, Górdek Podolski and Czerniovce), comprises the mate- rial rebuilding of churches, the publication of books and periodicals, and chari- table works. In 1999, in response to the shortage of priests in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic, the Marians set up the first religious house in Drietom (Slovakia), then in Brumov-Bylnica in the Czech Republic in 1993. Pastoral activity in these coun- tries concentrated mostly on parish work, (among other places, in Prague), with some extra-parochial concerns, like serving in the Marian Sanctuary, (Hradek near Prague), and running individual, group and parish retreats. In 1994, the Czech – Slovak Vicariate of SS Cyril and Methodius was set up. In 1993, the Belorussian Delegacy was established. Its activity was concerned at first with the reconstruction and building of Centers of Worship. With time, it extended to the running of parishes, (among them in Borisov, Druja, Minsk,and Orsha), retreat centers and the Sanctuary of the Marian Martyrs in Rosica. In 1992, the Marians opened the first mission center in Kazakhstan (Kara- ganda). In the Polish Province, along with the running of parishes, the Marians’ pasto- ral concerns assumed multiple forms of extra-parochial activities like serving the Marian Sanctuaries (Licheń, Stoczek Warmiński) and associating Centers of Mar- ian Formation to them, publishing, research and specialized activities connected with managing a hospice for the dying (Warsaw), family and addiction counsel- ling (Licheń, Warsaw), retreat houses, the Marian Helpers Association, and the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception of the BVM. Changes which the Congregation experienced in the USA led to the merger of two American provinces and the establishing one Province of The BVM Mother of Mercy in 2006. At the beginning of 2007, the Marians totalled 491 members – of whom, more than a half were Poles, in 50 religious houses in 18 countries.