{"id":101187,"date":"2026-11-09T12:52:42","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T11:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/progetto-n-34-2026-ampliamento-della-mensa-del-convento-di-rivotorto\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T13:01:51","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T12:01:51","slug":"progetto-n-34-2026-ampliamento-della-mensa-del-convento-di-rivotorto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/progetto-n-34-2026-ampliamento-della-mensa-del-convento-di-rivotorto\/","title":{"rendered":"Project No. 34\/2026 \u2013 Enlarging the Dining Hall of the Rivotorto Friary"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Project No. 34\/2026 \u2013<br \/>\nEnlarging the Dining Hall of the Rivotorto Friary &#8211;<br \/>\nFormation House (Lusaka, Zambia)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Province of the Franciscan Protomartyrs in Zambia of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual has proposed <strong>Formation Project No. 34\/2026<\/strong>, entitled: \u201cEnlarging the Dining Hall of the Rivotorto Friary, (House of Philosophy Studies).\u201d The project aims to expand the dining hall of the Rivotorto Friary in Lusaka.<\/p>\n<p>The friary is located on the campus of St. Bonaventure University in Makeni, Lusaka, Zambia, and is home to the House of Philosophy Studies of the African Federation of Conventual Franciscans (AFCOF). Since the official founding of the friary in 1992, the number of friars in formation has grown steadily and significantly. While this is an encouraging sign of growth in vocations, it has also made it increasingly urgent to adapt the facilities of the formation house to meet the needs of its expanding community.<br \/>\nThe current dining hall was originally designed to accommodate fewer than twenty students. Today, the friary houses fifty-five friars studying philosophy. With the start of the academic year scheduled for August 2026, that number is expected to rise to sixty-two. Consequently, the current dining hall can no longer adequately meet the needs of the formation community. To address this lack of space, the formation team has been forced to divide the students into separate groups and use makeshift dining areas. This solution limits one of the essential aspects of Franciscan life: sharing meals as a daily time for fraternity, dialogue, and strengthening community life.<br \/>\nThe project will enlarge the existing dining hall at the Rivotorto Friary so that it will accommodate up to eighty students and formators. The larger dining hall will allow the entire formation house community to share meals together, fostering the communal spirit that lies at the heart of Franciscan formation. The enlargement will meet the needs of the current student population while supporting the anticipated growth in vocations within the AFCOF Federation.<br \/>\nThe goal of the project is therefore to provide the formation house with a dining hall suited to the community\u2019s present and future needs, creating an environment more conducive to fraternal life and the formation journey of the young friars. The friars of the Province of the Franciscan Protomartyrs in Zambia will continue to manage the formation house directly and oversee the philosophy studies of the AFCOF Federation candidates.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong><u>Project Information<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Conventual Franciscan Jurisdiction:<\/strong> Province of the Franciscan Protomartyrs in Zambia<\/li>\n<li><strong>Country: <\/strong>Zambia<\/li>\n<li><strong>Diocese:<\/strong> Lusaka<\/li>\n<li><strong>Location:<\/strong> Lusaka<\/li>\n<li><strong>Type of Project:<\/strong> Formation Project<\/li>\n<li><strong>Date of Proposal:<\/strong> 2026<\/li>\n<li><strong>Direct Project Coordinator:<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Friar John LESA<\/li>\n<li>Email: <a href=\"mailto:johnlesaka2015@gmail.com\">johnlesaka2015@gmail.com<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Total Project Cost:<\/strong> \u20ac12,785.52 (ZMW 268,496.00)<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Local Contributions:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The friary will contribute by providing transportation for the construction materials<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Contribution Requested: <\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>\u20ac12,785.52 (ZMW 268,496.00)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<h3><strong>Update on Funding Status<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Project No. 34\/2026 \u2013 Enlarging the Dining Hall of the Rivotorto Friary &#8211; Formation House (Lusaka, Zambia) was fully funded by donations from the Province of St. Elizabeth in Germany and the Province of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe in South Korea. Both Provinces contributed \u20ac6,500.00, for a total of \u20ac13,000.00.<br \/>\nThis funding will make it possible to enlarge the dining hall and thus accommodate up to eighty students and formators. It will allow the entire community to share meals together and thereby strengthen an essential aspect of fraternal life and Franciscan formation.<br \/>\nThe Projects Office expresses its sincere gratitude to the two Provinces for this gesture of fraternal solidarity in support of the formation of the young friars of the African Federation of Conventual Franciscans (AFCOF).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">Projects Office<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 8pt;\"><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> The amounts in euros are calculated based on the exchange rate of \u20ac1.00 = ZMW 21.00. The conversions are provided for informational purposes only.<\/span><\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Project No. 34\/2026 \u2013 Enlarging the Dining Hall of the Rivotorto Friary &#8211; Formation House (Lusaka, Zambia) The Province of the Franciscan Protomartyrs in Zambia of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual has proposed Formation Project No. 34\/2026, entitled: \u201cEnlarging the Dining Hall of the Rivotorto Friary, (House of Philosophy Studies).\u201d The project aims to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":106836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,132,135,5257,148,5015],"tags":[725],"class_list":["post-101187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afcof-en","category-federations","category-general-offices","category-in-progress","category-news","category-projects-office","tag-zambia-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101187"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106840,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101187\/revisions\/106840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}