Toward the end of 2021 we welcomed a number of sisters in the Tanzanian region.
We were delighted to welcome Sr Comfort from Ghana back into our Province, to the Region of Tanzania. Comfort already worked for several years in Tanzania before being requested by the General Council in 2014 for the OLA mission in Botswana. After some years of mission in Botswana, Comfort returned to Ghana to do an MA in Education. We congratulate her on her MA and are very happy to welcome her back to Tanzania, where she arrived in late November. She has been appointed as Headmistress of the OLA English Medium Nursery/Primary School Bugisi and has already assumed this new mission. We wish her all God’s blessings as she settles back to Tanzania and pray that God will grant her every grace that she needs in the journey ahead. Welcome Comfort!
We were also delighted to welcome Sr Laetitia Zombre from Burkina Faso. Laetitia, who has a degree in Economic and Management Sciences, just made her first Religious Profession in July 2021. She has been appointed to form part of the pioneer OLA Community in Mlali, Dodoma, and to teach in the St Clara Secondary School there, which will be administered by the OLA Sisters. Laetitia arrived in Tanzania in October. We welcome Laetitia into the Province and pray she will be happy and fulfilled in this her first missionary journey. May God grant her every grace and blessing she needs as she learns Swahili, becomes familiar with the people and culture of Tanzania, and assumes her new mission. Welcome Laetitia!
Sr Angele, from Ivory Coast, made her first Profession in December 2020, and was appointed to join our community in Bugisi. Angele arrived in May 2021 and after some months of learning Swahili, she assumed her mission – helping in the Bugisi Vocational Training Centre and also teaching French in the Nursery/Primary School. We welcome Angele into the Province and pray she will be happy and fulfilled in this her first missionary journey. May God grant her every grace and blessing she needs as she continues to improve both her English and her Swahili, forms positive relationships with the people and culture of Tanzania, and continues her missionary journey. Karibu sana Angele!
Sr Patience has already been one of us for over five years in Ireland, having successfully completed her BA and MA in Maynooth, Ireland. She also did some ‘stage’ here in her field of work, a time that was interrupted by the COVID pandemic. During those trying months the presence and participation of Patience not only as a community member in Dublin and Ardfoyle, but also as a missionary in the field of ‘frontline worker’ in our Infirmary, MVA engagement, and so much else, ensured that her footprint here is deeply embedded and appreciated. We are delighted that Patience has now been appointed to join our mission in Tanzania, where she will be a member of the Mwamapalala Community, to teach in the secondary school there, and develop and strengthen our outreach to the women in that area, seeking to help to empower them in whatever way she can. We are delighted to have her once again as a member of our Province, this time in the Region of Tanzania, and pray she will be happy and fulfilled in this new mission. Fáilte Patience!
Sr Mary Mark, one of our temporary professed Tanzanian Sisters, made her first Profession in 2019. She was then appointed on her first mission ad extra to Ferkessedougou in Ivory Coast. There she was very much appreciated and lived her mission to the full, being a member of the OLA and the parish community and working in the nursery/primary school where she was responsible for the Canteen. Mary Mark returned to Tanzania after her renewal of vows in August, and after some holiday time with her family, she has joined the community in Bugisi. Here she is appointed to work with Sr Comfort in the Nursery/Primary school. We are delighted to have Mary back with us in Tanzania and wish her every blessing in this new mission in her home country. May God continue to guide her in her journey of formation and mission.