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Sr. Colette Visits California
Sr. Mary Colette Theobald visited California during a long school break at St. Julie Mission in Buseesa, where she serves as Head Teacher at the primary school (which is similar to principal of an elementary school here). The home visit gave Sr. Colette the opportunity to visit her family, make a retreat, and catch up with sisters throughout the province. Sr. Colette also spent time giving mission talks to churches and schools.
During her talks, Sr. Colette shared details of life at the mission, including the constant task of gathering and purifying water collected from rainfall. She spoke about the history of the mission and the great gifts of first Ugandan Sisters of Notre Dame, who are teaching in the school and ministering to local people.
Sr. Colette answered many questions that American children had about Uganda. Since there are no telephones, students wondered what the sisters did if they needed the police or an ambulance. Sr. Colette explained that in such an instance she would have to send someone to get help and that good hospitals are quite far away.
Yet St. Julie Mission brings the modern world to the bush despite many challenges. The generosity of donors has enabled the sisters to provide a computer lab that is run on solar energy. The 24 low-voltage computers provide students with an opportunity to improve their reading, writing and research skills and prepare for their future in a technologically wired world.
“I wish everybody could see the faces of the children when they go in there, they’re begging their teacher, can we go to the lab?” said Sr. Colette. “It’s especially important to realize that these are children who haven’t seen television, they have never seen a computer before, they’ve heard of them and they know that they should want to do it and they’re really excited about it. I just can’t wait in a few years to see their growth.”
“We’re investigating for the future about how we can possibly get the Internet to these children because that will further open their world up in a whole new way,” said Sr. Colette. There is still no electricity in Buseesa and obtaining a mobile phone signal requires climbing a mountain.
However, St. Julie Mission does not allow such obstacles to prevent a high quality education. A recent grant enabled the sisters to build one of the most advanced science labs in Ugandan schools. It is fully equipped with sinks, gas Bunsen burners, and other specialty lab equipment not normally available at a school. The national curriculum includes yearly classes in biology, chemistry, physics and agriculture. The lab is adaptable for all these subjects and a great resource during the grueling month of tests that determine the fate of S-4 students.
“The science teachers are just thrilled to have it,” said Sr. Colette. “Science is a very important part of the curriculum in Uganda, which is highly test centered. They’re tested on very difficult concepts. We wanted them to have an understanding of the concepts and not just memorize some formula that has no meaning for them.”
In addition to acquiring computer programs and lab supplies, the sisters also hope to replenish and update the school library, which is used by students of St. Julie Primary School, Notre Dame Academy Secondary School as well as local secondary boys and people who work at the mission. Reading is a popular pastime since children at St. Julie Mission have very little access to books at home and treasure the library.
These accomplishments would not be possible without many donations and prayers for the Sisters of Notre Dame from friends throughout the United States. Students at St. Julie Mission are well aware sacrifices made by their parents as well as donors and sponsors.
“The children at the mission are very grateful for every small and large thing that comes their way,” Sr. Colette said.
Web extras from Sr. Colette's Home Visit:
“There are 53 kinds of bananas. Don’t go to Uganda if you don’t like bananas.”
“The children in our school really really want to be there because they see lots of boys and girls that don’t go to school or go to very substandard schools and sometimes children here in the United States don’t appreciate it because everyone has to go to school. I even had a child go ‘oh, I want to go there if you don’t have to go to school.’ But his classmates gave him such a dirty look because they realized that it’s important to go to school.
The children at the mission are very grateful for every small and large thing that comes their way because it’s not the norm and the expectations are different. Here, I told a group that there are no video games. The horror that they experienced … entertainment value and getting treats that our children take for granted, it’s kind of fun there because the children don’t take it for granted. The smallest thing is an occasion for gratitude. That’s a nice spirit.
Similarities that come to mind are that children are playful in both societies; they have dreams and goals in both societies; there are caring adults for them that want the best for them and are making sacrifices for them, especially here at St. Lawrence in Watts the parents really have to make a commitment in order to go to Catholic school, and the same there in Buseesa. It’s not totally free and so parents make a commitment to send their children. I sometimes wish that the children could get together to see what’s similar or different.
Another something that struck me was this whole idea of animals as pets. Pets are so important to American children and for the Ugandan they just have a utilitarian purpose.
I show some of the animals that we have, goats and pigs and piglets and there’s a real cute picture of some rabbits that all the children go ‘aren’t they cute!’ One child asked me ‘what do they do with the rabbits?’ I hated to break it to them but we eat the rabbits. The children were shocked, ‘no, no. not that!’ and I had to explain that animals have only a basic value for what they can do to help the family, so a dog is only there to watch.”
Rabbits are part of the animal husbandry program at the mission, an important part of the curriculum because agriessential to Ugandan life.
“The children learn some new techniques that have been imported from other parts of the world and combine those with some good Ugandan methods,” Sr. Colette explained. Children who learn how to raise rabbits are eventually given a pair of male and female rabbits that they take home to their families to start a rabbit project. Thus their families also have opportunities to learn techniques that help them improve the productivity of their farms and livestock.
African Mission Visit
Each year Sister Marla Monahan, provincial for the Sisters of Notre Dame of Covington, does “visitation” for the communities and members of the province. The purpose of this annual visitation is to support and encourage the members in their religious life and ministry.
Sister Marla traveled with Sister Kristin Battles, provincial of the California province, to Buseesa, Uganda and to Arusha, Tanzania, for the annual visitation in Africa during the month of October. The Thousand Oaks, California, province co-sponsors the Uganda, East Africa mission with our Covington province.
Currently there are eleven Sisters of Notre Dame missioned in Uganda. They are Sister Mary Immaculate (Uganda), Sister Antoinette Marie (California), Sister Mary Bernarde (Germany), Sister Mary Janet (Covington), Sister Mary Juliet (Uganda), Sisters Mary Judith, Anita Marie, Mary Rita, Mary Delrita (Covington), Sister Mary Amony (Uganda) and Sister Mary Colette (California). St. Julie Mission includes St. Julie Primary School, St. Julie Farm, and St. Julie Formation House. Three young women are in discernment at the Formation House to explore the possibility of a religious vocation with the Sisters of Notre Dame.
During the time of visitation the provincials met with each department associated with the mission. They also met with the students, faculties and staff, addressed a school parent meeting, and visited the families of the Ugandan Sisters of Notre Dame. Plans were finalized to become a registered society in Uganda. They were also blessed to have a meeting with the Archbishop of Kampala, Uganda, regarding the ministry needs of his archdiocese. The needs are great and he particularly emphasized ministry with “street” children and women caught in poverty who turn to prostitution to survive.
Arrangements were made to begin further studies for our three native Ugandan sisters at the University of Uganda Martyrs in Kampala. The programs in education and social work are excellent and are affiliated with Walsh University in Canton, Ohio. Both universities are sponsored by the Brothers of Christian Instruction.
The commitment and dedication of the Sisters missioned in Uganda is very inspiring, and the appreciation of the people served by the mission is gratifying.
Buseesa Library – Another Gateway to the World
Sister Mary Delrita recalls the beginnings of the school library.
Mid 1997: Let’s see – six or eight boxes of little books, a portable manual typewriter and a supply of 3x5 cards… time to get this organized into a school library. The other three sisters here in Buseesa were busy with various tasks in preparation for the opening of our St. Julie School in February, so I volunteered to organize the library. True, I had no knowledge beyond my experience as a patron of various libraries, but I could try.
I began to sort through the books, so generously sent by our wonderful benefactors – God bless them! As I sorted, a plan began to emerge. There would be a section for folk and fairy tales – call that FFT, and one for science; SCI, for fantasy: FAN, and so on. After sorting I began typing and typing, and… By the end of 1997, we had acquired 1,173 books, including many Little Golden Books, hardback books, paperbacks, and even some “wipe cleans.”
When school began, what a joy to see a child hold a book with both hands, look at it and realize, “If I just write my name on a little card, I can take it away with me!”
Over the years the children have found the library one of their favorite places. Some of them seem insatiable. They are full of questions and look for books and information on all the topics they talk about in their classes. At recess time or their library class time they hurry in assking, “Sister, where is the book of…?” It may be space travel from a story in their reader or arctic expeditions or Albert Einstein – anything. It is a challenge to satisfy their eagerness to learn. The books, and especially the pictures, are truly invaluable in opening the minds and imaginations of the children to worlds beyond anything they have known before.
By 1999 I realized the need to upgrade the classification system. With much help from the Sisters back home I learned the Dewey Decimal system. Then, I began to change all the books and cards already in the library. No small task!
In the past ten years some of the books have worn out, some have been lost or accidentally destroyed, some shared with our Sisters in Tanzania for their school. We have continued to add more books each year to our library. These books have come to us in varied ways: gifts from individuals, groups, schoos; gleanings from attritions at other libraries in the states, etc. Many, many people have been involved in this library. God knows who they are!
In 2003, our girls’ secondary school began. These students also use the same library. We circulate books to a few boys from the parish secondary school, to the maintenance and farm workers at St. Juliee, and to our “old boys” who return to work for school fees during school holidays. These latter are unanimous in praising our library and wish they had something similar.
As we look to the beginning of the second decade at St. Julie Model Primary Boarding School, we hope to maintain the good that has been accomplished and to progress with ever-improving quality of service. We rely on support from our friends and as God’s continued blessing on each benefactor.