Moni Wochokera Kwa Masisitere Achimalawi
(Greetings from the Malawian Sisters)
The 5th of December 2000, was fabulous day! Maria Nema Binga and Monica Chithila, new sisters from Malawi, arrived to join the Community of St Mary. It was a blessing because they had faced lots of problems to get here.At first they were refused visas, then they reapplied and went to another interview. At last after this interview they were granted visas, and now they are here.
Now
we are going to introduce ourselves. Some of you might already
know Sister Martha Theu because she has been here for a year and
half. She was born on 27 Nov. 1980, and is the second born in a
family of eight children. Her father is a teacher in high school,
and her mother has a retail business. Because there are so many
children in the family her father cannot manage to feed, cloth
and pay school fees with the salary he gets, so he also has a piece
of land whereby he grows food to feed the family. Her home district
is Mzimba in northern Malawi, and Mzimba is in the mountains where
it is sometimes cool and sometimes warm. She was at Mzimba Secondary
School where her favorite subjects were Home Economics and Bible
Knowledge. She felt that she had a vocation to be a sister, so
she came here to St. Mary's to learn monastic life. She likes having
fun and smiling at everyone. Her hobbies are reading spiritual
books, listening to gospel songs, learning computer and playing
games. She likes all the sisters and she is fortunate to be here,
Praise God! Please help in prayers that God's Will may be fulfilled
in her.
Monica Chithila was born on
8th September 1978. Before she came here she was living with her
parents on Likoma Island. Her father is a doctor at St. Peter Hospital.
Her two sisters and five brothers are independent and are all married
and have children. When she was at school her favorite subjects
were Bible Knowledge and Biology. Her hobbies are playing games,
cooking and listening to R and B songs. She has been here almost
two months. Upon arrival in this country she was surprised to see
the tall buildings and so many cars in comparison to Malawi. She
was amazed when she saw snow for the first time because there is
no snow in her country. She decided to become a sister because
in her family no one has joined the clergy. Since she was the only
one remaining, she felt called to join the sisterhood. In Malawi
there are no Anglican sisters so she wanted to join Roman Catholics
but her parents refused. Finally she is happy and thankful for
what Bishop Biggers has done and that she is pleased to be with
the American sisters. She asks everyone to abide with her in prayers
so that she may be strengthened spiritually.
Maria Nema Binga was born on
29th April 1981. She is the fourth born in the family of seven,
5 brothers and 1 sister. Her father is a catechist. She was living
with her father and mother in Karonga, which is in the northern
part of Malawi. Her favorite subjects at school were English and
Biology. She came here to learn monastic life and she has been
here for two months. In her family they raise animals like goats
for milk and meat. They also like to go swimming in Lake Malawi,
to play games, to care for animals, etc. When she arrived here,
she saw many impressive things but the one, which was most interesting
was snow. During her free time she likes to knit, to read, listen
to gospel music and learn the computer. She asks for your prayers
that she may succeed in becoming a Sister.
Our country, called the “Warm Heart of Africa,” is a small country. It has beautiful animals, such as zebras, elephants, buffalo, lions, antelope, giraffe, crocodiles, hippopotamus, and many more, a big lake, rivers and many different kinds of fish and mountains. Most people rely on farming. They keep different kinds of animals like cows, goats, etc because of the favorable climatic conditions. Most people are Christians, and they believe that all things come from God.
Our life is very busy. We spend most of our time in prayers because prayer is the center of the monastic life. We also have many other duties such as ringing the bells, reading the scriptures in chapel and the refectory, pantry duties, cooking with Mama Cora, preparing our office book in Chichewa, many different classes, and also caring for the goats. In spring we are expecting to get chickens and we will start gardening. We also like to play games like jumping rope, netball, basketball and playing cards. We Malawians are glad to be here and are having much fun with all sisters especially Sister Mary Basil.
Finally we wish to offer many thanks to all the friends who are supporting us. We hope that you will continue to support us in your prayers even when we go back home. We appreciate all of your prayers and help, so that we may have this opportunity to learn to become sisters.
Ambuye akudalitseni nonse. (God bless you all.)