Dear Loretta, and Friends receiving this.
Thank you Loretta for the lovely picture of the Precious Blood Sisters
from SJCS. Yes, indeed these ladies were dedicated to teaching, not only
academically, but spiritually as well….doing just what our parents had
wanted them to do for us. We can never thank them enough. How lucky
we’ve all been.
Now, I’d like to share a story with you from the 60’s.
After the Zanzibar Revolution, when the Sisters were leaving the Island,
for Nairobi, they contacted me about their plans, and gave me details
of their itinerary. I was a teacher in Mombasa, Kenya. As they were
arriving on a week day, I decided to take a sick day from school.
Then I rented a station-wagon from General Motors, and drove to the
Mombasa airport to pick up the Sisters….Siglinda, Josephrieda, Hemma,
and I think Maura, Imberta, and Paula….
I took them to my home and gave them breakfast, and then we went to
Bamburi Beach for a picnic, with food and cold drinks from a local
restaurant. We all had a grand time, and the Sisters pulled up their
long skirts and splashed in the water. We behaved just like little
children. It was so delightful to see the Sisters so happy and carefree
after their ordeal in Zanzibar.
Then we returned home for a rest before heading to the train station to
catch the 6.30pm train to Nairobi. That was the last time I saw the
Sisters. I was so honoured to have had the chance to welcome them to my
home, and to have been entrusted with such a wonderful request. What’s
more, I was part of their team…. What an honour to share kinship with my
dearest Sisters….my teachers.
I cannot find my photos of this event, but I’m sure they’ll turn up when I’m not searching.
Sisters Siglinda, Josephreida and Hemma corresponded with me until I
left Mombasa and Africa for good , in 1968. … and occasionally
thereafter. Time and distance were to be contended with. Those were /are
wonderful memories indeed.
As a teacher, I remembered and applied all that these wonderful Sisters
had taught me in school, from hiring me as teacher as soon as I had
finished Senior Cambridge to replace Mrs. Pereira who had fallen ill ,
to my finding my vocation as a teacher, and I loved every moment of it
until I retired in 2001….still do. I fell in love with my class that
very first day of teaching, and the rest is history. I was very happy to
meet some of my former students at the 2005 and 2008 SJCS Reunions. I
treasure those memories.
Now, what did I know about teaching, with me just out of grade 12? No
problem….I just did what the good Sisters did as teachers, and at the
end of that year went off to qualify as a teacher, in Nairobi, and then
the …..UK as Commonwealth Scholarship winner, at the University of
Southampton, and later earned the equivalent of my Masters degree at
St.FX University in Antigonish Nova Scotia.
Those were the days, my friend…. Wonderful days of yore. Today, may the
Sisters enjoy eternal rest in the bosom of the Lord. Tuta onana siku
moja.
Stay well everybody and cherish your precious memories of yore.
Love and God bless.
Yvette………[de Souza-Muise]
