South of Brazzaville, below the cataract when the Joue River joins the Congo to form a spectacle of rapids, Sister Maria Albina leads a group of seven nuns in two important missions. They provide prenatal and delivery care to mothers with uncomplicated pregnancies. And they provide preschool and primary school education (and basic health care and hygiene) for up to 250 children.
The 76-year of "Suor Maria" is Italian and has been in Africa for 50 years, 35 of them in rural DRC (the other Congo) and 15 where she is now. When the civil war ended, this order of Italian nuns took over the compound from another order that had been forced to flee. They left with everything moveable except for the chapel, which they left in order, right down to the vestments.
Since that time, the new order has redeveloped and expanded the compound to include preschool and primary education in newly built and sparkling clean buildings that include modern toilet and shower facilities for the children. Families pay about $12/month (plus a one dollar supplement for English instruction). The school census starts outta a high of 250 at the beginning of the year. As the year progresses and families cannot pay and in fact need more money, some parents take their children out of school and put them to work breaking up rocks by the river. The day we visited we found three parents busy sewing student uniforms in a classroom., using old treadle sewing machines. Two toddlers nearby had probably never seen whites. The little boy ran screaming to his mother when he looked at me. But the little girl just sat sort of frozen while we all fussed and took photos.
The maternity center is open 24/7 and the nuns rotate overnight duty for deliveries. They have two maternity wards with stainless steel framed beds and mosquito nets. The delivery suite (like the whole compound) is maintained so well that a group of Italian eye surgeons will be using it to perform ophthalmic surgery later this year. But women with serious complications have to be referred elsewhere. It is not supposed to work that way but the government doctors assigned to visit do not come because the center is remote, per Sister Maria.
And indeed, it is remote. We left the southbound highway and followed a bumpy and curvy dirt road for what felt like forever, but was probably a couple miles. There are two access roads, one of which (the shorter one) is impassable in the rainy season. At the point where I began to doubt the route, a neighborhood of scattered houses and compounds appeared. There were many young children outside playing, who stopped to stare as we bumped through. Then at last a simple walled compound appeared. As with many of the walled compounds I have seen, the outside gave no hint as to what lay behind the gate.
I was privileged to make this visit because two Italian friends, one of whom is an ophthalmologist with WHO, had made the arrangements and agreed to take me along. Most of the communication was done in Italian, the friends and Sister Maria all happy to have a chance to speak it. My friends were tireless in translating and making sure I knew what was being said. Even though the visiting priest was waiting to say mass at 5:00, Sr Maria insisted we have a cup of real Italian coffee. She puts up with many inconveniences, including a monthly bout of malaria (acquired years ago in the DRC), but she told us she could not live without her Italian coffee machine. There are some nights when that is all that can keep her awake with a woman in labor!
And, Rilla, you are really white!--red haired!
ReplyDeleteBless this nuns.