Familiarity & Faith

 

As September comes, so does the first day of school in Sierra Leone. The Catholic Diocese does everything it can to promote education here in Makeni. They built most of the schools in the city and in the bush and continue to manage them to this day. They are also responsible for the University of Makeni. Every morning, I see students dressed in their uniforms with their skirts or slacks and ties, making their way up and down the streets. It reminds me of scenes from anime shows, except there are no cherry blossom petals floating around and no one is Japanese. Most children here go to the Catholic schools, whether they come from Chistian homes or Muslim homes, and are taught by priests or sisters. My dad and his siblings went to Catholic schools. I never had that experience. I was happy with public school, but it makes me wonder what that would have been like. As I see all these children rushing to school, it makes me think of home. Education was very important to my dad’s parents. They both immigrated from Nicaragua to the US and wanted all their children and grandchildren to receive good educations.

A lot of the local food here reminds me of the Nicaraguan food I grew up with, which was a lot of rice and beans and chicken and fried plantains. It’s comforting. My paternal grandmother passed away this Sunday. We called her Coco. She came to the States where she met my grandfather. They both had grown up in a country that didn’t let everyone get an education and wouldn’t let people speak freely. While they lived in the States, they brought their children up in the Catholic church. My Coco gave me my first rosary. She prayed for me and all my cousins every day. When she found out I was going to be a missionary in Africa, she was very worried about me and my safety. But she told me that she was very proud of me. She told me no one in our family had ever done anything like this. She gave me another rosary blessed by Pope Francis and told me, “God bless you, mi amor. I love you.” My mom taught me to follow God. My Gram taught me to love God. But my Coco taught me to love the Catholic faith and I’m so grateful she was my Coco. All three of those lessons will never leave me. Especially here on my mission when I need them the most. I pray I remember them the rest of the time I’m on my mission.