Diocese: Same
Pioneers: Sisters Irene D’Souza, Irene Reema D’Souza and Nirmala Rodrigues
On September 16, 2004, Sisters Irene D’Souza, Irene Reema D’Souza and Nirmala Rodrigues volunteered to move out of the ‘would-be Ursuline Franciscan Formation House’ to a rented house in Stelling, which lies seven kilometres south of the Bishops’ Campus. They sensed a dire need of the area, namely, attending to the education of girl children who had discontinued their schooling due to various reasons. They envisioned a unique project of providing residential training of Pre-form, to twenty girls each for three consecutive years.
Aim of the project was to enable them to join the Secondary School or any other professional area of their interest. Academics, catechising, instruction on value education, character formation, health and hygiene formed an integral part of the Pre-form syllabus. A nursery school was also started in view of providing a solid educational base for children.
As expected, the mission of the Sisters demanded innumerable sacrifices. Their inability to celebrate the Eucharist daily they consider to be the greatest of them all. The apostolic zeal of the Sisters inspired Fr Mansuetus, the General Secretary of the Diocese, to donate the Sisters 15 acres of his land. In addition, the Sisters have purchased 19 acres of land in order to cater to apostolic needs at Stelling. This means that the Sisters own 34 acres of land at Stelling. On October 25, 2004, the foundation stone was laid for Assisi Convent building by Bishop Jacob Koda. He blessed it on July 28, 2005 and the Superior General, Sr Doreen D’Souza inaugurated it. Sr Lily Fernandes, the Councillor General was also present. The convent building is a generous gift from Franca and Gigliola of Florence, Italy. On the day of the inauguration the then Bishop applauded the Sisters for their unique way of living and mission with these words: ‘What we as Church could not do for past twenty-five years has been done by Ursuline Franciscan Sisters within a year in the field of faith formation’.
Concurrent with the construction of the convent building, a Primary School building and a Children’s Home were constructed in the same campus. The construction was commenced on December 23, 2004; foundation stone of the building was blessed by Fr Mansuetus and it was laid by Mr Samboja, his brother. The school building named Assisi School was inaugurated on October 14, 2006 and the Children’s Home named Padre Pio Children’s Home, a generous gift from Centro Padre Pio, Florence, Italy was inaugurated on October 18, 2006. Associates of the group Mr Carlo Così, Ms Gigliola and Romana Santoni were present for the inaugural programme; they were accompanied by Sr Jacintha P D’Souza, the Superior of the Padre Pio Convent at Florence. In the following year, the school
building was extended; at its completion, it was blessed by Bishop Jacob Koda and inaugurated by Mr Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, the President of Tanzania on August 3, 2007. It has to be noted that Assisi Convent has been serving as the House of the Candidates ever since 2007. Six batches of candidates have crossed the portals of the House by 2013.
The Sisters are involved in pastoral activities. They visit families and conduct SCC prayer meetings. They seek out transformation in the living condition of people for which they employ programmes of conscientization. Complying with this vision, a three-day seminar on Poverty Alleviation was conducted. As many as 165 people were beneficiaries of the seminar. Further, the team of Research on Poverty Alleviation (REPOA) from Dar es Salaam was invited for a ten-dayprogramme. Thirty leaders of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) from Same attended the programme.
Little joys of life enkindle the spirit of the Sisters in the midst of a hectic and challenging life. Sr Leena Mathias celebrated her 25 years of religious life and Sr Nirmala Rodrigues celebrated Thanksgivng Mass after her perpetual profession on July 2, 2007. Other events that brought cheer to the Sisters are the visit of a group of students from Tilburg University in February 2008, the visit of Fr Vincent Furtado, the Provincial Superior of the OFM (Cap) in March 2008, canonical visitation of the Superior General Sr Doreen D’Souza accompanied by Sr Jeraldine, the Councillor General, on May 2008 and visit of the Superior General in 2011 to hold canonical visitation and Regional Chapter and Sr Aurea D’Souza to conduct evaluation of formation and Sr Rita Vas as resource person to carry out sessions on St Angela Merici and St Francis of Assisi.
