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Education, Healthcare “our biggest achievements”: Nun in Eswatini Ahead of Centenary Fete

Credit: Sr. Teresita Schiavon

A member of the Congregation of the Mantellate Sisters, Servants of Mary (MSM), commonly known as Servite Sisters, has highlighted education and healthcare as the most noteworthy achievements in their 100 years of service in the Southern Africa Province.

In a recent interview with ACI Africa, Sr. Teresita Schiavon who has served in Eswatini for four decades looked back at the 100 years of service of the Servite Sisters in the Southern Africa Province and acknowledged with appreciation the contributions the alumni of MSM learning institutions make to society.  

“We are international Sisters from Italy, Eswatini, Uganda, Kenya and Democratic Republic of Congo. One of our biggest achievements,” Sr Schiavon said, “is to have contributed towards education and healthcare”.

The Italian-born MSM member who is the Regional Superior of her Congregation added, “We have many successful former Catholic students who are now working as civil servants, in the health and education sectors, including the daughters of South Africa’s former President Nelson Mandela.” 

“We do have many successful ex-Students in different fields, (including). Ambassadors, the police, medical doctors (cardiologists, pharmacist), teachers, heads and deputy head teachers, Priests and Sisters, Business people in Ewsatini as well as in South Africa,” she told ACI Africa during the February 16 interview.

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The Catholic Nun who has been serving in the field of education for close to 43 years said that through the services of MSM members, good Christian families have been formed, and that in some cases, community members have converted to Catholicism.

She expressed her gratitude to her predecessors for shaping the lives of many through Catholic education saying, “ever since their arrival, the Religious Sisters aimed at promoting Religious Life through Catholic education, providing health services.”

The 73-year-old Nun went on to underscore the importance of collaborative ministry in their service in Eswatini saying, “with the collaboration from our Bishop, community members and above all through prayer, we are able to overcome challenges”.

As a MSM members, we “are celebrating 100 years of Humble Service”, she said during the Wednesday, February 16 interview, adding that the Centennial anniversary is being marked by a year-long “Thanks-Giving Pilgrimage”.

“The Congregation decided to embark on a yearlong thanksgiving pilgrimage from December 2021 to December 5, 2022,” Sr. Schiavon told ACI Africa, adding that MSM members are expected to visit the 11 missions that the Congregation has established since the pioneer members arrived in 1922.

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The MSM Regional Superior explained, “We started the thanksgiving pilgrimage in December 2021 with a visit to St Joseph Mission in Manzini which was established on December 6, 1922, our plan is to visit every mission throughout the year.”

Sheila Pires is a veteran radio and television Mozambican journalist based in South Africa. She studied communications at the University of South Africa. She is passionate about writing on the works of the Church through Catholic journalism.