The organizers of the “invitation only event” recognized the fact that women Religious “around the world are undertaking transformative deeds, from grassroots initiatives to global advocacy, tirelessly working to uplift and improve the lives of people they serve.”
“Their efforts have a profound and far-reaching impact on individuals and communities in every sphere of life. These stories hold immense power to inspire change, ignite creativity, and awaken hope – they simply need to be told,” the organizers of the two-day conference that concluded on January 23 stated.
In her presentation during the conference, Sr. Paola shared about traditional media in general and the Catholic Radio Network (CRN) that the members of the Comboni Missionaries spearheaded in Sudan and South Sudan in collaboration with the two-nation Conference of Catholic Bishops.
She highlighted the challenges of the Catholic radio initiative in South Sudan, including gaps in professionalism, competence, technical expertise, and a weak support system on emergencies.
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In South Sudan as in many part of Africa, radio remains the main source of information, Sr. Paola said and cited a 2024 radio initiative in the East-Central African nation by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Other presenters at the conference included Sr. Dominic Dipio, the Ugandan-born member of the Missionary Sisters of Mary Mother of the Church (MSMMC), who is a full professor of literature and film and a former Chair of the Department of Literature at Makerere University in her native country; the Kenyan-born members of the Sisters of the Precious Blood (CPPS), Sr. MũMbi Kĩgũtha, who is currently ministering in Silver Spring, MD as the president of Friends in Solidarity, a Catholic nonprofit supporting capacity building in South Sudan.
Sr. Rosemary Nyirumbe of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (SHS), who has facilitated the provision of education and refuge to thousands of girls abducted from and abandoned by their families through her “Saint Monica’s Girls Tailoring Center” in Uganda’s Catholic Archdiocese of Gulu also addressed the women Religious communicators.
Sr. Rosemary Nyirumbe
In her presentation, Sr. Rosemary shared about how engaging both traditional and digital media has facilitated her apostolate among the vulnerable in society.
“When I started my work of accepting young women abducted by the Rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army at St. Monica Center it was through a verbal communication. I got inspired to use one local FM radio station in town that time to send a message to them. This was the first time I realized the importance of communication,” the Ugandan-born Catholic Nun recalled her presentation at the conference in a note she shared with ACI Africa.
The holder of a Ph.D. in Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum from the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education at the University of Oklahoma further recalled, “A good number on hearing my message came to St. Monica Center deeply traumatized with no hope of living and being accepted in their condition.”
“My role in communicating hope to vulnerable women has been more through works than words. I have seen in my work how witnessing through works demonstrates and communicates what hope looks like,” she said.
Sr. Rosemary, who has dedicated over three decades of her life to serving victims at the heart of the violent conflicts in Northern Uganda and South Sudan, providing education to over 5,000 girls abducted from and abandoned by their respective families said the impact of her apostolate caught the attention of the international community with the publication of her book, “sewing hope”, translated in Italian as “Cucire La Speranza”.
“I have created annual Peace conference where women from different backgrounds come together to discuss how they can get involved in active peace building with their full participation in the society,” the Ugandan SHS member that the Time magazine recognized as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2014 said.
The recipient of multiple honors, including the CNN “Hero Award”, and the United Nations “Impact Award” highlighted the effectiveness of media in her apostolate, saying, “The work we do with the vulnerable women and children can only be known through the power of communication as our target population are the people living at the real periphery and risk to be forgotten as communication is becoming more and more sophisticated.”
“This is also a way of giving women that platform where they can communicate with one another and share in common experiences of gender-based violence in the society. They make their voices be heard in the society,” the author of the book that has a Documentary Film version, with the Grammy Award winner, Forest Whittaker, as the narrator said.
On her part, Sr. Dominic shared her testimony as a scholar and as a documentary filmmaker.
“Being a researcher, I find film as an art and tool for outreach: to share my research outputs with the communities that would never be able to access them in the peer-reviewed academic journals and books,” the Ugandan MSMMC member with more than 70 publications in her interdisciplinary research interests in literature, film, folklore, ritual, popular culture, and gender studies said in a note about her presentation shared with ACI Africa.
She has used film to “engage with the communities and have discussions on the very data I drew from them (and that) I have re-organized and formatted into an art. In this regard, my work also becomes ‘pastoral’”, one of the Consultors of the Vatican Dicastery of Culture and Education said.
Sr. Dominic Dipio
“My documentaries are what one could call ‘cultural documentaries’: I pick aspects of culture… those which are often ‘contested’ and create opportunities for conversation around them, that could lead to deeper understanding, rather than single, oppositional and linear narratives,” Sr. Dominic said.
She emphasized the need for Church communicators to be bearers of “good news”, saying, “The people of God are often open and receptive to the bearer of the ‘good news’ (stories) that weaves people into positive relationships, creates networks, enlightens, challenges, liberates and humanizes.”
“I have enjoyed the respect of colleagues and the community in these public spaces where I feel accepted, as the community in turn expects a high moral standard from me,” said the Ugandan Catholic Nun, who serves as Chair of the Content Support Development Program, a government initiative established in 2021 to support the budding film industry.
Indeed, the university don went on to say, “‘Sister’ rather than ‘professor’ is my common name and identity. Thus, working here is like being placed on a moral pedestal as salt and light; for this is what the public expects of the presence of a Religious. It is an opportunity for mission – to insert the gospel values in this ‘market place’ of values and ideas. This is how I see role.”
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