Rise in Crime in South Africa Impeding Service to Refugee Women, Children: Catholic Nun

The heightened insecurity in the area causes trauma to refugee women, students and staff members at Bienvenu Shelter that is run by the Scalabrinians.

“These challenges have been somehow traumatic for the refugee women who have previously experienced trauma,” Sr. Chiesa said about some of the beneficiaries of facility that includes a training centre for refugees.

The native of Brazil cited the rotating outage characterized by the halting of electricity supply for non-overlapping periods of time over different parts of South Africa as another challenge as it “became extremely difficult to continue with the activities, especially with livelihood courses, and administrative duties.”

The Scalabrinian Nun assured participants in the AGM that despite the challenges, Bienvenu Shelter will “continue serving women and their children by means of welcoming, caring, and empowering.”

The facility, she said, will “ensure that refugee women and their children are treated with dignity and respect.”

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The personnel of Bienvenu Shelter, Sr. Chiesa said, will continue to provide information and encouragement to beneficiaries, and will “continue with the charism of Blessed Giovanni Battista Scalabrini and Blessed Mother Assunta and Father Joseph Marchetti, in being committed to the human dignity of migrants and refugees.”

In a bid to strengthen security measures, Sr. Chiesa said they will “look into opening a tuck shop within the training center to provide more safety and security for the students.” 

“The opening of the tuck shop will also help to generate income,” she said. 

The Scalabrinian Nun went on to highlight some of the achievements of the shelter over the past year, including the launch of the book published under the title, “Bienvenu Shelter: 20 Years of Welcoming, Caring and Empowering”, which narrates the history and mission of the Scalabrinian Missionary Sisters in Johannesburg.

“Bienvenu Shelter was chosen out of six countries worldwide to present an online dialogue about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on migrants and refugees, to the board of trustees of the UN in Geneva,” Sr. Chiesa said.

In her concluding remarks during the July 30 virtual meeting, Sr. Chiesa thanked the donors, volunteers, and staff of the Bienvenu Shelter for their ongoing “dedication and service to refugee women and their children”.

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.