Tanzanians Come to Atchison

(front) Sister Kate, Sister Brendan (middle) Sister Anamaria, Sister Susan,
Sister Susana, Sister Presentasia (back) Sister Redempta, Sister Genevieve,
Sister Gotharda

by Sister Genevieve Robinson, OSB

If you provide the opportunity, they will come. This August, five Benedictine sisters from Tanzania who are seeking college degrees in the United States spent time praying, studying culture, and relaxing at Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison. The trip, which was sponsored by an anonymous donor, allowed three Tanzanian Benedictines living elsewhere in the United States to spend time with the two local sisters from their community of St. Agnes in Chipole, Tanzania. Sisters Susana Kindole and Presentasia Chipeta, after two years studying the English language at Donnelly College in Kansas City, have begun studying at Benedictine College. The five sisters are among a group of twelve Benedictines whose college study in the United States is being sponsored by six American Benedictine communities: St. Scholastica Monastery in Duluth, Minnesota, St. Placid Priory in Lacey, Washington, St. Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, Minnesota, Sacred Heart Monastery in Yankton, South Dakota, Sacred Heart Monastery in Lisle, Illinois, and Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison, Kansas. Unfortunately, visits home to Tanzania and school schedules prevented the others from attending the gathering.

While at Mount St. Scholastica, the sisters lived in Bethany, the guest area at the monastery. For five days, they and three members of Mount St. Scholastica, Sisters Brendan Fry, Susan Barber, and Genevieve Robinson, participated in an acculturation workshop led by Sister Kathryn Pierce, IHM. The workshop is one of several offered by Cross Cultural Services sponsored by the Maryknoll Society. The purpose of the workshop was to develop a framework for the Tanzanian sisters to understand United States culture as they attempt to adjust to their new environment. The participants shared their personal stories as they explored their personal roots, cultural identity, and the cultural values and practices in the United States as compared to those in Tanzania or their villages.

All was not work or study. Most evenings they gathered and prepared Tanzanian dishes for themselves and/or guests, and their evenings were also filled with conversation. The sisters shared dance and song with the sisters of Mount St. Scholastica and learned more about local culture with area travel, including trips to the family farm of Sister Loretta McGuire's brother, Tom McGuire, in Barneston, Nebraska, and to the Omaha zoo.

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