There are some moments that our forever sketched into our minds. For some people its a birth of a child or a wedding. For Sr. Margaret Wamae it was the day that she learned she would receive the education she always dreamed.
“I remember vividly the day I received a call from the Kenya ASEC that I had received a scholarship to study at Tangaza University College,” said Sr. Margaret. “My congregation and I were so overjoyed by the news.”
A few days after she received the news Sr. Margaret was picked up by ASEC officials and taken to an orientation workshop for ASEC's Higher Education for Sisters in Africa (HESA) students. She said from this moment on she felt this remarkable love come from her peers.
“That evening, like flowers in a bouquet we admired the different congregations of sisters in their official attire. This was quite remarkable,” said Sr. Margaret. “It was quite remarkable how much love and excitement filled the room.”
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Sisters attending Tangaza University (cohort 4C3BA) pose for a photo during HESA orientation. Sisters who will be studying at Tangaza, Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) and ChemChemi all attended the onsite orientation in Kenya in September, 2018. Sr. Margaret adds, "ASEC you have loved us and we too promise our dedication to commit ourselves to work hard and give back to the community what you have given us."
The orientation officially began with opening remarks which included a holy mass followed by breakfast. Afterwards the sisters learned the origins of ASEC from the Kenya Coordinator who said ASEC was born from a request of our major superiors who expressed the challenges of educating African sisters. During these remarks the sisters were reminded of their collaborative roles as beneficiaries of ASEC.
After the opening remarks, Sr. Margaret was greeted by the smile and warmth projected from keynote speaker, Dr. Anne Rita Njageh, a lecturer at CUEA University. She explained to Sr. Margaret and the other women a wide variety of topics that would be useful to them while at the university. These topic included goal setting, study habits and university culture. Although the sisters were there to receive an education Dr. Njageh understood that the sisters also had a higher calling.
“Being a mother and a Catholic, Dr. Rita understood clearly that our core goal in life is to be a nun,” said Sr. Margaret. “With this in mind she reminded us of our role to be good sisters and to take the chance given by ASEC and our congregations seriously.”
Afterwards Dr. Ann Kula, a lecturer at three major institutions gave a presentation to the group on life skills such as communication skills, barriers, listening, giving feedback and presentation skills. Sr. Margaret said this presentation helped bring the sisters closer together as a group.
“The lesson gave us a new insight on how to communicate with people,” said Sr. Margaret. “It also challenged us to use the skills to interact with other in the University.”
After orientation, the sisters received bags which contained a laptop for each of them. When the sisters saw these gifts their eyes had a certain sparkle to them. The sisters just could not hide their joy! But, most importantly, they could not hide their gratitude.
“We wholeheartedly say that we don’t take this gesture for granted,” said Sr. Margaret. “We pray and express our gratitude to our benefactors ASEC family for making it easy for us to study through the new technology.”
The sisters were so excited to use their computers to complete a survey. They were especially excited to see at the end of the survey there was a message that said “Thank you for taking the time to do this survey.”
There are some moments that our forever sketched into our minds. For Sr. Margaret, it was the day she learned she’d go to school.
At the end of orientation Sr. Margaret was speechless at the amount of kindness and compassion show to her and the other sisters in the group. In honor of the kindness and compassion Sr. Margaret has vowed to use the education she will receive through ASEC to make Africa a better place.
