Thank You

Why we ate our Christmas pudding in September

Where in the world would you be if you were eating fried yam, moi – moi, goat meat, egusi soup with pounded yam, garri, guava, chin chin, home grown bananas? These are the foods Sr Anne Mc Loone enjoyed when she came to visit us, the Mercy Sisters, in Northern Nigeria in the middle of August to the middle of September.

It was a great joy to us that Sr Anne was willing to spend her holiday time with us, ten degrees north of the equator, in Yola and Minna. The fact that she came with such huge support from people of Donegal. She carried with her that enthusiasm and solidarity that make Donegal people famous all over the world, “all for one, one for all”.

When you live and work in a place where electricity is rationed to four hours a day, petrol queues can be a mile long, potholes are three feet in diameter, potable water is unavailable, you learn to acquire enormous patience and appreciate the beautiful “little things of everyday” that good people do to make life more tolerable. When Sr Anne told us of the fundraising efforts she and Sr Mercedes were involved in for the work of the Mercy Sisters in Nigeria, we knew that there was hope for the next generation of Nigerians in this part of the world.

As soon as she arrived in Yola Sr Anne was at work assisting with her many talents in the various courses that were running at the ecological Centre. She also unfolded the craft of ‘Card Making’ to some of the staff at the centre. Her skills as a counsellor were frequently sought and it highlighted for us the deep need there is in our part of the world for people who are trained as counsellors. How we all wished that she would stay with us!

In Nigeria, as in the whole of Africa, there is great and sincere respect given to Elders. As Sr Anne has such snow white hair of the Elder, she was a highly respected member of our communities here. “You are welcome”, “You are highly welcome” was the constant refrain from people who knew she was a newcomer. Down town Yola and Minna is the Market area where business is booming at the hundreds and hundreds of stalls that sell everything you need from meat, fish, vegetables, plastic buckets, clothing fabric, rice, flour, grains, tamarind and spices, second hand clothes, recycling centres for watches and mobile phones, exotic materials from Saudi Arabia etc. Most of the time we were there for a “free look” and were received with the same graciousness as if we were buying the whole stall. Here in this environment Anne was in her element. People milled around her as she tried out her new Hausa Vocabulary, and when she took out the camera all wanted to be in the picture.

I am sure Sr Anne will not forget the euphoric response of the sixth class teacher in St Teresa’s primary school when she presented him with Donegal Jerseys and football, donated by the Bank of Ireland. You see their school colours are the same as the Donegal colours and for the first time the school had a real football. That school and St Peters, the school in Minna, also received school supplies, football jerseys from the Sean Mac Cumhaill, Club and laptops reconditioned and despite the fact that children study the theory of computers from second class these were the first computers in the school again thanks to the generosity of the Donegal People. For the children in our schools Christmas came early this year for sure. Support for Christian Education alas is very limited in Nigeria. As the evening sun sets in northern Nigeria the sunsets are like religious paintings with streams of golden light warming through darker gold and tangerine orange. This scene fascinated Sr Anne and she took lovely photos of those scenes. No doubt they will feature in her card making in time.

And then it came to the time to say goodbye to Sr Anne. As we planned our farewell meal we wondered how we could make it extra special for the woman who had done so much to assist us in our work in Yola and Minna. We felt that it was time to open up our Christmas pudding and say a warm Míle, míle Buiochas to Sr Anne and through her Sr Mercedes and the generous people of Dun Na ngall. Mo cheol sibh uile!

Sr Goretti Kelleher, Regional Superior