VOCATION
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Vol. XVI
No. 2
FEBRUARY
Express here your views!
Different Now
By Fr. Vincent Mkhabela
Fr Vincent Mkhabela talks to recently-professed Comboni Sister Anita Concepcion as she readies for her first mission serving Iraqi refugees in Jordan.
Q. Sr. Anita, you just made your first religious profession as a Comboni Missionary Sister a few months ago. How did you meet the Comboni Sisters?
I worked as a midwife nurse for four and half years in a hospital in Ras Al Khaiman, about 180 km from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.When I was free, I used to go to Dubai to attend Mass and to meet some of my friends, because there is no Catholic church in Ras Al Khaiman.
A. In Dubai, I was very active in the parish, even teaching catechism to the children. I met the Comboni Sisters for the first time in one of the catechists’ meetings. At the time, though, I was not so close to the Sisters; but one day it happen that a friend of mine who wanted to become a Comboni Sister invited me to accompany her to the convent of the Sisters in Dubai. I went with her and I too developed a friendship with the Sisters.
Q. What really attracted you to decide to leave your work as a midwife and join the Sisters?
A. For two years I used to visit the Sisters in their house in Dubai. I always experienced peace with them; they were happy people, welcoming, and very prayerful women from different countries. I appreciated the missionary service they are rendering to Muslims and Christians in Dubai.
During one of my visits to their convent, I stayed with them for three days. One Sister gave me a book about the experiences of the Sisters in the Sudan (Africa) during the Islamic fundamentalist Mahdia uprising at the end of the 19th century.
I read that book within the day, and I was crying and very much touched by the witness of the Sisters in that difficult situation of the mission. That book made me experience God and desire to give my life to for the missions. The Comboni Sisters helped me to re-discover my vocation, because when I was a little girl, I wanted to become a nun.
Q. How about St. Daniel Comboni, is he important to your life?
A. Of course! For me St. Daniel Comboni is a true prophet for the modern world. One of the most prophetic aspects of his personality is his great trust and confidence in women. We can ask: where did St. Daniel learn this deep trust in woman? I believe he learned to trust women from his own mother, Mrs. Domenica Comboni. Another person who influenced him was Our Lady. Comboni trusted Mary and always invoked her protection in all his activities. For him, mission cannot be carried without the missionary Sisters.
Q. InWhat year was it when you joined the Sisters?
A. At the end of 1998 I resigned from my work and in 1999 I joined the Sisters in Dubai. I was sent to do my first year postulancy in Jerusalem, in the Holy Land. In the year 2000 I was sent to continue my second year postulancy in Rome, Italy. From 2001 to 2003 I was in Brescia, Italy, for my novitiate. After two years of novitiate I made my first religious profession on the September 14, 2003, together with five other Sisters, four from Italy and one from Spain.
Q. Sr. Anita, was it easy for your family to accept your decision to leave your job and to become a Sister?
A. To tell you the truth, it was very painful for my family, especially for my mother. They were hoping that one day I would get married and have my own family. Now I am a consecrated person, I gave my life to God and the mission is my family. My mother, she is still crying, but I always talk to her to help her understand about my new life as a missionary Sister. I always pray for my family to accept me as I am and I trust God will make them appreciate my mission.
Q. Where will your new mission be?
A. My first mission will be in Amman (Jordan). I will be working in the emergency camp which welcomes the refugees from Iraq.
Q. Are you supposed to learn a new language?
A. When I was working in Ras Al Khaiman I learnt a little Arabic and I can still speak it, but I still need to learn more Arabic in order to communicate better with the people.
Q. How do you feel now, Sister, after a great transformation in your life: you were a midwife in Dubai and now a Comboni Missionary Sister still going to work in the Middle East?
A. I am a different person now, and my life has changed. Before I went to the Middle East to earn dollars and now I go back as a Filipino Comboni Sister to witness to the love of Christ and to be at the service to the people according to the spirit of St. Daniel Comboni.
Q. Sr. Anita, you are the second Comboni Sister from the Philippines: how can young Filipino women from the Philippines get to know about your Congregation, since you do not have a house here?
A. Well, for those who would like to know more about the Comboni Sisters, they can get more information from the Comboni priests and brothers in Manila, because we share the same charism and were founded by the same founder.
Q. What is your message to the young people of the Philippines?
A. To be courageous, and to overcome the fear of the future; to trust in God and to give your lives to God for the good of other brothers and sisters less fortunate than yourselves. I will always pray to God that he may inspire other Filipinos to become missionaries.
** Would you like to write to Sr Anita? This is his address: Sr Anita Concepcion CMS, Comboni Sisters, P O Box 183107, Amman, Jordan.<WM
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