Maryknoll Sisters

The northeast of Brazil has always been the poorest parts of Brazil, especially in the rural areas. Two years ago, this situation was very critical. This year, the situation is not so bad.

There are some parts in the rural areas where there is food shortage. However, the government has taken the necessary action to send food in those areas. In the city of João Pessoa, where we live and work, there is enough supply of food but there may be bad distribuition. Some have more than others.

Our Afya Health Center focuses on programs that are geared towards health and education. We do help people to understand how to stay healthy by planning well what they eat.

I will give you an example. Recently, a 35-year-old woman came to us with a very acute anemia, weakness in her legs, and skin problems. Maria is her name.

After we did a diagnosis, we noticed that she was really suffering from malnutrition. We recommended that she take lots of raw green vegetables and a daily glass of raw beetroot juice for her anemia.

She told us that her husband left her with two kids and she had no job, so she was just begging for food for her family’s survival. Usually, those who go around begging for food earn mostly starch (rice, corn and spaghetti).

I asked her if she had any other income. She said that she only received about $7 a week when she washes clothes of her neighbor. We taught her how to budget the $7 for her more nutritious meals.

Since she was already getting extra rice, corn and spaghetti from the beginning, we advised that she should use the $7 to buy a kilogram of carrots for her skin, a kilogram of beets for her anemia, some spinach, kale and cilantro for the additional greens that will give her and her children more necessary vitamins for her eyes, skin, and other necessities of her health.

She followed our instructions, and after 15 days she came back to us. After a diagnosis we noticed that her skin problems were all cleared out, her blood count was high enough, and her legs were now strong enough to continue walking around and looking for a job.

After a month, she came back to us to thank us, as she was called for a job and now she lives much better, raising her two kids with different knowledge on how to eat right for her health.

Afya does not work exactly with the idea of eradicating hunger but works more for education on how to eat well and a balanced diet in order to maintain good health.

— Sister Euphrasia Nyaki, MM

There is nothing more exotic than walking from a beautiful Brazilian beach into waist high, warm ocean waves toward the sunrise just appearing on the horizon. It is a profound moment of praise and wonder in the silence of early morning that quickly becomes a time for exuberant shouts of joy as we begin our morning exercise routine. All the while the sun rises bright and warm on bare skin marking perhaps the most memorable moment of my trip to Brazil. But who am I to make comparisons of most or least in a country of abundance; or of profound and profane in a country of vibrant passion for life; or of joy and sorrow; or of wealth and poverty in a country replete with human paradox. Brazil seems to be a country on the move speeding ahead into all things modern yet not sure of how to bring its racially, culturally and economically diverse population along on the journey nor of how to steward nature’s gifts not only for the good of Brazil but for the whole world.

The people I met in Brazil are warm, generous, and gracious to strangers and open to new experiences. There are seven Maryknoll Lay Missioners and one Maryknoll Priest who minister in Sao Paulo and there are two Maryknoll Sisters in Joao Pessoa and two in Sao Paulo. The Maryknoll Community in Brazil has drunk deeply from the font of Brazil’s passion for life. Their compassion shows in their efforts to heal, to reconcile, to feed hungry children, to accompany the vulnerable and to help the socially and culturally marginalized learn the skills they need to function in this complex country.

Joao Pessoa was the first stop in my trip to visit the Maryknoll Sisters’ presence in Brazil.

Srs. Theresia Ndesoma and Euphrasia (Efu) Nyaki live together and have two very meaningful yet different ministries. Efu works long hours in her healing ministry at the AFYA Center she founded to offer natural medicine, massage and a variety of individual somatic and group therapy sessions to help people heal from illness or trauma, and to discover new ways to reconcile difficult inter-personal relationships. The staff and clients refer to AFYA as a community and attribute that sense of community to Efu’s presence and ministry style. Theresia sponsors daily sessions in a Children’s Activity Program in one of the poorest neighborhoods of the Mangabeira area of Joao Pessoa. The program offers a two (2) hour educational session for children (5-11 yrs) each weekday morning with volunteer teachers. A hearty snack of fruit and bread is included in the session. The Children’s Program includes a natural nutritional supplement for infants and children up to five (5) years. The children are brought by their mothers on Saturdays to be weighed and the mothers participate in the follow-up health talks given as part of the program. Theresia visits the mothers in their homes and also reaches out to the elderly and ill who are most vulnerable in the neighborhoods in which she works.

Sao Paulo is a big and busy modern city of over ten million people. Sr. Carolyn Moritz lives and works in poor neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city. She is part of the Regional Counsel for Pastoral Programs of Brazilandi with Bishop Milton Kennon. As Coordinator of the Pastoral Programs in her local parish of Sao Marie Louis de Montfort, Carolyn is active in the adult formation and catechism programs and offers her help in Music, Ministry of the Word and the Ecology Committee.

Carolyn and Sr. Mercy Mtaita both visit the Guarani Community in Jaragua just outside of Sao Paulo. In coordination with the Archdiocesan Indigenous Pastoral Commission, the local health center personnel and with the community paige (religious leader), Mercy works with the women and children in this community offering a nutritional supplement program and an alphabetization program. She gets to know the needs of the community by visiting the homes of those who are involved in the programs she sponsors. Mercy lives in the downtown area of Sao Paulo and is also involved with the Fraternity of African Religious in Brazil which she organized a few years ago. The group has grown to over 40 members in the Sao Paulo area who meet regularly for spiritual input and mutual support.

Our Sisters in Brazil are vibrant with life and generous with their energies in service to the people of Brazil as they communicate God’s loving promise of life in abundance for all. Similar to my experience of God’s presence in the sun-soaked waves at the beach, my Sisters’ care and open warmth washed over me in profound blessing. Throughout my visit, I was welcomed by their gracious hospitality and nourished by their spirit – so indicative of the Maryknoll Sisters’ spirit around the world. I am deeply grateful.

– Sister Ann Hayden, MM