A New Way of Ministering during Covid-19 Pandemic

By Sister Lucy Etim

The deadly Coronavirus pandemic has accorded us the opportunity of listening to the voice of God and responding in a new way to God's continuing call (YAS, C3). At this critical time in our history, together with my sisters in community, I was able to discern a new way of being for our students, parents and teachers with whom I work.

Many people and schools have been using technology to achieve their goals. So we too, thought it wise and a necessary tool to support the learning of our students. Anything that is new is mostly accompanied by fear of the unknown, so this was the case with me and others concerning the use of Zoom for the online classes. Initially, some of our teachers preferred the use of WhatsApp but in the end, everyone appreciated the use of Zoom.

The use of virtual classes for instructions became empowering tool for me and our teachers. I learned to be more patient because sometimes the poor network could be challenging to me as a teacher and to the students in their homes. Sometimes, rescheduling classes was the best option in order to make up for the lost time due to poor network reception.

Another blessing of embracing this newness was my gradual skill acquisition in the areas of typing, use of Microsoft Word, Excel and Publisher.

Undoubtedly, my desired outcome would not have been achieved without the help of others; sisters in community and teachers. Learning together was exciting, as everyone was always willing to assist another and to ask for assistance when needed. The teamwork gave us the desired outcome during the assessment, which the students achieved at the end of the two phases of the program.

One of the most interesting parts of this empowerment was seeing those teachers who initially were being helped with their PowerPoint presentations and downloading of notes on the website, becoming technologically savvy and enjoying the fun while working. The fears that we once had, gave way to the joy of gaining new knowledge!

Conclusively, our openness to learn together bonded us. I strongly believe that UNITY is STRENGTH, because undergoing the Information Communications & Technology (ICT) training alone would not have given me as much joy as compared to doing it with other teachers. Again, in the process of empowering others, we became the best of ourselves at the skills we had already acquired.