Golden Jubilee Celebration of SSND presence in Sierra Leone

Honoring the past and moving into the future with joyful hope.

Reflection by Sister Regina Oluoh 

The celebration of our Golden Jubilee has come and gone but left a lingering flavor in the air in the Cathedral Parish and our hearts. Being a small area, before the celebration, we had formed three committees namely environment which was responsible for the invitation card, production of t-shirts, bangles, calendars, banners, entertainment, liturgy, food and hospitality. These different groups started putting up ideas on the way forward. Like the Psalmist said, "Those who put their trust in the Lord, are like Mount Zion that can never be shaken since the Lord surrounds her both now and forever."

We entered the celebration with heavy hearts and tears because of Sister Gloria Adoga's death. We didn't want to suspend it trusting the presence of God in our present situation at the moment. We did our choir practice the night before the ceremony and the people in charge of food and hospitality swung into action Saturday night making sure that three-quarters of the cooking was done before retiring to sleep. They slept there hours before they came out to conclude the cooking and before 9 a.m., they were done. The parish paid for the decoration of the Garden of Peace where the entertainment took place. They mobilized some parish youth to arrange the seats and tables and they provided the public address system, and giant coolers for the cooling of drinks.

On the morning of the jubilee, the atmosphere was gay and in the mood of festivity. To add to the festive mood, the same Sunday was the one-year memorial Mass of the Paramount Chief who on the 21st of April last year and that added to the mammoth crowd that filled up the church to the brim and there were two canopies outside for people who could not fit inside the church. All the institutions we work with came out in their numbers to add color to the celebration. The population in attendance was mind-blowing. Our dear Bishop, Vicar General, and their priests were present. The various church groups in the parish were present. Friends from far and near were present.

As the mass began, we danced into the church with our constitution, and the globe and placed them at the altar. The Chief Celebrant, the bishop, during the introduction of the mass, asked the congregation to stand up and clap for us while we remained seated; it was so touching. In his homily, the bishop praised our congregation and the ministry the first group of sisters did at the various places they worked in Sierra Leone before the war, which we are still doing today. On behalf of the diocese and the entire country, he expressed his deep appreciation, and saluted us as we mark fifty years of ministry presence in the country. During the offertory, we danced to the altar with gifts. After holy communion and church announcements, the jubilee activities started with the singing of the Magnificat, and after that, fundraising.

Before the ceremony, we gave out invitation cards to people, also two teams were created by the parish between the two sisters who had stayed in Sierra Leone longer than the rest of the sisters. The two sisters were Sisters Meg Umoh and Julie Wangao. The aim of creating the teams was to help in the fundraising. The sisters had campaign managers and supporters who went about giving out invitation cards to people they knew could dole out cash to boost the candidate's income for the day. the rest of us decided to fit into the team of our choice. I had no team, so I was kind of a floating supporter of the two teams.

The two teams came out with their managers as soon as the fundraising ceremony kicked off. The two sisters quietly stood in front of the altar while their managers were singing, “Team Magdalene, oh yeah! Team Juliana, oh yeah!” All their supporters and congregation came out to show their love to the congregation by donations. It was a day to show SSND that the people of Sierra Leone love their presence in the country, and appreciate the work they are doing for the Church in Sierra Leone and their people. Following the fundraising event, we moved to the arena for entertainment where food and drinks were served. It was a whole day's ceremony. All the heads of the institutions where we minister were present with their staff and family members, the Bishop, priests, and religious were present too and they remained with us until the end of the day.

One thing that made the occasion unique is that there was no high table. It was a kind of family ceremony in which everyone was served and recognized.

One highlight of the celebration was the presence one of our first group of former sisters from Sierra Leone, Gertrude Yema Jusufu. Before the ceremony, we were able to locate the two of them through the Archbishop of Freetown, Edward Tamba Charles. Since then we have been in communication with them and it was a joyous occasion to meet Gertrude after several years. She came with a group of people to grace the occasion on behalf of herself and her colleague, Catherine Sia Dauda.

At the end of the day, everything ended in praises to God. We danced with joyful hope into the future because the Jubilee celebration was a huge success was a huge success and the show of solidarity from the parishioners of Our Lady of Fatima Cathedral Parish. Later in the day, the bishop contributed his quota to the two teams success. On our own part, we sold 87 t-shirts out of the 90 we produced, 50 calendars, fifty hand bands and pin-ups for sale to add to the income for the day.

Team Meg, "Oh yeaaaaah!" Team Julie, "Oh yeaaaaaah!"