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African sisters get a taste of life in the U.S., spirit of FSPA

Two African sisters are enjoying the hospitality of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration (FSPA) while learning practical skills they can take back to their native countries. Sister Alexine Nii, Tertiary Sisters of Saint Francis (TSSF), from Cameroon, and Sister Hermenegilde Naluyima, Little Sister of St. Francis (LSOSF), from Uganda, stay at Thea House, in Clare Apartment #2 in La Crosse, while studying toward higher degrees.

Sister Hermenegilde commutes from Mount Calvary, Wis., and lives at Villa Loretto Nursing Home with the Sister Servants of Christ the King, where she has lived for several years now. She works part-time in the neuro-medical wing at St. Agnes Hospital in Fond du Lac, and takes classes at Viterbo University. She studied at Marian College in Fond du Lac and holds a degree as a registered nurse. In 2006, she entered Viterbo to pursue a master's degree in nursing, and she'll begin graduate classes this fall.

Sisters Hermenegilde Naluyima and Alexine Nii

Sister Hermenegilde says her first impression of the FSPA was that they are free-spirited. She also says she learned a lot by witnessing the election process, and the democratic way decisions were made. It is an approach to decision making that she will take back to Uganda.

She says she is grateful for the opportunity to learn from the FSPA, "I want to thank them for their openness to me and to allow me into their life, for opening their doors and accepting me as one of them, I really appreciate that very much." When Sister Hermenegilde returns to Uganda, she hopes to use her new skills to help the older sisters in her community improve their quality of life and function. Eventually, she hopes to institute preventative care measures, something she says does not exist in her country now.

Sister Alexine Nii has studied at Franciscan University in Rome, Italy. She holds a certificate in theology, has been named to the TSSF formation team in Cameroon, and is now studying religion and psychology at Viterbo, working toward a bachelor of arts degree. When she completes her degree at Viterbo University, potentially in 2007, she hopes to work toward a master's in counseling psychology. "I am very grateful for their (FSPA) hospitality, for this opportunity given me to be in school at this time. Somebody somewhere is working hard to put together this money I'm spending to study here, and that just leaves me spellbound," says Sister Alexine. "It is a gift, it is grace received, and I want to use it the best way possible."

When she returns to Cameroon, Sister Alexine believes her skills will enable her not only to provide counseling and facilitation to her community and the people back home, but will also allow her to teach others what she has learned. She says she learned a great deal from the sisters about the importance of diversity. "In the sense of each person is so different, each person's life history is so unique, each person's path, even though it's communal, is so personal also, and it is to be respected. And I see that among the FSPAs-they really do a lot in terms of how to respect each individual and how to let the individual be part of the whole. That's a big lesson to take home because we come from various tribes in Cameroon, now we even have members from other countries in Africa, and it is an important lesson for us to learn not just to tolerate, but to really love diversity and to live with it and to let it enrich us as people. So this experience is really invaluable."

Sisters Alexine and Hermenegilde join the sisters for meals at St. Rose when their schedules allow and participate in FSPA community functions from time to time.

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