In Mbarara, where love is yeast
On “Popoli e missione,” the journey among native women’s religious congregations in touch with spazio + spadoni
The story of the “Sisters og our Lady of Good Counsel”
Mercy is being baked in Mbarara, Uganda, and it is as good as the bread of the Sisters of our Lady of Good Counsel.
“We have been opening the “Muhabuzi hic sum bakery” with the help of spazio + spadoni for 5-6 months and it is doing well; in addition to feeding those in need, we have managed to employ 15 people,” says Sister Christine Mweteise, 40, who trained in Italy.
She took her vows in 2009, responding to “that voice that calls you more than others,” and dreamed of living that simplicity since she was a child. “Those nuns dressed in white who did apostolate in my village, for me, were angels from heaven, an exemplary model to follow.”
Sister Christine has a dream even today, and in her congregation she knows she can make it concrete: “to help the poor become independent.” And in a country where poverty is joined by ignorance, the first step is education and training. “We try to teach following the example of Jesus Master; for the rest, we do pastoral work everywhere, trying to give material and spiritual support.”
A valuable presence in Uganda: “Because we are local and take care of the poorest, they look at us as mothers. For example, when they come to us and after a long way on foot or by motor they find bread, they feel comforted.”
The bakery, therefore, also becomes a place to perform works of mercy. Even in the crowded refugee camps of Nakivale and Oruchinga, where refugees arrive from Rwanda, Congo, Burundi, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Eritrea.
In fact, not only 200 kg of flour a day is kneaded, but lives are mixed and love is leavened.
The Sisters of Our Lady of Good Counsel Congregation (Uganda)
Founded at the urging of four Canadian sisters who arrived in Uganda in 1937 to seek new vocations, it later became an independent diocesan congregation on Sept. 26, 1957 under the banner of this charism: “obedience out of love, in total surrender to God’s will and in service to one’s neighbor.”
Today, the congregation has 327 sisters throughout Uganda, distributed among 80 communities, and is also present in Tanzania, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Mother and General House is located in Mbarara, west of Uganda, 270 km from the capital.
Source
- Popoli e Missione, February 2025, p. 50