Centre gives ray of hope to desperate young mothers
Marguerite got married when she was 16 and after having two children her husband kicked them out of the house to roam the streets of poverty stricken Berberati, in central Africa.
The young woman was lucky enough to come across a centre for young women like her, run by the Sisters of Charity, where she was given an education and taught how to sew.
“Today, she is about 20 years old... She is teaching sewing at the centre and making some money. She also sat for a public exam to get into college and was admitted,” said Sister Marceline Mavoungou, her eyes glittering at the thought of the young woman’s personal success.
Sr Marceline, who was in Malta for three months to learn English, worked in the Nemesia Training Centre for single mothers for several years where she was part of a team that taught the young women basic skills and subjects.
The centre, which opened in 2004, is located in Berberati, one of the poorest areas within the Central African Republic, or CAR. The French-speaking country that is Sr Marceline’s homeland is sandwiched between Sudan and Congo.
Years of political instability and the government’s lack of investment in social services plunged CAR into a deep crisis with 80 per cent of the population living in poverty. The country has the highest child mortality rate, with one in five children dying, and also performs poorly in terms of school achievement.
“Desperate to make money, young girls often leave school early and resort to prostitution leading to a high rate of single mothers,” Sr Marceline said.
The Nemesia centre was opened to offer these young women an opportunity for a decent future.
After spending a couple of years at the centre, Sr Marceline went to Chad for 12 years where she taught in a primary school.
“There were some very poor children at the school who did not have money to buy food. Us teachers would collect money and give it to the child to buy food,” she recalled.
On leaving Chad, the 46-year-old nun returned to her home country and continued her work at the centre. She has now been transferred to Ethiopia, where she will be teaching in a primary school, and came to Malta to learn English for her next mission.
“When I came here I saw that the Maltese help other countries. It is a very good thing. Maltese people love other people... The Sisters of Charity work with very poor people. We try to do our best and if people help us we can help the poor more,” she said, adding that missions, like the Nemesia centre, were in constant need of funds to buy books and teaching equipment for students.
The Sisters of Charity operate in 27 countries including Malta where there are about 80 nuns.
Anyone who wishes to help the Sisters of Charity’s Nemesia project can send a cheque to Provincial Superior Sr Salvina Bezzina, 152, Sisters’ Street, Tarxien, TXN 1042.
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Pule' Carmel
Dec 19th 2011, 10:24
Natural instinct is such a powerful human characteristic, where education and religious teaching does not curtail it but aims to teach the activists to take responsibilities for their actions.
I am sorry to say that many people these days facing modern pressures are using sex as medicine to relieve their worries thinking and arguing that sex and love are to be separated and using modern means one is liberated to do what one likes. It is not so, unfortunately class education and modern transmissions over the media seem to project and influence us to live in a world of fantacy where we are to take part with absolute freedom.
I am sorry to say that since we empowered big firms and big buisnesses and larger and larger centrelisations of Goverments, these overheads seem to have routed much finances to run the overheads of the country and clever people are aiming for positions where they do not work the field to grow their food but try to get into the administration of the country where the salary is in terms of MODERN MONEY . Money is what t o aim at these days and leave the fields to others.
I am afraid this way of governing any country with Paper pr electronic money will fail as if we take it to the limit where everybody earns and borrow large sums of money knowing that it will depreciate in the future , then this policy will surely fail through its own misgivings.
In Africa they are still at a stage where the people do not need artificial currency to live. Each family should be given a piece of land and their education is to toil it and they will have enough food and clothing, not as we do in developed countries but they will be enpowered to stife for the necessities . Our system will definetely fail for if the government does not keep generating paer or electronic currency, they will lose their own fat pansions and salaries which they make sure that they will get the highest shares as EU parliamentary members and local Goverment seem to go for and leave the rest to supposrt what we call revival of the economy with asking people to increaase production. I assure everybody that, having Arriva, a topless theatre , a new parliament house, nore asphalted roads, more buildings and more hotels, this will not solve anything as it all depends on money which has no meaning eventually and eventually with couuntries being allowed to borrow a percentage of their GDP and some go over that , what we are leaving to our children is an interesting situation. The Educational pressure to aim higher and higher and to work more and more is leaving behind many young people in distress. In Malta the Unmarrried mothers rate is increasing and the young men are seeking not to be responsible for their sexual action.
It appears that there is no difference what happens in Malta and what happens in Berberati. When the pressure rises it appears that our sexual instincts take over. I blame this to the new philosophy of robbing the averave family from deciding for itself and having it governed by a megagoverment where much finances goes to keep it alive and pumping of money first goes to keep governments in its place and the associated structures to support it and buttress it for its livlyhood. We are at a point where paper and electronic money is attracting most people within any countries and few are left to man the fields and the tools and in developed conutries no matter what education is offered, it is all designed to make peole go to work, to earn money and be taxed to support the administation of that country.
This is all stupid where a family might as well give all its effort to toiling land and in t his manner half of its toil will not go taxed to support the administrators who forget about those who toil the necessities.
I personally believe that to enpower families in the right direction is much betterthan empowering governments to grow and grow to then preach that they will look after families. Eventually the family will have to support its own members plus many more members living in a central place called government house.
It is an interesting situation all based on COMMANDMENT or LAW as when one teachies some families to toil the land it must teach others not to steal what other toil to grow. As I said in the begining instincts are powerful and while sex is powerful, I believe the instinct of any government to steal the people it governs to ensure their pensions and salaries is causing havoc in modern countries because stealing in all forms still exists hiding under the unbrellla of governments as in EU and USA where the big luxurious government ocean liners carrying the administrators has now run out of steam and in the middle of an ocean seems to have met a single rower trying to cross the ocean and it is now asking the single rower or taxpayer to give it a hand. It is better not to have built the ocean going luxurious big Goverment Liners in the first place.
Both Africa and Europe and other places who have gone into the habit of managing MOney are suffering from the same disease.