At Virtual Prayer Meeting, South African Nun Urges Women to “become life giving”

“The same applies to social distancing,” she said and added in reference to the letter of St. Paul to the Romans, “We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. But in the time of COVID-19 we are forced to maintain social distance from each other, and in fact to have personal contact as seldom as possible, only when necessary.”

Highlighting some of the COVID-19 related challenges specific to women, the South African nun said, “For the first time, some of you had 24-hour supervision of your kids; it was not easy at all. At the same time, it was good that you could be with your kids.”

“For 24 hours having your husband around the house, at times you did not know what to do with him. But at the same time, it was good may be after many years you could bond with your husband,” she further said.

She added, “I can’t breathe, as there was a feeling of isolation experienced during this time. The loneliness we all experienced during this time.”

On reported cases of gender-based violence during the lockdown period in South Africa, Sr. Hermenegild said that women are “ashamed to talk about what is going on in the bedroom” and that they instead “put heavy makeup on the scars that (they) receive in the bedroom.” 

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“Today we can even associate the symptoms of COVID–19 with the punches that I receive in my bedroom, because I feel ashamed to talk about what really eats me up,” she said and continued, “We avoid going to report the abuse; we would rather keep quiet. I am avoiding the kind of questions that I will be asked, embarrassing questions.”

Unfortunately, the SACBC Secretary General noted, instead of women supporting each other through the hardships, “we exert pressure on one another that ‘We can’t breathe’; we suffocate one another.” 

“Groups like women sodalities become ‘Competing Sites’ instead of being a sanctuary where women can share freely as they know they will be helped, listened to and given a chance to breathe,” she lamented further. 

As a way forward, Sr. Hermenegild urged women in Southern Africa to “stand up and be the voice of our fellow women, our sisters; women rooted in prayer.”

She added, “You should be in a position to create that holy, safe space where every woman can stand naked in front of each other; tell her story so that you can become her mouthpiece; create a sanctuary where a fellow woman knows I am respected and taken seriously by all members.”

“As women, we can be open to one another. Do share your difficulties; share your inner feelings; let us put shame aside,” the Secretary General of SACBC said during the August 24 virtual prayer meeting.

Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.