“Near-death experience”: Armed Robbers Attack Catholic Sisters’ Home for Girls in Mozambique

She recalls the armed men getting the four HMSS members into their community Chapel and ordering them to kneel.

“We thought they were going to set fire to the chapel with us inside, but instead they made Sister Esperanza kneel in the centre of the chapel and raised a machete to cut off her head in front of us,” Sr. Alvarado recounts. 

She recalls pleading with the armed men not to harm Sr. Esperanza. “They had already taken all we owned; I begged for mercy,” Sr Alvarado has recounted, adding, “These were terrible moments, but thank God, they released her.” 

In the ACN report that Paulo Aido and Maria Lozano compiled, the departure of the attackers from the Mercedarian Sisters’ premises did not calm their anxiety and they did not know the fate of the 30 girls at the home.

“Thank God, we found them quiet and unmolested,” Sr. Alvarado has been quoted as saying.

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She recalled that the June 8 attack “was the first time in 17 years that our mission has been attacked; nobody had ever entered our house with ill-intent.”

The HMSS member attributes the attack to a “wave of terrorism that began in 2017” and just “changed everything.”

“We are living a situation of insecurity all over the province of Cabo Delgado, and what is sad is that it seems that even the police and the military are involved in these bands of organised criminals, so we need to take measures to protect ourselves and the girls,” Sr. Alvarado laments.

According to an ACN report shared with ACI Africa on July 1, Mercedarians Sisters “are now hoping to raise funds to install security cameras and bars on the windows.”

The cost will be relatively high considering that the bars have to be fitted on the 70 windows of the building, which comprises the “Sisters’ residence, the home for the girls they care for, the chapel, the guesthouse and the study room,” the report details. 

The June 8 attack on the residence of the Mercedarian Sisters happened “only days” after “the La Salette Fathers in Mieze were also robbed by men armed with machetes who attacked under the cover of darkness. Fortunately, none of the religious were harmed,” the ACN report indicates. 

According to the report, the attacks on the two Catholic institutions “were not carried out by Islamist insurgents” but a result of a “general breakdown in security – largely caused by the insurgency.”

This has resulted in “a rise in armed violence affecting the entire province of Cabo Delgado. In addition, severe poverty and lack of resources, also a consequence of the insurgency, have led to waves of theft and robbery,” the ACN report indicates. 

The contact person for projects in Pemba Diocese, Sr. Aparecida Ramos Queiroz, has confirmed to ACN about the urgent need for security measures to protect Sisters' Convents.

According to the report, ACN officials are working closely with the Mozambican Diocese in view of supporting efforts to improve security for Convents and other Church institutions. 

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Sabrine Amboka is a Kenyan journalist with a passion for Catholic church communication. She holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from St. Paul's University in Kenya.