“She has been a great support”: Assumption of Nairobi Sister on Sibling’s Role in Her 60 Years of Religious Life

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“So, she is just my family, a family that I go to. When I get any opportunity for going home, I go to her place,” the native of Kenya’s Catholic Diocese of Machakos said about her sister, Immaculate, who has settled in Nairobi.

Immaculate was a source of encouragement when Sr. Ndeto was at the tail end of her discernment to join ASN, Sr. Ndeto told ACI Africa, and referring to their dad’s disapproval of her choice to join Religious Life added, “My father would not let me go just like that.”

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Having completed her Primary school, the dad would have wanted her join a teacher training college or proceed to Secondary school and not to join the Convent, she recalled.

“My father would not let go of me. So, I had to struggle, but she kept saying, if you want, go,” the third born in a family of 13 comprising four boys and nine girls further recalled during the August 15 interview at ASN Uzima Centre, Thika, in the Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi (ADN), where four ASN members celebrated their Silver Jubilee and two others made their Perpetual Profession.

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In his homily at the Jubilee and Final Vows celebrations, Bishop Wallace Ng’ang’a Gachihi of Kenya’s Military Ordinariate had congratulated Sr. Ndeto on her six decades of Religious Life, which he said can come under attack by “dragons” similar to those poised to devour the child of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Book of Revelation of St. John.

Sr. Ndeto, Bishop Wallace said, “comes to us as a source of hope and inspiration to all because, being in Religious Life for 60 years … there is nothing she has not seen in this world. She is like a book; there is nothing she has not encountered in this life.”

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The Kenyan Catholic Bishops continued referring to Sr. Ndeto, “We should always see her as a source of encouragement. Being a source of inspiration to us means that with God, everything is possible and that Religious Life is good and joyful despite the challenges.”

Sr. Ndeto is a clear witness of resilience and perseverance in the service of the Lord, Bishop Wallace said, and encouraged youthful members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (ICLSAL) to emulate virtues she has exemplified.

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In the August 15 interview, Sr. Ndeto told ACI Africa that her six decades of Religious Life have “not been easy, but all is for God's doing.”

“It is through prayer, sacrifice, and love that has made me go through all that has happened in my life and reach where I am,” the accountant at ASN JJ McCarthy Centre in ADN added.

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Founded in 1955, ASN, officially known as “Sisters of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Nairobi”, reportedly came from the need “to have an African women's religious congregation dedicated to serving the local church and people.”

The founder, Archbishop John Joseph (JJ) McCarthy of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (CSSp./Spiritans/Holy Ghost Fathers) and first Local Ordinary of ADN had the vision “to establish an Order of African Sisters who understood the local culture and could best serve the needs of the community.”

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Pioneer ASN members were formed and guided by the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa (MSOLA), also referred to as White Sisters.

Officially recognized as a Pontifical Rite Order in 1998, ASN members’ mission is rooted in participating in the redeeming role of Jesus Christ, particularly in service to the underprivileged and the fostering of human dignity through a variety of ministries, including education, healthcare, and social work.

Credit: ACI Africa

In the August 15 interview, Sr. Ndeto told ACI Africa that she made her first Profession six years after the pioneer ASN members.

“I have almost had everything from the beginning of the Congregation. And this is a gift God has given me so that the others can also have people ahead of them to look at for this new Congregation which started in 1952,” she said.

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Sr. Ndeto thanked God for His graces during the last 60 years in Religious Life. “I have served in His service as an Assumption Sister of Nairobi for 60 years in His service of love, service, and self-sacrifice. And I thank Him,” she said.

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Asked to give counsel to younger women and men Religious, she said, “I would tell them with God, everything is possible. It’s to trust in God, be in union with Him, and love the community.”

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Religious Life, Sr. Ndeto said, “calls for self-giving in the mission of Christ. All these put together make us keep going and moving with God.”