sister angelique: a story of revival
to be ostracized by their communities by keeping them. A little girl named Abigail holds her hand out to mine. I reach down and take it and say “Bonjour”. She says nothing. She simply stares at me with large gorgeous eyes. Sister Angelique’s arms are already child heavy so I pick up Abigail and in minutes she is asleep, her sweet head resting on my chest. I hold her like this for the rest of the afternoon.
We enter the hut and it is filled with tiny sleeping babies and toddlers playing on the floor. Two women are attending to the children, one still wearing her baker’s hat after coming straight from her shift at the bakery. Sister Angelique is in the process of constructing a new house for the 30 orphans she currently cares for and for more to come, and I wonder to myself – if Sister Angelique was not here, what would happen to these children?
Time has outrun us and we are at risk of missing our ride back. It’s time to bid adieu to Sister Angelique. The singing continues.
It seems as though it will
never end. We drive back along the same roads as before; through thick forests
and alongside rivers. Sister
Angelique’s words are with me as I look out of the window: “I will never stop doing all I can to give these women hope, and a chance to live again”. The darkness that earlier seemed to threaten the very essence of this place seems to have loosened its stranglehold a little, and it is because now I can see the love and the passion of Sister Angelique’s work in the landscape, and I can hear the stories of survival carried on the wind. The women of Dungu are slowly recovering
and rebuilding. They are
growing in strength and skills and voice. And I for one want to support their revival. I hope you’ll join me too. «
UNHCR / 9
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