By Godwin Abedican

Arua

Born in the current Lira Diocese in the village of Amac, Rev. Sr. Mary Benedette Auma used to sit on her uncles bicycle to be ridden by the uncle for a distance of around 150 Km to Amolatar mission, where she joined for her initial stages of her vocation. 

After the initial stages, she moved to Arua Diocese where she took her first temporary vow and kept renewing until 1963, when she took her final vows. 
Since then, this year marks her 60^th year in service as a Rev. Sr. in the community of the Benedictine sisters of perpetual adoration at the Holy Monastery Ediofe, since her first vow into the vocation.

She remains one of the two sisters still alive out of the pioneer Rev. Sisters of monastery in Ediofe since its inception in Ediofe Arua diocese. Sr. Mary Bernedette previously served as the mother superior at the Holy monastery in Ediofe.

According to Sr. Mary Jacinta Okusaru, the Local prioress at Holy Trinity monastery Ediofe, Sr. Mary Benedette Auma has remained as a library and as an inspiration to them. Describing Sr. Mary Benedette, Sr. Mary Jacinta Okusaru says this is a library to the community. “Sister is a very simple sister, very humble very quiet, she is calm in her own ways and hardworking, above all very prayerful and some body from whom you can really learn. She is model to us. If anyone wants to know the value of religious life, we always go to her and she tells us a lot. We hold her as a treasure,” she said.

About the need for her legacy to be kept, Sr. Mary Jacinta Okusaru says, the call to the vocation is a continuous call and as the pioneers see the evening of their call in to the vocation, there is need for life to continue even when they are not there though she notes the challenges of dealing with the current generation to nature them in to people who can have living legacies. “The world trains us differently and especially with the changes in technology and many other things, people are growing in different ways from before. This therefore means that, we cannot live exactly the way she lived and as such it will be difficult to replace people like her with time.
 

Sr. Mary Jacinta Okusaru, the Local prioress at Holy Trinity monastery Ediofe
 
Okao Ben Agor a family member traveled all the way from lira to witness his patrilineal aunt’s memorial day at the monastery on July 11^th 2023. He says much as they all grew without physically seeing her until of recent, they always believed when someone choses the vocation, it opens ways for the family and God blesses the family members. “It was my father who used to carry her on the bicycle all the way from Lira, our village is in Amac, up to Amolatar mission where she joined. Sincerely speaking we knew sister when we were already grown up.

She joined when I was not yet born, I am now 60 years. It was until 5 years ago when she went back home from 1960. So, that made all the children who were born after she already joined sisterhood not to know her she only went home twice one was when her father died and the other when my father died. But all in all, we grew up knowing that we have an auntie somewhere who is a nun who is praying for our family,” he said. “We grew with her names on our lips, a sister we did not know but we knew she was praying for our family. She has been so inspirational. Through her prayers, through her supplication, we have seen a lot that God has done in our family, people have studied, people have got masters and we believe it is through her prayers” Okao added.

Narrating the events of life during the formation stages of Sr. Benedette, Okao says, the late father to Sr. Benedette was very inspirational to the daughter “He one time missed catching the train while he had gone to visit the daughter at school. He was attacked and nearly killed in Kumi. He lived in the bush and walked through for three weeks before reaching home. Due to this happening, People later on advised him to withdraw the girl from school to avoid such risks but, he never gave up and insisted on having the daughter complete and join the vocation. When he was still alive he used to be very proud of her, Okao narrated.

Okao says, having seen how much Sr. Benedette, the family has fronted yet another girl to take on the same vocation “We have a younger sister she has nurtured to also take the vocation who is currently studying and the family supports her a lot so that we can have a legacy maintained. We have already sacrificed her after she finished her A ‘Level 5 years ago.  We feel so proud having our family members in the vocation and having been the only family in the whole Sub County we feel we need to maintain this such that other people can also get encouraged, he said.
 

Okao Ben Agor, Sr. Benedette’s family member
 
Having joined in 1960 when she made her first vow, Sr. Mary Benedette made her solemn vow in 1963 and has been at the holy trinity monastery in Ediofe without being transferred anywhere else. She says as she continues to count down the years to wards the evening of her life in the vocation, she always feels grateful for what God has done in her life. “I love God with all my heart that is why I chose the vocation and religious life, to be for God only. I wanted to be at the service of the Lord, doing the will of God all the time, to be for God, to consecrate myself to him and living the whole of my life for him. I like very much adoring the Blessed Sacrament and I love prayers very much. That I take as my first blessing, she mentioned. 

According to her, even if she is nearing the end of her active days of service, her expectations are still high that God will keep her to do his will. “My worst moment in this calling is fighting against myself in the quest to be what God wants me to be. My expectation during my next years is to still be with God as he has called me and to leave the world by itself, to live a holy life, I expect to live in order to be pleasing to him and according to his will such that at the end of it all, I will be someone pleasing to God so that after my life on earth, I will go to be in holiness with God,” Sr. Benedette narrated.

At the community, Sr. Mary Benedette has been working at the poultry house of the sisters until September last year when she got an accident which left her with fractures that limited her activities.

Said to be in her late eighties, despite her age, what she has continued to do whole heartedly at the community is passionately taking care and cleaning of the cemetery at the sisters’ community.

COVER PHOTO: Sister Benedette during the 60th Anniversary celebrations By Godwin Abedican