Maryknoll Sister: ‘We’re here to make God’s love known to the world’

Maryknoll Mission Sister Mary Vertucci and her family have been an integral part of St. Matthias Parish, Somerset, since her birth. Her family was among those who started the parish, which, for many years has supported the Maryknoll mission – the Emusoi Center in Arusha, Tanzania – which Sister Mary helped to found in 1999 and where she had her first mission assignment in 1971.

Sister Mary recently visited St. Matthias Parish, speaking about the mission at the 10 a.m. Mass on Sept. 3. Emusoi, which means “a place of discovery and awareness,’ in Maa, the Maasai language, is a center which prepares school-age girls who grew up among nomadic peoples in Tanzania. The center’s motto is, “When you educate a girl, you change a community’s future.”

Sister Mary said, “At Emusoi, we give the students the background to enter the world and help their country.” The center provides a home for 270 Maasai girls who live at Emusoi and at secondary schools around Arusha. There are very few college-educated women among the Maasai, so the need is great for education at all levels.

According to the Emusoi website, “The Center provides a transitional space for young women coming from traditional lifestyles. Most of the girls belong to the pastoralist/hunter-gatherers’ communities, including the Maasai.  They are prepared academically, socially, and psychologically to join the multicultural/multi-tribal environment of secondary school. The Center supports and assists them as they progress from secondary school, vocational training, and diploma/certificate courses to university education.

Following the Mass, the Altar Rosary Society hosted a reception in the cafeteria.

Anyone interested in donating to Emusoi may send a check or money order to Maryknoll Sisters, Box 317, Maryknoll, N.Y. 10545-311, U.S.A. Include “Emusoi Center” on the memo line or include a note designating the donation for Emusoi Center c/o Sister Mary Vertucci.

To learn more about Emusoi, visit https://emusoicentre.co.tz/.

Chris Retz, parishioner of St. Matthias Parish, submitted this article.