Going Where No One Else Will Go

Dedicated German Swiss Catholic Nuns established a School for the Deaf at Loreto Mission 60 miles from Que Que

Going Where No One Else Will Go

Catholic Missions can be found in the most isolated of places, where no one else will go.  German Swiss nuns established a school at Loreto Mission, sixty long miles from Que Que, beyond the native commissioners office at Gokwe over a rutted and dusty road.

Going Where No One Else Will Go

The school took in African children from miles around.  All were boarders and paid whatever fees they could.  In addition to the normal curriculum, the boys were taught carpentry and the girls sewing and typing.  English was the medium, for youngsters came from both Ndebele and Shona speaking homes, languages quite different.  After school hours, groups took their turns in the citrus orchard or the extensive vegetable gardens.  There were a few dairy cows and a plethora of fowls and numerous ducks.  Paraffin lanterns were replaced by their own battery operated generator.

They set up a separate School for the Deaf   The nuns in charge, a selfless and dedicated group of women, were specially trained in Germany.  Four-year-olds were accepted, because the younger the children the more chance there was to teach them to speak, before their vocal chords shriveled up.   Word spread.  Soon there were over two hundred boys and girls in the school.

The Guiding movement was strong as it brought a touch of the outside world to the Guides and nuns alike.   Training sessions with the nuns were highlights in their world.  The feeling was mutual.  Various Guiding dignitaries, including the Chief Commissioner, Mrs. Mostert, travelled all the way out.  Brother John Wilcott too visited the mission twice to help with the Mission’s Scouting and Guiding.

Following Mom’s experience with Self Help and the Jairos Jiri Center in Gwelo Mom approached Sister Assumpta, “How about a long week-end camp?”

“Oh, vonderful, vonderful!”

“If it can be arranged we might ask the deaf and blind children from Gwelo to join us.  Your deaf girls could teach them so much.  Their teachers do not have the benefit of your German training.  These youngsters are not in Guiding.  They all live in such a closed world…”

“Oh, vonderful, vonderful! But Mother Superior?  And wot about the money?”

Why would anyone buy into such a fantastically impractical notion with so few qualified to take responsibility?