Interview with Sr. Jacqueline Picard

Sr. Jacqueline in the center with members of her community

Sr. Jacqueline is from Canada and actually she lives in Ottawa. She is working with migrants.

Edith Yendaw Numgnenuore: Reflect on your entire experience with the MSOLA Congregation. Recall a time when you felt most alive, most involved, spiritually touched, or most excited about your involvement. Tell me about this memorable experience that you have had with in MSOLA. Describe the event in detail.

Jacqueline: I find it difficult to choose only one, but finally I take the last one before leaving Ghana. I had a great time during the years when I was teaching, but something very different came later on while working with abandoned women (without revenue). I felt more alive, very much involved and really touched spiritually and psychologically. I loved the women I was working with. I was trying help these women get their dignity back and give them life by making them financially independent.

Though at times I was very tired, I used to tell the sisters in the community that I did not mind as I loved what I was doing and I felt that in the Congregation my work was valued and appreciated.

Edith: What made it an exciting experience?

Jacqueline: What made it exciting was that I saw these women and their children change radically and find joy! Even if there were moments when I was angry with them, scolding them being tough with them, they knew I loved them, they knew i wanted them to grow and be proud of themselves. It was their dignity which was important. It was always a life giving experience without counting the pains regardless of the many challenges.

Edith: Who was involved?

Jacqueline: The whole community was involved in helping me in different ways. The encouragement I got from my sisters.

There were also friends who helped mostly financially. Though I never gave money, in cash, to the women  I made sure that they got whatever they needed to get through their technical formation, to  work and feed their children. I tried to give them an integral formation. I helped them spiritually and psychologically. Other people involved were the relatives of the women or family members. It was also important to work with the family, because often they were the ones who pushed them in the street to get money or material goods for them. This at times forced the women into prostitution.

Edith: How did you feel?

Jacqueline: I felt happy because, as time went on, I could see them change, dress better, do their hair and enjoy their work. I could see the children healthier and going to school because they then could afford school fees. I was not working with them because they were Christians, only 10% of the total were indeed Christians. I took any women in distress who was ready to work hard to change life.

Edith: What did you do as a result of the experience?

Jacqueline: I trained people who could replace me before I left. Another result was that people became aware of the importance of our local/home made goods. I always refused getting materials from abroad, I rather bought everything that was needed, within the country, even if at times it meant having to travel very far to different regions. At times I had to go to Tema, Kumasi and Takoradi to buy the raw meterial.

Edith: Now, what are the things you value deeply about MSOLA? When you feel best about being a MSOLA, what about yourself do you value? What is the single most important thing that MSOLA has contributed to your life?

Jacqueline: What I value about myself is my vocation as MSOLA and the gifts God has given me.

I deeply value the openness of our congregation, allowing us to live it according to our own call in relation with Christ and following in his footsteps in different ways. As for the most important thing that MSOLA has contributed in my life is that I was allowed to remain myself. I was never forced to be someone else but to be who I was made to be, the person that God created me to be. 

Some of the things I value also about MSOLA include the studies the Congregation offered me. I was a Primary School teacher when I joined, but the Congregation sent me for further studies. I also value very much of the Congregation is the capacity to constantly adapt to different situations. We are not stuck with one thing to do, we can find ourselves in many different situations and yet be able to do something while living our call to follow Christ.

Edith: What do you think is the core value of MSOLA? What values give life to the Congregation? What is it that, if it did not exist, would make MSOLA totally different than it currently is?

Jacqueline: The core value of MSOLA for me is that we are living our desire to be Christ like as it is in our Purpose Statement “we are women apostles, consecrated in Christ” that is what makes us to live together without choosing one another, from different cultures, places, countries/nationalities, personalities but Christ brings us together. It is our special choice to be with the African world/people.

Edith: Is there something else you want to say?

Jacqueline: I would like to say that it was very hard to leave Ghana and come back to Canada, though I am from Canada, it was very difficult for me to get settled down back home. I carry Ghana within me.

In Canada I  got involved in a primary school to help children to read. It is a great experience. Africa is also here!