Spring 2009 - Seattle University

Nabakaawa is a sister from the
Daughters of Mary of Uganda order.
Typically, sisters from the order are
sent to study at the university in pairs,
but Nabakaawa’s partner left SU to
get her master’s degree in biology
at the University of Indiana. In late
December Nabakaawa was joined
by sisters Maria Gorreth Nassali
and Antony Tebitendwa. Arriving in
Seattle during a week of memorable
snowstorms, the women—who had
never before left their home country
of East Africa—were captivated by
the scenery. “They said, ‘Everything is
Their superiors in the congregation
select those who come to study at SU.
Since the program began, 19 sisters
have graduated from SU.
The sisters are part of a longstanding
tradition that goes back nearly
half a century to the fall of 1960. It was
that year when sisters Teresa of Avila
and Maria Leonsia of the Daughters
of Mary came to the university on
full scholarships provided by SU’s
Jesuit community. Except during the
reign of dictator Idi Amin Dada in
the 1970s, when the Daughters of
Mary of Uganda were forced into
poor in their communities.
“The community sends us according
to the needs it has at home,” Sister
Nabakaawa says. “They bring us here
to train us to go back and serve in that
particular field.”
Nabakaawa had a degree in education
and worked as a high school
teacher in Uganda before coming to
SU in 2003, where she found herself in
classes with students not much older
than those she taught back home.
In 2007, she earned a bachelor’s
degree in theology and is now working
on a master’s in divinity from the
“In me there is a trait of caring for the poor and the needy,
having experienced suffering myself. Looking at the spirit of
helping here at Seattle University, I feel fulfilled.”
Sister Jane Frances Nabakaawa
white,’” Nabakaawa recalls.
Months later, Nassali, 29, still
marvels at the weather. “I’m not
yet used to the climate,” she says.
“It keeps changing.”
Nassali and Tebitendwa are enrolled
in English and computer classes in
preparation for the start of regular
undergraduate coursework this spring.
Computer science will be the focus
of Nassali’s studies, while Tebitendwa
plans to pursue an economics degree.
Founded in 1910, the Daughters
of Mary of Uganda is the oldest
indigenous women’s religious community
south of the Sahara. The
sisters work primarily in education
and health care, operating schools and
clinics for the poor in East Africa.
hiding, the Jesuits have continued
to give scholarships to sisters from
the order. The scholarships typically
cover undergraduate and graduate, or
master’s-level, work.
While the Jesuits provide the
funding, the Sisters of Providence
provide everything else the women
need, including room and board at
the St. Joseph Residence in West
Seattle. The Jesuits and the Sisters
of Providence work together on the
partnership as an answer to Pope
John XXIII’s call for religious men
and women to foster relationships
with developing countries. Once their
studies are completed, the women
return to Uganda to use their newly
acquired education in service to the
School of Theology and Ministry.
“They are preparing me to teach
perhaps in seminar or the novitiates,”
she says of her plans, post-SU. Over the
years the sisters have earned degrees
in a range of fields, from nursing to
theology to accounting.
What they take away from their
work at SU is much more than a
degree. “My experience at Seattle U
was very inspiring,” says Sister
Catherine Gorreth Nakatudde, who
came to SU in 1991, and went on to
earn a degree in history and religious
studies, and a master’s in pastoral
studies. She says, “I learned to be
creative, to be active in my teaching,
and to embrace people of different
cultures. I learned to address people
SU Magazine Spring 09 | 5