This Week’s ‘Special Person’ is Sister Beatrice Fernandes

Jan 11, 2009 News

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“Had I married and had children of my own, it would have distracted me and taken up valuable time that could have been spent in servitude to others, and I didn’t want that.”

 

Some religious teachings proffer the view that angels dwell among us. If this is true, then Sister Beatrice Fernandes must be one of them.

She is one of the most caring, unselfish, humble and benevolent persons one can ever meet and it’s little wonder that the fifty-plus girls at the St Ann’s Orphanage on Thomas Street, Georgetown, where she is the administrator, love her so much. She has one of the most infectious smiles you have ever seen and a quiet sense of humour that makes whatever she does seem like fun.

Sister Beatrice has dedicated her entire life as “an act of love to God and others” as she describes it, at the sacrifice of a husband and children.

She believes that having a family would have distracted her and taken up valuable time that could have been spent in servitude to others.

Sister Beatrice’s love for children and helping others might have been spurned from growing up in a family with thirteen siblings.

In an interview yesterday she recalled that despite the fact that the family was huge, the house was always open to other children.

Although she cannot remember, she was told by her parents that she first expressed an interest in becoming a nun when she was about seven years.

As the story goes, one of her elder sisters was going into the nunnery and she blurted out that “She too was going to become a nun.”

A few years later as a first form student at St Rose’s High School, which was at the time run by nuns, the kindhearted nature of an American teacher concretized her ambition of following in this path.

“This lady was just fun; she was not easily fazed and was one of the most compassionate persons I have ever come into contact with”.

When the class was asked to write an essay a short while later, Sister Beatrice’s was titled “Why I want to become a nun,” the contents of which highlighted the attributes of the said teacher.

On completing her fifth form examinations it was her desire to further her studies in the sixth form, but at that time this was just being introduced and proved problematic.

At the youthful age of 17, she went as a novitiate to a Barbados seminary.

She then went to London where she pursued and attained a degree in the Science of Geography.

The next three decades saw her traveling the world as well as the length and breadth of Guyana, mostly doing missionary outreach work.

Her forte has always been working with children and youth which she did with dedication, love and extreme passion.

She recalled some of her experiences in the interior regions working among Amerindian children, teaching them to read

“At one time we were in Aishalton for three days trying unsuccessfully to breakthrough their language in teaching children of a specific tribe to read. We had tried everything to no avail and eventually on the last day, just decided to just draw a few pictures on the board. The response was overwhelming and I could have kicked myself for not trying that before.” That was during the 1940s, just after the Second World War and things were far from easy.

Her tenure during these years also saw her giving back to the St Rose’s High as well as the Sisters of Ursuline Community in Barbados where she received her indoctrination.

Commenting a bit on her work with the orphanage over the last six years, Sister Beatrice laughingly noted that as administrator, she has the Herculean task of ensuring that everything is in order and functioning smoothly.

The St Ann’s Orphanage was started on July 2, 1851 when the R.C. Vicar Apostolic of Guyana brought two little girls from the local Alms House to what was then the Ursuline Convent and asked the nuns to give them a home. It was not long before they were joined by others and the doors of the St Ann’s Orphanage have remained open ever since.

Today, the institution has a full capacity of fifty girls in its care but has had as many as one hundred on occasions.

“In the old days children came to St Ann’s because their parent(s) were too poor to take care of them. In recent years, only a few are in this position. Most of the girls come to us now because they have been neglected, abandoned or abused by their parents or other adults.”

If the children are younger than four years old they are cared for at a Red Cross Convalescent Home until they reach school age.

Older girls are brought to the home by the Ministry of Human Services’ Probation and Family Welfare Department.

Sister Beatrice noted that working at the orphanage cannot be considered easy by any standard.

The home depends almost completely on charitable donations for all its needs.

It receives minimal financial help from the Human Services Ministry, and the Good Friday collection gathered from all the churches of the diocese is given to the orphanage. The Society of the Holy Childhood also contributes.

“But were it not for the steady, generous contributions that we receive from the people every day, we would never be able to support the children we care for in the way that they need… many persons of all ages, classes, races and religions bring us food and many other supplies every day and make sure that our children have treats on special occasions.”

Since education is a priority at the home, the girls are scattered among thirteen different schools.

“Can you imagine what that means in terms of PTA meetings, different sets of textbooks, sports days and so on,” Sister Beatrice questioned jokingly.

She however noted that when ‘her girls’ attend government schools, they are placed in classes according to their chronological age, but because they have usually missed a few years of school before reaching the orphanage, they are usually unable to follow what is going on.

Extremely concerned about this, Sister Beatrice tries hard to get as many girls as possible into the Marian Academy where she believes they receive more individual attention and well as religious and moral education which are not offered in government institutions.

Nearly half of the girls are presently enrolled at the Marian Academy, but for each child Sister Beatrice has to find a sponsor to pay the tuition as the school cannot afford to give free places and the orphanage does not have the resources to do so.

Dealing with the girls is sometimes excruciatingly challenging and Sister Beatrice is cast into the role of counselor, confidant, friend, teacher, nurse and sometimes disciplinarian.

“Most of our children have very sad backgrounds… some were simply abandoned in hospitals, on the streets or in garbage bins as infants and have no idea who their parents are. Others have been sexually abused (at age three or four) by sometimes more than one grown up. Some, children of drug addicts or mentally ill persons, were completely traumatized when they arrived at our doors. Some have run away from their parents and guardians because of severe beatings they received…most of them seem to be happy normal children after they have been with us for a while but the past is always in the shadows and sometimes unbearable, and you have to keep working with them showing them love.”

This woman, who will celebrate her 70th birthday in a few months, says the rest of her life is now dedicated to providing conditions as near as possible to a Christian home so that those children that come for help can be helped to develop into the persons they can become in every dimension.

Noting the obvious love for her charges, Kaieteur News asked her about her decision to live a life of celibacy which disallows her to have children of her own.

With a laugh, Sister Beatrice quickly quipped that it was worth it since her decision allowed her to concentrate fully on giving her best to caring for other children.

“If I had children and a husband I could not have given as much as I did to being a blessing to children…it would have distracted me and I wanted to ensure that I give a full life of love to God and others.”

That makes you indeed special Sister Beatrice!

 

 

 

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