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Sr. Mary Assumpta sees education as way to help children in her homeland
OSHKOSH — For six years, Sr. Mary Assumpta Ayikue of Ghana, West Africa, has lived in Oshkosh, studying education at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and living and working at Father Carr's Place 2B. She has just finished her master's degree and now will be applying to stay in the country so she can obtain a doctorate degree.
After that, she plans to take over as principal at a new school in Ghana, Our Lady of Fatima Jubilee School, that is bringing new hope to the rural children of the region.
Sr. Mary Assumpta Ayikue, who has lived and worked at Father Carr’s Place 2B for the past six years, recently completed her master’s degree at UW-Oshkosh. She has lived in Holy Family Villa and helped run a shelter for homeless women and children located on the Place 2B campus. After completing a doctorate degree, she will return home to Ghana. (Kasi Koshollek | For The Compass)
"To meet 21st century needs, you need education and a high school diploma," Sr. Mary Assumpta said. "You need to understand technology. Even in my religious life, I think, 'How am I going to meet the needs of the people I'm serving?' Without education, you can't even talk much to the people. Even preaching the word of God is through education. You have to know your native language."
Her district needed a school with a dormitory so students from rural areas would have access to an education, she said. There are good schools in the cities, but not in the villages, she said. Current facilities were basic, with small stools and chairs, and no technology available in the classrooms.
"There's so much difference with technology," she said. Her goal is to have classrooms with televisions, projectors and computers.
Sr. Mary Assumpta has been back to her homeland only twice in six years — once in 2007 to take her final vows and once in 2008 to visit her ailing father. In Oshkosh, Sr. Mary Assumpta has lived in Holy Family Villa at the Place 2B and helped run a shelter for homeless women and children.
"Sister has done a great job teaching children in a home setting," said Joe Geniesse, executive director of the Place 2B. "She has tutored children living in the shelter. These children are in a very stressful time in their life. Sr. Mary is known at Father Carr's Place 2B, UW-Oshkosh and by all friends and family to be a successful woman of prayer and study. She is most known for her happy face and love for Christ. She has a great sense of humor and a great sense of how to love Jesus through her love for others."
While Sr. Mary Assumpta has been studying in Oshkosh, the great need for a school back in Ghana became apparent. Since her religious community ministers to women and children, she wants to get them out of the streets and educate them.
"They should receive not just a good education, but also teaching them to be good women," she said. "The teachers in the school will be models for these young girls. That's why we made a boarding house so they will have some structure in their lives."
About $100,000 was needed to build such a school complex, and the sisters did not know where they could get that kind of money. Sr. Mary Assumpta found an answer with Fr. Martin Carr. When he learned of the need, he took out a $100,000 loan for the sisters to build their school. In the last year before his death in 2007, he worked on raising funds to pay off the loan.
"He said, 'OK, the Spirit will help,' " Sr. Mary Assumpta said. "He wrote the check and said, 'Divine providence will pay for it.' We just stood there and cried. We were thrilled. We didn't know what to say. It was some time before we were able to talk."
Our Lady of Fatima Jubilee School now is open and includes a classroom building called The Place 2B in honor of Fr. Carr and his sponsorship. Sr. Mary Assumpta said Fr. Carr's belief that God would provide for them had a profound effect on her. While her superiors worried about how the school would come about, Fr. Carr believed it would happen and moved ahead.
"It's all about the love of Jesus," she said. "Without Fr. Carr, this school would not be in existence. He said, 'You say yes to God and have a positive attitude, and everything will fall into place.' That's why God sent Fr. Carr to help build this school. I trust in God. To get this building is a big fortune for me."
At the Place 2B, Sr. Mary Assumpta's influence is just as keenly felt.
"In 2009, we started 'An Apple of Our Eye Sr. Mary Assumpta Ayikue Award' here at Father Carr's Place 2B," Geniesse said. "It is to be given to someone who has done an outstanding job bringing God's love to others with a dedication to educating youth. This award was initiated this year as a living memorial to Sr. Mary Assumpta. She is a great example of dedication to teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and being 'Jesus with skin' to young and old. Sr. Mary is the first recipient of that award."
Sr. Mary Assumpta is brimming with enthusiasm about what she will be able to bring back to Ghana.
"You get all these ideas," she said. "I've learned so much in school and in different schools that I've visited."
She also won't forget the blessings she has found here in northeast Wisconsin.
"The hospitality of the people here — people are nice to me," Sr. Mary Assumpta said. "They call out, 'Hi, Sr. Mary,' and I don't know them even. People say hi and talk to you. It's just like a home to me. I've made a lot of friendships here."
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We the people of your village are praying and thanking God for all those who are helping there to make your dream come to pass thus, 'Knowing Christ through education'.