Mission of the Mother Seraphina Formation House Community – Bissauquil

We, the Sisters of the Mother Seraphina Community, in our quest to help the women of the village to survive, work on sewing and making bags for them to sell, as well as repairing their own clothes. We accompany the Family Group of the parish of Santo Antonio in Safim and the Community of Santo Agostinho in Háfia, with guidance on retreats, talks, organisation and restructuring of the groups in the communities – in the villages and at the parish headquarters. Some requests are made by the parish to us Sisters, such as guiding retreats and talks for young people and teenagers.

As a formation community, we accompany our aspirants and young vocations. We also contribute to the formation of the postulants and junior sisters of the Diocese of Bissau, with biblical formation for the postulants and some themes for the junior sisters’ meeting. We are also involved in the pastoral work of the St Augustine and St Gaspar communities: pre-teens, the Family Group, vocations ministry and catechesis.

The whole community works at Mother Seraphina School: Sister Eliana in the direction and taking on some English classes, Sister Ricarnilda in the school canteen, Fatima, an aspirant, in general services and Sister Ana Lúcia in the canteen and teaching some Religious Culture classes. The community visits the families of the village, the students’ families, the formandees and the Sisters of our congregation.

We have the grace of having Mass in our house on Mondays and Wednesdays, and on Saturdays and Sundays in the St Gaspar community. When necessary and possible, we help some people in the village by taking them to hospital or mediating with doctors for free care, and with medicines that we sometimes get. Because many people don’t have water in their homes, we offer water to neighbouring families. We always try to be aware of the situations and realities of the village and the diocese in order to participate according to our possibilities, showing solidarity, especially in times of difficulty for the families who live in our village.
For all this, we give thanks to the Lord!