By Fr. Francisco Hoare, SSC

Sr. Pushpa is a 30 year old Missionary Sister of the Society of Mary. She is the first Indian Sister from Naleba, Labasa. Her father, Arjun, presented Pushpa, her three brothers and younger sister Shakuntula to Fr. McCaffey for instruction and baptism when Pushpa was about 7 years old. She joined the SMSM order in 1985. She has been appointed to work as a missionary in the Philippines. Fr. Frank Hoare interviews her here.

Fr. Frank: How did your Hindu parents decide to send your and your brothers and sister to Church?

Sr. Pushpa: Some of my happiest memories as a child were Fr. McCaffey’s unexpected visits to our house, he once arrived without warning as my mother washing clothes at a well while I as sitting under a tree with a boil on my knee. He talked with my mother while she washed the clothes and when she had finished he carried me home. Although he was of a different race he was very close to us. Because of his visits my father, with whom he was especially friendly, came to admire the Catholic religion and he decided to send us younger children to church. He himself did not ask for baptism though he supports us by helping with the cleaning of the church compound at Easter and Christmas. My mother stayed quietly in the background.

Fr. Frank: Why did your father want yourself and your brothers and sister to become Catholic?

Sr. Pushpa: My father said the he sent us to church because he wanted us to be good people. Though he remained a Hindu himself, he supported us in our Catholic faith. If we skipped our prayers, even just one day. He would say, “Watch out”. When father comes, I’ll tell him that you did not pray.” He sat behind and watch us. We said long prayers – evening prayer followed by rosary with hymns in between. When my brother Lingam would doze of my father would shout at him. “Hey, what are you doing? Pray!” hew was a Christian at heart and I admired him. He himself would say his own Hindu prayers every night.

Fr. Frank: How did you decide to become a religious Sister?

Sr. Pushpa: After leaving school I stayed at home for a couple of years. My father began  to arrange a marriage for me. I told him that I didn’t want to marry because the boy was a Hindu. It had taken me so many years to get to know Jesus. It had not been easy. My paternal uncles had opposed us going to church and I had seen my father off by Fr. McCaffey at times for making work on the farm Sundays instead of sending us to church. After all that I didn’t want to go back. My faith was precious to me and I knew that my intended husband wouldn’t allow me to go to church. So I gathered courage and spoke out. That was the first time any of us had spoken back to one of our parents.

Fr. Frank: Was your father surprised at you?

Sr. Pushpa: He certainly was! My brothers too were speechless. My father began to question me. “I think I want to be a Sister,” I told him. “I think God is calling me to be a Sister.” He said, “Look, I have been doing puja (worship) all these years and God has never told me anything. How do you know that God is calling you? Did you see God?” “No” I answered. “But I fell in inside me” he was amazed. After that he initiated conversations almost every night about God calling me to be a Sister. He found it really fascinating. I was really happy that my father listened to me and was interested in what I was saying. I realized though that I wouldn’t be able to convince him on my own so o wrote to Sr. Frances, SMSM in Suva for her help. When she came to a wedding in Naleba she talked to my whole family and asked them to let me try. “Nothing would be lost by trying” she told them. My parents accepted that.

A couple of years later, on the day I actually left home to enter the convent as an aspirant, my father made sure that I had everything he never did that for anybody. He was sad that I was going. At the last moment he asked me if I had oil. He went to the kitchen and got little of oil for me. That really touched me. When I left he just stood there watching until I disappeared.

Four weeks later, I was allowed to go home in Labasa from the convent for the first time. My father was overjoyed. I just stayed home for one night but he and my whole family were very happy. That was the last I saw him. I was supposed to go home for Easter but he died before that.

Fr. Frank: What did you find difficult about religious life?

Sr. Pushpa: I cried a lot during the first few months as a postulant in Suva. I missed my father who died. I also missed home, the people I knew, and the things I usually did. I missed my mother’s home medicines when I was sick with flu. And I found the food in the convent very bland at first. There was no Hindi Mass every Sunday and I was always late for the prayers because I had nobody to wake me up. It was the beginning of my living independently. The Sisters from different countries with their strange accents were new to me. Although they where very nice to me, I told Sr. Stella that I wanted to go back home to Labasa with her. Gradually I got used to being away from home though I still feel homesick and miss my family at times.

Fr. Frank: What kept you going when it was difficult?

Sr. Pushpa: Prayers. I learned new ways of prayer – reading the psalms, meditating, saying the rosary and other prayers in English. I found the Christian doctrine classes interesting and I asked a lot of questions.

Fr. Frank: What do you think it means for the people in Naleba that you and your sister Shakuntula are Sisters?

Sr. Pushpa: I think that they are very proud of us. I have heard people saying. “Though their parents were not Catholics and they came form a poor family they want to do more for the Church they can at home.” But I find that they have set expectations of us. I have changed through being exposed to different cultures and to my studies. My mind is more open to new things than theirs. I explain this to my family especially to my eldest brother who wanted me to remain a village girl. But I know they are proud of us because every time we go home they have a formal welcome for us at the church and during prayer meetings. They make speeches and we give speeches, too.

Fr. Frank: Thank your very much, Pushpa. I wish your well for your ministry in the Philippines.

“My father said that he sent us to church because he wanted us to be good people.”