A gentle call

“God’s call came gently in my high school years as I grew up on a farm near Mankato, Minnesota, and enjoyed many friends as we were taught by Jesuits and School Sisters of Notre Dame. I felt a special love for Eucharist and a call to join the sisters who taught me, although I knew nothing about religious life yet.
“I was blessed with loving small communities in my early years of teaching elementary school in Minnesota and Washington State. When we were invited to send 10 percent of our personnel to Third World nations, I volunteered. At age 40 I was called to Kenya and came to love our people at the Upgrading Centre for African Sisters.”

The journey continues

“After returning home to be near my aging Mom who went home to God, I was again invited to Africa to help open our first African Novitiate in Ghana. I truly loved our novices and later returned to Kenya to be with our postulants for 11 years. All along, we were blessed with new members and we became the District of Africa with leadership within each African country, including Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and The Gambia. 

“My journey continued with the people of The Gambia, then on to Ghana and finally Nigeria. Each country with its unique beauty and culture has been home to me over the past 29 years as a missionary. I will forever treasure my friends and neighbors across the continent of Africa. ‘May we all be and remain one in Jesus!’”

-Sister Sylvia Borgmeier
(Sister Sylvia returned to Mankato, Minnesota, in 2014, where she is on sabbatical and is in the process of writing “Memoirs of Africa" with many photos from her 29 years in Africa.)