Comboni missionary Sister Tere Soto, from Mexico, talks to us about her commitment to women, listening to them and sharing their struggles and projects.

During my years in Africa, I admired the remarkable work of women. They are responsible for feeding, educating, and caring for their children; they know how to manage their time, because their work in the fields is very demanding, and most of them work with their hands. They have a great spirit of sacrifice.

They leave at five in the morning to make the most of the day. It’s admirable to see how they draw energy from within to endure, because after working in the fields, they return home to prepare food, grind grain, light the fire, fetch water… These women are truly incredible.

I’ve often asked myself: how do they survive on just one meal a day? They are undoubtedly blessed by God. I admire their great ability to manage their assets so they can support family expenses. They often organise cooperatives to help one another improve their circumstances and give their children a good education. Their spirit of collaboration is admirable. It’s indescribable to see the joy they showed when, after a few years of saving, they managed to buy a pair of oxen to help them in the fields, increase the number of hectares under cultivation, and obtain better harvests for the benefit of all. Management was clear and transparent, a very feminine quality. In all of this, one could see maternal love, capable of giving one’s life for one’s loved ones.

Being a woman is a wonderful gift, and being a mother is even more so. I felt in tune with them when I saw their desire to improve. My job consisted of meeting with them periodically to listen to them, share their difficulties and plans, set goals for the year, and evaluate their activities. We always had a moment of prayer to present all their worries and hopes to God.

 I tried to give them both a human and a Christian education, even though they were not baptised, because Christian values are valid for everyone. Another important thing was the time I dedicated to listening to them. Many of them needed to share their pain and vent, and being a woman and a religious person was an advantage because they felt close to me and could share their anguish, woman to woman.

When I returned to Mexico, I worked for several years in the Costa Chica region of Oaxaca with Afro-American women. Their struggles as women were compounded by their Blackness. My experience in Africa was very useful in helping them discover and reaffirm their dignity. From all of them, I learned patience, resilience, and not to be discouraged by difficulties.

Missionary and community life is not always easy, but living with them and sharing my life with them has helped me, more and more, cultivate and renew their qualities in my own life. We have enriched each other. In this International Year of Women Farmers, I think a lot of them and of the many others who spend their lives in the fields to support the family economy, despite the many problems. I hope that those who have responsibilities, whether in politics, the economy, the Church, or society at large, will shoulder them as they deserve.