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Sister Vivian Zoller
Administration Girls Secondary School, Africa
After eight years at Notre Dame Girls’ Secondary School (NODASS), in Fiapre, Ghana, I officially handed over administration to a Ghanaian lay woman, Ms. Margaret Lucy Donkor. A few weeks later, I was enstooled!
Enstooling
Enstooling as a going away present is not given lightly. It is a sign of deep gratitude, appreciation and honour. I liken it to being named a Monsignor! It also implies a request to keep them in my benevolence in the future.
The stool always has a symbol on it; mine was a “knot of wisdom” signifying the wisdom I, as a “wise woman”, brought to the community. The chief and his elders presented it with speeches and then they called me forth and lowered me and raised me on the stool three times saying “You are enstooled (my symbol of authority) as a Queen Mother of Fiapre.” This was the climax of a truly wonderful final year for me at NODASS!
The beginnings of NODASS
The school began as a dream of Bishop James Owusu, then the Bishop of the Sunyani Diocese in the mid 1980s. He was concerned about the lack of educational opportunities for young girls and was convinced that through the education and formation of the next generations of mothers, the family, society and Ghana as a whole would be transformed for the better. This belief in the transformative power of education is one of the founding convictions of the School Sisters of Notre Dame.
It was natural that SSNDs would say “yes” when he asked us to establish a Senior Secondary School for girls in an area of Ghana that had one of the lowest levels of education, especially for girls, in the whole country. In September of 1987, the first 35 students were admitted and NODASS became a reality, although in temporary, cramped facilities.
Growth
I joined the staff in 1995, coming from Sierra Leone when rebel activity forced SSNDs to leave. The school then had 135 students and was preparing to move to a more spacious site in Fiapre on the outskirts of the regional capital Sunyani, Ghana, West Africa.
Today the school is at full capacity with 590 students, 440 of whom are boarders. There are 28 teaching staff, 15 classrooms, three Science Labs. Plans for the future include building a computer room, a library and an assembly hall.
The year that I left, our public exam results were the best ever; we won first prizes in debates, Independence Day marching and at inter-schools quizzes; and we purchased our first school bus. Finally, the First Lady, the President’s wife, Mrs. Theresa Kuffour, visited the school.
Most heartening of all is to see the leadership development of our young women. As our school song states: “We are girls of Notre Dame, the future is in our hands.”
A Multicultural Experience
My ministry at NODASS has been one of the most demanding as well as exciting and rewarding experiences of my life. To be in mission in a different culture with SSNDs from Germany, Canada and the USA challenged us to witness to unity in a divided world and to be faithful to our SSND directive that “in working with peoples of other cultures, we exercise care not to impose our own cultural values and traditions.”
NOT imposing our cultural values and traditions on others is practically impossible; we naturally operate out of them and unconsciously believe they are values for every culture. Much openness and dialogue go into appreciating cultural differences within our own SSND community even with our similar Western backgrounds. However, in a country with very different ways of thinking and operating, it is much more difficult simply to understand the values and traditions much less to appreciate and not try to change their good but different practices!
As I look at my stool with its wisdom knot, and review my time as headmistress of NODASS, I know my ministry to and with these very hospitable Ghanaians has enriched us both in many ways. I pray with my SSND sisters that through our ministry, we and those to whom we are sent may always be mutually enriched for the betterment of all.
Sister Vivian Zoller, SSND, was born and raised in Wilkie, Saskatchewan and attended Notre Dame Convent School, in Leipzig, SK. She has been a teacher and school administrator in both elementary and secondary schools in Saskatchewan, Ontario, England and West Africa. She has served as Provincial Leader of the Canadian Province of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, and has studied at Maryknoll School of Theology in New York attaining her Masters in Theological Studies. After serving in Fiapre for eight years, she is now headmistress at a girls secondary school in Kenya.
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