Sister Prudentiana Tibabyekomya

Found this article in the Florida Catholic: ‘They better call me Sister Baby’ about Sister Prudentiana Tibabyekomya, 57, of the Sisters of St. Therese of the Little Flower.

Sister Tibabyekomya recently received her master’s degree in pastoral leadership counseling from Saint Leo University. “Sister Tibabyekomya now will return to Africa where she will start a spiritual center in Tanzania that will care for people with AIDS, counsel those traumatized by war, provide for basic and job-skills education of orphans and children from poor families.”

The article mentions how Sister Tibabyekomya came to be a nun.

Sister Tibabyekomya grew up in Burundi. The Sisters of St. Therese of the Little Flower worked in her village and, almost 50 years ago, the nun was a little girl from a family of 16 who was fascinated by the sisters and their work.

“I would see the sisters surrounded by children,” she said. “I would leave home to go be with the sisters and help them prepare their house.”

One day, when she was about 10, she carried her baby brother on her back when she visited the sisters. A nun told her she couldn’t be a nun if she had a baby. Enough said.

“I went home, put the baby on the floor and went back,” she said. “My father came and took me home.”

The article goes on to talk about Sister Tibabyekomya and her community’s work with babies and other orphaned children. Sister was sent to the United States to study theology and was taken in my the ever hospitable Benedictine Sisters and by a local parish.

Having completed her degree, Sister Tibabyekomya now will return to Africa and begin a new project.

Her community has asked her to start a spiritual center in Tanzania that will care for people with AIDS, counsel those traumatized by war, provide for basic and job-skills education of orphans and children from poor families, and provide a retreat site where people can find a little peace in their harsh lives and time to focus on God.

Blessings and congratulations to Sister Tibabyekomya, to her community, and to their ministry.