by Sr. Brigid McDonagh MMM (1935 – 2014)                Ireland/Brazil                   22.07.2024

First published by MMM in 2000

My work is with the women of Brasilândia, on the periphery of São Paulo, Brazil.  We have a regional team of 10 women leading the work.  There are also local groups.  I work at both levels.  When, at Regional Level, we started celebrating International Women’s Day in March each year, groups of 300 or even 400 women participated.  The women then started to ask for some follow up to that day during the year.  They choose themes that were relevant to their daily lives, relating to the struggles in the family, at work and in the Church.

We began to study the women in the Bible, and for two years groups met every week, taking different Biblical stories, reflecting and discussing the relevance of these stories to the life they were living today. Lessons were drawn.  The message was applied.  With all the many sufferings that touched their lives, it was surprising that one of the biggest dreams of most of the women was to be literate – to be able to read and to write.  In most homes the boys were sent to school while the girls stayed at home.  The attitude that “they didn’t need to study as they would get married” left them severely handicapped when it came to coping with modern life in an enormous city.

Zildinha, is a good example of the determination that these women bring to their journey.  She started with a literacy programme.  Then she went on to study a course called Suplitivo – that is a quick secondary school.  Then she began to study for her Vestibular which is equivalent to matriculation to a Third Level course.  The same perseverance was evident when Zildinha was finally admitted to university to study Sociology.  She has now finished her first year at the age of 68!

Zildinha is a symbol of liberation for others and the women in the group know that. As a result, they all contribute to paying her university fees, each making a small monthly contribution.

In 1996 a community radio station was started in our area and the group were asked to contribute an hour a week, so we divided into teams of three, each team taking a week in turn.  We divided the hour’s programme into four sections, first a Scripture reading presenting the women of the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments.  The second part was a discussion on how to apply the reading to life today.  The third part of the programme was devoted to health issues, problems women have to cope with in their own lives and in the lives of their families.  In the last section we would give news and updates on events in the communities.  In between each of these sections there would be music, songs, greetings and dedications.

We ran this programme for two and a half years without ever repeating a Bible reading, so it shows how many women there are in the Bible!   The radio station was closed in July 1999 but we will be ready to resume this work if we get another opportunity another time.

One day I asked the women how the group had helped them.  The answers were very touching.  “It helped me to value myself as a woman,”   “It helped me to face life, to speak out and look for my rights as a human being.”   “My family are managing better because I am managing better.”   “We are more aware now not to blame other women for problems.”   “We have more solidarity with one another.”   “We discovered a feminine spirituality through presenting our weekly radio program, on women in the Bible, and relating the stories of these women to today’s living.”