VIRIDITAS: SOUL GREENING
Interviewed by Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP Hawaii Catholic Herald
Forty-two years ago, when I was merely 26 years of age, I was sent to the United States to help in our congregational mission of teaching in Hawaii. I thought the United States would be visually greener and different from my homeland of the Philippines. In my first assignment at St. Joseph School in Makawao, Maui, I tried hard to study the way people spoke. But I just could not understand this “English,” which was pidgin. Nonetheless, when I saw the pineapple fields beyond the school campus, I said, “This looks just like the Philippines,” and so I felt at home.
Later, I was transferred to California, called the “Mainland.” There were four of us sisters who were sent as pioneers to staff St. Charles Borromeo School in the Mission District of San Francisco. There, I struggled again with the languages. Their English was different from what I was exposed to in Hawaii, and then there was Spanish. Remembering however, that the Filipino and Spanish languages were similar, I felt more comfortable. Like, in my favorite song “Only a Shadow,” by Carey Landry, I sung “My life is in Your hands. My love for You will grow, my God; Your light in me will shine.”
The San Francisco mission was exciting, yet challenging. As one of the sisters had her driver’s license, the four of us were able to drive across the Mainland to attend the NCEA and Religious Education Congress. I was also able to meet Mother Teresa and her sisters who were ministering in the same district. And, aside from school teaching, I enjoyed working with the public school children in the parish’s religious education program. The greatest challenge of being on the Mainland however, was not being able to return to Hawaii for eight years due to the saving of funds for the construction of the Dominican Center on Oahu.
After eight years of teaching at Holy Angels School in Colma, I was transferred back to St. Charles School. The superintendent of Catholic schools recommended me as a teacher who would be able to handle the new combining of classes at St. Charles due to low enrollment. Creating lesson plans and teaching for both the first and second grades simultaneously took a lot of energy out of me. In 2014, I collapsed. With the finding of a kidney stone, I became more aware of the need to consciously watch over my health.
At present, I work at Rosary Preschool on Oahu greeting the children and their parents. Semi-retired, I am happy to be here as I still have a great love for the children even though my health is not strong enough to be in the classroom. If there are children crying, teachers also bring them to me.
I eventually did become an American citizen wanting to be more involved in the United States. Maybe it is God’s providence that I did as I now am a beneficiary of Medicaid and Medicare. I never knew there would be so many benefits when I got older. I will continue serving here until I am summoned back to the Philippines. My song continues, “The love, I have for You, my Lord, Is only a shadow of Your love for me; Only a shadow of Your love for me, Your deep, abiding love.”
Sister Rosario Tuvida is a Dominican Sister of the Most Holy Rosary of the Philippines. She is 44 years professed and resides at the Dominican Center of Hawaii on Oahu.
