Chinese nun comes to Latham out of love for serving aged

Serving the elderly has brought Sister Cecilia Marie Therese from Hong Kong to Latham, where she is working at Our Lady of Hope Residence, while also attending nursing school at Maria College in Albany.

Born in Hong Kong when the city was a British colony, she remembers wanting to become a nurse as a little girl. In 1986, she visiting her grandfather in a nursing home run by the Little Sisters of the Poor. One day, she watched a resident spit on a floor that a nun had recently cleaned "to a bright shine," she recalled, and decided to help her. She returned again and again, and was soon volunteering every weekend.

"I would go to the home before I went to work," she said. "People asked me, 'Are you going to become a nun?' I'd say, 'No, I wouldn't do that!'"

Decision time

One night, as she was helping to put a resident to bed, the woman "turned blue," she recalled. "I had no clue, so I called a sister and asked, 'What am I going to do?' Everyone gathered around and prayed over her, and a half hour later she passed so peacefully."

She began to explore whether she might have a vocation but dubbed herself a "doubting Thomas."

She asked God for a sign that she was called to the religious life. When she received them, she entered the novitiate in Singapore in 1991; in 1999, she made her final vows.

'I love it'

Sister Cecilia said, "A lot of people think, as a Little Sister, there is no future, because we just take care of the elderly and are not outside in parishes. But I love it. I am happy because of the saying of our foundress: 'To make the elderly happy is everything.' This is exactly what I want. We choose to follow Jesus, and we are happy to do what He calls us to do."

When the Little Sisters' residence in Singapore closed, her order sent her to Paris. There, she experienced culture shock. Sister Cecilia said that it's not hard to adapt to other cultures, as long as she keeps an open mind.

"We integrate in the home right away," she said. "There is a family spirit, and I feel at home wherever I go. I am a missionary. I go to another country, I adapt to life there, I get to know their culture."

Language

Studying to be a registered nurse, Sister Cecilia estimates that she will receive her degree in May 2007. Even though she speaks English, medical terminology -- from simple words like measles and mumps to more complicated classifications -- evades her at times.

"I know them in Chinese," she explained, "so I just sit down with a dictionary."

Exams for her nursing degree present a challenge. They're based in a very American variety of critical thinking, she said, which does not always harmonize with the culture in which she grew up.

In the U.S., she explained, people operate on a more "individualistic" basis, where students make decisions "and don't care what other people think. For [the Chinese], we always react as a community and act as a group. It is very different."

Life's work

Although she maintains a busy schedule with classes and lab practicals, Sister Cecilia said that working with residents keeps her grounded.

"After, I am happy and so relaxed, and can always study better," she said. "It might be hard right now, but it is not for me; it is for the residents, ultimately. It is to be able to give them better care and pass on the joy [of the order] to other nurses."

She has no doubt that taking care of the elderly is what God has called her to do.

"The elderly people build up the country; they build up society that we live in," she said. "It breaks my heart" to see them abandoned. "Whatever sicknesses they have, we respect the dignity of everyone. They should enjoy life."

(3/16/06) [[In-content Ad]]