My name is Sarah Terry, and I am from Johannesburg, South Africa. I have had the privilege of teaching Dramatic Arts and Mathematics at St. Teresa’s, an all-girls’ Sisters of Mercy school, for the past twelve years.

Sarah Terry

During my time here, I have developed the Mercy Ambassadors’ Programme, which aims to support deserving students – while fostering the core values of St Teresa’s: collaboration, excellence, compassion, spiritual growth, and global responsibility. This programme is run in partnership with other Mercy organisations around the world, and it has provided me and St. Teresa’s students the opportunity to connect with Mercy communities in the USA, Australia, and Ireland. I am also particularly proud of my role as a member of the Women in Leadership Justice Task Force in November 2023, where I had the chance to collaborate on important initiatives with women of Mercy from around the world, to create a handbook about Gender Based Violence.

In September 2024, I began a year-long journey as part of the Mercy Global Action Emerging Leaders Fellowship. This programme, led by Sister Angela Reed, brings together ten women leaders from across the globe, including participants from Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines and Kenya. Every leader is an exceptional woman of Mercy, and the programme is designed to foster creative and critical thinking, encourage collaborative leadership and promote personal reflection. The goal is to empower us to respond compassionately and collectively to the pressing issues of our world.

As part of this fellowship, we began our journey with an immersion trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia. The theme of the immersion was ‘Reconciliation.’ We were fortunate to stay at the Metta Karuna Retreat Centre, where we learned about the work of Sister Denise Coghlan, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. Sister Denise’s extraordinary efforts to clear landmines in Cambodia have made a significant impact on the country, and it was an honour to witness her mission first-hand. Cambodia went through the most terrible genocide in the late 1970’s. The horrific dictator, Pol Pot, from a party called the Khmer Rouge, and with the support of Communist China, slaughtered his own people in millions. Nearly a quarter of the population of Cambodia was eradicated. One “good thing” did emerge from this nightmare, ironically.  Many men had been slaughtered during this time, but, once the madness stopped, the women of Cambodia became increasingly empowered in the workplace and politically, because of the vacuum that had been left.

I returned from Cambodia sobered by what I saw and heard and experienced, and freshly aware that South Africa is a functioning democracy – an imperfect democracy, yes – but a place where people have freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of religion, and so many other hard-won freedoms. And we can see, from all the political turmoil around the world, with tensions that have only increased in the last few months, that even the most successful and longest-lasting democracies are frail creatures indeed. I returned wanting to remind my students that each of them has been equipped with a high-quality education and a non-negotiable responsibility to work towards keeping our young democracy alive and prospering, growing, improving, strengthening… and protected from the enemies of democracy and empowerment. The future of this country is in the hands of the well-educated, well-nurtured and lovingly developed Mercy women that they are.

Sarah praying in Cambodia

Sister Angela Reed, our Course Leader, wrote a very beautiful prayer, which I found deeply inspiring, and it is this prayer that I use for my final reflection.

“Look for the Light, Sustaining, energising light. Source of Healing, Source of Joy. Look for the Light when violence erupts and guns, canons and bombs take life, Casting shadows over the earth, leaving overwhelming grief and sorrow. Look for the Ligh.t When women are degraded, humiliated and killed, robbed of their dignity and life. Look for the Light when generations of people are displaced, disorientated and uprooted from their homes. Look for the Light for those overwhelmed by chronic illness, addiction and despair. Paralysed by fear of abandonment, Look for the Light For those who are disillusioned and empty, no longer connected, no longer Believers. Look for the Light, Look for the Light, Sustaining, energising Light. Source of Healing, Source of Joy. Look for the Light.”

 

Sarah Terry
Educator at St. Teresa’s Mercy High School, Johannesburg
South African Province