Time for retirement for Sister Innocentia

On April 14th 2021, on the eve of her 90th birthday, Sister Innocentia left Kontum for Cu Lao Gieng where she will take a well deserved retirement in a convent on an island in the middle of the Me Kong river, some 50 kilometres from Cambodia. She was accompanied by twenty nuns from the region of Kontum who hired a coach to escort her to her new home. We imagine that the atmosphere during the trip was alternately joyful and solemn. Taking into consideration the bad road conditions in Vietnam, this 800 km journey must have been quite an ordeal for some-one of that age and Sister Innocentia was in fact in a weak condition when she arrived. Some of our members visited Cu Lao Gieng in 2005 and remember it as a peaceful and serenely happy place. There was a school for young children and a sewing workshop for the older ones. It was very pretty with lots of plants and flowers. The elderly retired nuns were not very mobile and spent a lot of time in their room. The rooms were side by side in the garden. During the day the doors were open so that they could admire the garden and have a chat with people passing by. In this warm and friendly atmosphere, Sister Innocentia will be able to rest and recuperate.

Here is a chronological summary of Sister Innocentia’s very full life.

1931 : birth.

1950s and 1960s : after her ordination, Sister Sœur Innocentia lived in France (in Portieux and Paris) before returning to Vietnam to dedicate her life to the poor.

1971 : first presence of the Sisters of Providence in Kontum. When they arrived, they had their own house. The bishop had a very big property which was almost empty. When the communists arrived, he asked the nuns to move to his empty premises so that the communists would not be able to expropriate him. However the communists confiscated the nuns’ house and since then they have been dependent on the bishop’s goodwill.

1975 : Sister Innocentia arrived in Kontum to look after lepers with Sister Anselme-Marie who had been there since 1972.

1990 : They applied for permission to open a nursery school. Sister Anselme-Marie had a French teaching diploma with no equivalence in Vietnam so she had to go back to college in order to be able to teach.

1997 : The nursery school opened legally.

2002 : Our Enfants de Kontum organisation was founded and since then we have worked in close collaboration with Sister Innocentia. During all these years, her serenity and sound advice have been invaluable in helping us orientate our actions in Kontum.

2017 : Sister Innocentia was still very sharp and alert. During our visit, she told us “A nun retires when she can no longer walk”.

2018 : The bishop reclaimed the nuns’ premises to house a seminary. They moved into episcopal premises in the town centre. They have a 20 year lease agreement on these premises.

2019 : Sister Innocentia was still alert and was our guide and interpreter during all our visits.

2021 : Two big events were scheduled :

The 50th anniversary of the arrival of the Sisters of Providence in Kontum, this celebration was cancelled because of Covid.
Sister Innocentia’s 90th birthday.

We are very grateful to Sister Innocentia.

We are saddened by the departure of this rare pearl with whom we have been collaborating for 19 years. We will miss her terribly, but her retirement is well earned. We have always appreciated her gentleness, her serenity, her dry humour and her selfless dedication to the poor. Her sound advice has always helped us to guide our strategy in Kontum.

It is evident that she will miss the children of Kontum, the old cook and her comrade Sister Anselme-Marie (they have been together in Kontum for 45 years !), and the feeling is mutual.

We hope to be able to visit Sister Innocentia in Cu Lao Gieng the next time we go to Vietnam.