Catholic Diocese of Tombura Yambio Bid Farewell to Sr. Margaret Scott, Welcomes Br. Chris Soosai as New Principal of Solidarity Teachers Training College

Sr. Margaret Scott of the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary, just like her successor is part of the Solidarity with South Sudan Group.

A native of New Zealand, Sr. Margaret has been in the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio for the last 11 years during which she was able to build the institution which has since held five graduations. The institution train teachers from all parts of South Sudan and Sudan.

According to the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio, Rt. Rev. Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala, Solidarity Teachers Training College is a light in the darkness because the need for teachers in the country is overwhelming.

“The birth of this college which came as a result of the desire of bishops to manage and run schools but found themselves in a dilemma with a big question of who would teach in the church-sponsored schools since the demand for the teachers all over the country was too high,” Bishop Hiiboro explained adding that the superiors general of different congregations within the country were thus approached by the Late Bishop Joseph Gasi Abangite and then through the Bishops Conference a requested was to the superiors of the different religious institutions to come and help the people of South Sudan and Sudan.

Since then the Solidary with South Sudan Team has been training teachers, nurses and now somehow taking part in Pastoral care.

“Sr. Margaret here in Yambio has done a great job, she is brave, down-to-earth, very hard-working, and a very visionary and has touched many lives of the people of South Sudan especially in the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio and by extension Sudan. It is always said that teachers never die because their legacies live on in the people who pass through them; Sr. Margaret has been preparing teachers whose legacies will never die and just like her own legacy here in our diocese will never die,” Bishop praised.

He further explained that in as much as he would have loved to see Sr. Margaret continuing with her job in the diocese, her superiors demanded her to go back home and rest for a while.

“I am, however, grateful to her congregation and to the solidarity team for the work well done. I thank them sincerely for what has been accomplished and for standing with us during our most difficult times. They never ran away but have stayed with us during the heat of problems. Because of their presence among us, they have kept the hope for the people of South Sudan and Sudan.”

The Solidarity with South Sudan Team has not stopped their services and support for the activities already initiated. It is therefore under this pretext that Sr. Margaret is being replaced by Br. Chris from India who is a member of Brothers of Christian Schools (De la Salle Brother).

Before coming to South Sudan to join the Solidarity with South Sudan Team, Br. Chris taught at De La Salle College in Hong Kong, and having spent two years already teaching at the institution, he certainly is well qualified to lead the institution into the next phase along with the current staff members. We wish him well as he takes up this new mandate.