In the school there was what we called an ‘Honour Roll’. Each girl received ten points every week. Marks were deducted for not speaking English, arriving late for or disturbing study. Good marks were awarded for extra efforts at speaking English, being helpful and generous around the place. This was done every Friday evening at a meeting with the principal. The girl with the highest points on the Honour Roll was crowned Our Lady at her feast on 31 May. She received the prize for conduct at the end of the year. Also every year, a visiting priest gave us a weekend retreat.

The Sisters usually put out many religious books for us to read during the retreat. For the first time I encountered the riches of the Catholic Church in the lives of these young girl martyrs. I enjoyed reading their lives, especially that of St Barbara, whose father secluded her in a tower. Barbara studied and prayed and was rewarded with the gift of faith. Secretly she received baptism from a Catholic priest. When her father learnt of it he was indignant and had her handed over to the magistrate for torture and execution.^[9] St Cecilia had consecrated her life to God before she was given to Valerian in marriage. Through prayers she won her husband over to God; and because of this she was thrown into a fire that did not burn her and in the end her head was cut off.^[10] St Agnes refused an offer of marriage and was subjected to ill-treatment until she was put to the sword.^[11] St Philomena, because of a vow she had made to belong to God alone refused the marriage proposal of a prince from another area in Italy. Her father disowned her and she was tortured to death.^[12] These are but a few of the many martyrs whose lives I read. I admired their courage, their love of God and the manifestation of their faith. It was from these courageous young women that I received the inspiration to go against my parents in my ‘fight’ to become a Catholic. It was at this time, too, that I began to think about religious life. I was not yet a Catholic and I also knew the problems I would have to face. In one of his talks during the retreat, Father Rinn, MSC, was trying to explain the parable of the wedding feast where the bridegroom found one of his guests not dressed in a wedding garment.^[13] Father kept repeating, ‘No one can do it for you; you have to do it yourself’. The message for me then was the way to heaven is not automatic. I had to respond to God’s grace in working out my own salvation.

The life of the ‘Little Flower’, St Therese of Lisieux truly inspired me to give my life to God.^[14] That was when I heard the call to religious life, but because I was not a Catholic I felt silly in sharing this with anybody. Also I feared my parents. St Therese’s little way of doing everything, small things for love of God, touched me deeply. This was something I could do, so I thought to myself. My mother’s words rang in my ears: ‘You are going to school and not to become a Catholic’. During religion class, Sister was reading to us a passage from the Gospel: ‘… what would profit a man if he gains the whole world and suffers the loss of his soul?’^[15] This further confirmed for me that I had to follow my call. In trying to help me decide about a career, this Sister advised me that I would go further and obtain a higher salary if I worked for the government. After hearing that passage from the Gospel, I could not. I had already decided in my heart to stay in the Catholic Church. I had good friends in school who taught me to say certain prayers besides praying with me. I found the principal very approachable, firm but caring and interested in every student. She was an excellent teacher.