In Zimbabwe, Maryknoll Sister Chiyoung Pak is known by a radiant name. “As I walk along the street, people greet me jovially, ‘Sister Chiedza, how is it going?’” she says. “Chiedza is the Shona word for light and brightness.”

It’s hard to tell from her sunny disposition, but Sister Pak’s optimism has been sorely tested in this country of southern Africa. The missioner had to persevere for two decades to find a home for her ministry to impoverished children and adults.

Assigned to Zimbabwe in 1999, Sister Pak first spent a couple of years in Harare, the capital. She explored the city, practicing the Shona language and getting to know the capital’s street children. One of them told her he came from a nearby township called Norton. A township is an area where the black population had lived under apartheid before Rhodesia gained independence in 1980 as the new country of Zimbabwe.

Visiting Norton, about 25 miles west of Harare, Sister Pak saw that many children did not attend school. For those who did, sessions lasted only half the day. There were high numbers of orphans due to AIDS and displacement of families. The already overpopulated town was growing rapidly and had few services and little infrastructure.

Maryknoll Sister Chiyoung Pak spent her first years in Zimbabwe in the capital city of Harare, where she began working with street children and promoting education. (Maryknoll Mission Archives/Zimbabwe)

As the missioner’s dream suddenly seemed to come to a dead end, her faith renewed her hope. Born in Seoul, Korea, to Buddhist parents, Pak had become Catholic at the age of 12. Her parents were supportive, even when their daughter, at 30, joined the Maryknoll Sisters.

Sister Pak held fast to her goal. In 2014, still unsure about the future of her mission in Norton, she wrote, “Each day, I try to grow in God’s love and understand God’s unconditional love. I have received so much love and care in Korea, and I will share all that love here in Zimbabwe.”

Before losing the schoolyard space, Sister Pak had already begun the process of registering the project in Zimbabwe as a nongovernmental organization under the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare. Encouragement came in December of 2015 when the organization received official recognition.

“Since our registration as an NGO we have been focused on community development programs,” the missioner says.

Reassessing the changing needs in the growing community, Sister Pak expanded the project‘s age range. Some of the children she had worked with had grown into young adults. She invited participants up to 22 years of age for skills training. “The scarcity of jobs is very apparent,” she says. “The majority of the youths who were coming to the center are still unemployed.”

She also became concerned about the lack of training for older adults.

“Given the 85% unemployment rate, there are currently no special programs tailored for this older age group, which is in dire need of job skills,” Sister Pak says. After the COVID-19 lockdown was lifted, the Norton Center welcomed adults.

Sharing space at the St. Padre Pio Poly Clinic, the project offered workshops in African bead jewelry, computer skills, and life skills and personal development for adults.

However, the arrangement with the clinic was not conducive to learning. Apart from one room, classes were still being held outdoors. Wind and rain often disrupted activities.

“September 28, 2023 is a day I will never forget,” Sister Pak says happily. “After 16 years, we finally found a place, a block of five rooms to rent as our center!” The building is a space students and staff can call their own. Although the rooms are small, she says, they manage by having double sessions each day. “Now we are more focused on the quality of teaching, with four fully qualified professional teachers,” she adds.

Participants are organized in two groups: youths ages 17 to 28 and older adults ages 29 to 65.

With 10 laptops, the center accommodates 10 students in morning sessions and another 10 in the afternoon. This is a favorite workshop for the youth, Sister Pak says, because there is no other place for them to learn computer skills for free.

The Norton Center offers the only free computer classes for adults in the community. Ten laptops are shared in two sessions, serving 20 students. (Courtesy of Chiyoung Pak/Zimbabwe)

The African beads workshop also has 10 students in each session.

“Working with adult women, the joy and excitement they bring as they learn to make jewelry has been a great source of motivation,” says Olinda Makara, one of the teachers. She says she enjoys “the sense of pride and achievement I witness on their faces as they successfully finish their projects. It’s an honor to continue working with the women, witnessing them proudly embracing themselves and others, forming new support systems, bonding and gaining confidence in themselves.”

Sister Pak, 59, particularly enjoys working with women ages 40 to 65 in sessions about the challenges of midlife. She teaches them skills to help them deal with stress and anger, and offers them the opportunity to integrate any suffering from problems they have faced in their lives. It is “a safe place to share, cry, laugh and have fun together, freely discussing and sharing their life experiences,” she says.

“As new groups of women join the workshops, they bring new insights and energy,” she continues. “Our center has gained popularity since there is no other community development program operating here in Norton.”

The missioner with the Shona name meaning light and brightness finds joy as she regards all that has been accomplished: “I am grateful to witness students who came out of our children’s center now rejoining our center as grown-up mothers and fathers, even grandparents, too. It is really a complete circle of life.”

Featured Image: Maryknoll Sister Chiyoung Pak (first row, seventh from left) and members of the Norton Center in Zimbabwe have found a place to call home. (Courtesy of Chiyoung Pak/Zimbabwe)