Sad news from South Africa

This afternoon, 15th May, I received a text from Nancy and Khanya in South Africa to say that Sr Emmanuel passed away suddenly this afternoon at 4-30pm. I have know Sr Emmanuel for 40 years and she was such an individual, liking to horse ride and even camel ride, swing in a hammock and doing many other things which perhaps you cannot imagine that a nun would do. Sr Emmanuel had a great love of God and a total trust in God, in fact everything she did she did in God's name, even her sense of love of life was all ultimately for God. She gave a lot of herself and near where she stayed she was fondly known as "God's own beggar" the reason being she was always asking for things to help the Africans in need. She was also called the Mother Theresa of Empangeni, the town where she stayed with other nuns in a small convent. Part of her life was spent as a teacher and she had a great love of children and she spent her last couple of years, when partially disabled, sitting on a bench and talking to school children and their parents as they passed her on their way into school in the mornings. She had a little dog, one of many over the years, and she and this dog as with all the other dogs, were devoted to each other. She wrote poetry, even had a book of poems published, loved cappuccinos, was very sociable and most of all she was full of stories and loved talking and sharing her stories with anyone who had the time to sit and listen to her.She was an unforgettable character who I know will be greatly missed.
A few months ago she had to be transferred to stay in Pietermaritzburg where she could be looked after by younger and healthier nuns. It is beautiful there, I visited in the year 2000. She was unable to take her little dog with her and she missed him dreadfully as he did her. She also missed the sisters and she greatly missed all the children she so loved to talk to each morning. She was happy and settled well in Pietermaritzburg but dreamed of being strong enough to return to her little dog and the children in Empangeni but that could never have happened as her spine had crumbled, she was in a wheel chair and also in great pain much of the time.
In the early days of my charity, while her health allowed her to, she was very much connected to my charity One Life, in fact it was Sr Emmanuel who first introduced me to Nancy in the year 2000, my first trip back to South Africa after 30 years. She has helped Nancy and the children and countless other Africans so very much and will never be forgotten.

Whatever your faith or religion, do give a thought for Sr Emmanuel who died today, who filled her life with love and dedication to the God she so believed in. I am happy for her as she always said she would be happy to go from this earth when her time came, in fact, looking forward to it and I guess that is the gift of her faith and she surely had that.

This really is a tribute to a great lady who I, personally, will miss and is why I am left here today with this great sense of loss.