Brazil | Oiapoque

Notre Dame arrived in Oiapoque in 1978 when Sister Rebeca was asked to do indigenous education work.

Engagement with the four peoples, Galibi-Marworno, Palikur, Karipuna and Galibi Kali’na continues today, having been in the area for 45 years.

Over the years, many Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Brazil spent time in Oiapoque to provide specific service to these people. As always in the history of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, they state that they learned much more from the original peoples than they taught. It is with indigenous peoples that we have the chance to learn to live in harmony with nature and thus save the planet.

In 2021, a community of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur started a new community in Oiapoque, living alongside the people of the city, as well as the people of the villages.

In Oiapoque, Sisters Maria de Jesus Borges Costa, Socorro Oliveira da Silva, and Josineide Maria da Silva dedicate themselves to various pastorals such as: Youth, Children’s Pastoral, Health Pastoral, Elderly Pastoral, Altar Servers, Baptism, Bible, Catechesis , Celebration of the Word, Ministers of the Eucharist, Soup (distribution of soup to families), and home visits to the sick with communion.

The Sisters who are committed to these pastoral activities have only been in this city for three years. They are at the beginning of the process of adaptation, knowledge and learning. Sister Joseneide declares: We still have a long way to go. Guided by the Word, we are called and seek to live the charisma, announcing the goodness of God, inserted among the people. “Oh! How Good is the Good God”!