Q&A with Sr. Lorenza Raffaella Radini, a missionary working with Bangladeshi youth

Radini was attracted to the stories missionaries used to share when they were at her home when she was little. She never seriously thought about becoming a sister, but in her home parish in Milan, the Franciscan Friars used to involve youth in different activities in order to discover their own vocation. That is the context in which she started to ask what the will of God could be for her.

Radini is now getting ready for the next national youth conference in Mymensingh Diocese, where she will act as convenor of the program. Despite her tight schedule, Radini spoke to Global Sisters Report about her work.

GSR: Why and how did you decide to become a nun? What inspired you to be a missionary?

Radini: At the end of university, I joined the young and mission program, organized by PIME fathers and sisters, in which they prepare the youth to go on a mission for one month to briefly experience the mission life. I went for one month in India. 

There, I met and stayed with the PIME sisters in Mumbai, in a hospital for leprosy patients. For the first time in my life, I got in touch with leprosy patients and with the mission. This experience changed me a lot, and in the time I spent there, seeing the sisters loving those patients that the Indian society refuses, I felt within myself a new call to be a missionary sister — to dedicate my love, effort, energy to share the word of God and his presence with all people.

When did you come to Bangladesh?

I came to Bangladesh in 2019, before the global spread of COVID-19. In our congregation, we don’t take part in the decision of our own country of destination. It is the superior’s choice, which we welcome as a sign of God's will for us.

At that time, I wasn’t expecting or dreaming to go to Bangladesh because the year before, some other Italian sisters had been sent, so I thought I would have been sent somewhere else. I was really surprised, but happy, and I accepted it as a real sign of the love of God for me, who prepared a land for me.

What kind of work are you doing in Bangladesh?  

I have been designated to the community of Mymensingh Diocese, which is an Indigenous-majority community. 

The main responsibility of the community is to run St. Ann’s Hostel, a hostel for teenage girls who are studying grades 11 to 12. We have 65 girls. 

I also have the responsibility to collaborate with the diocesan youth commission, with which we organized programs for different groups of youth and with different purposes. I can easily say my life now has the main priority of staying with the youth, helping them grow and learn in the modern world, maintain their Christian life choices and style, and be witnesses of the love of God.

You are now in Mymensingh, an Indigenous-prominent diocese. What is your experience in this diocese?

As PIME sisters, we have a long experience in other Indigenous-prominent dioceses like northern Dinajpur and Rajshahi. I find it very interesting and enriching to live and work with them because there is so much to learn and appreciate about their own culture and way of living. This is a Garo Indigenous prominent diocese, and I work very well with them.

As someone who works with the youth, can you explain the current situation of Indigenous youth?

Working with the youth, I can see that this time for them is really crucial. The possibility of higher education is increasing, so a great part of youth can attend higher studies. They are fascinated by other cultures and countries. Often, they dream about working and living abroad, so many of them try to have experience abroad to increase their competences and skills.

Many of them, although they study for many years, can't find work relevant to their studies, and this affects their confidence and self-esteem. Often, they dream big, but these dreams sometimes don’t match with the reality in which they live, in terms of economic situation, work or marriage.

Regarding the computer skills, I cannot speak in general because, even though the majority don't use the computer but only a smartphone, some of them — those who are interested and those who have the possibility — are really experts of music, graphics and video, and they want to do this in a professional way.

Why did you set up a computer lab for the students?

In a fast-developing country like Bangladesh, the context and society are changing very rapidly. And also the needs of the market, together with the skills required to work, are changing continuously. The computer skills, which maybe only a few years ago were not necessary or requested in Bangladesh, are now a priority and a plus point if anyone wants to work.

Unfortunately, the reality is that very few youth are taught to use the computer, and often they come from the villages without having even touched one. Mainly, they don’t have any experience or skill in this field at their age.

After having recognized this necessity in the girls of our hostel, we tried to make a plan for them. We now have four computers in our hostel and three of them are at the disposal of the girls to use and learn. We provide them with everyday computer classes in groups, in order to teach them how to work with the computer in different ways. The first purpose is to teach them the basic skills, like organizing files, typing in English and in Bangla, and the basics of graphics.

How did you create this lab? Do you have any plans to expand it?

To fund this project, we had the full support of the PIME Missionaries in Detroit, Michigan, USA, run by PIME Fathers. We don’t have any plans to expand the lab because the number of computers is enough for the number of the girls we have. They are all college girls, so they are mainly busy with classes, exams and their own study. We accompany them in their hostel life by trying to give them some collateral skills, like computer skills, English, music, etc.

Do you think many computer labs are needed for the Indigenous students in your area?

I think that giving everyone the possibility to learn how to use a computer, even though only basic skills, can be useful because they can be ready for any type of work, and also help society to be more modern and updated. This kind of teaching can also help, as I suggested before, as a way to be more self-confident and to believe more in oneself, because we can easily say that in the whole world now these skills are needed the most.

In our computer room, there is one writing on the wall: "Everything for the mission." With these words, as we say to the girls, we also want to explain that all the things we learn have to be useful for our donation to others, for helping others, in the example of Jesus.

We usually say to the girls that we learn how to use the personal computer not only to find a good job, but primarily to grow personally and to be able to use the computer to do good things for our society and for the church.