Alumnae Spotlight

Sr. Rosemary Arrah, HHCJ, ‘11

When Sr. Rosemary Arrah, HHCJ, ’11 arrived at the College of Saint Mary, she planned to earn her degrees in education and theology and then move on. However, she soon realized the importance of extracurricular activities while still attending classes.

“Involvement in school was more interesting,” she said. “It was easier for me to meet with the girls around the campus. That changed my worldview. Life was not only about your work.” Getting involved and giving back to the community “opened another world for me,” Sr. Rosemary said.

Before attending CSM, Sr. Rosemary, originally from Cameroon in Africa, had worked with refugees in Houston, Texas. In her first week at CSM, she attended a meeting about working with refugees in Omaha.

“For some reason, I raised my hand and shared my experience working with refugees for six months,” she said. “From then on, I was a part of everything about refugees on campus.”

A few months later, Sr. Rosemary represented CSM’s Theology Department during a trip to the United Nations. She later attended a Power of One Conference in Chicago and took a service trip to Laredo, Texas, on the border with Mexico.

“All those activities ignited in me the love for doing more,” she said.

Finding a Spark for Special Education

While she was still a student at CSM, Sr. Rosemary, a member of the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus, learned about an opportunity for her congregation to acquire a school in Cameroon. The facility was opened in 2010. She later traveled to Cameroon for a service trip sponsored by CSM to educate the teachers on working with children with special needs.

Sr. Rosemary decided to seek a special education endorsement after her first education class. She explained that in Cameroon, teachers were unaware of the different disabilities a child could have. If a child couldn’t read or write well, they were punished and dropped from school.

“That sparked something in me,” she said. “I left that class crying. I went to my professor’s office and told her I needed to do something about it. I could not count how many kids were dismissed from school because they could not read or write. Nobody knew what their ability was.”

After graduating from CSM, Sr. Rosemary earned her master’s degree in special education from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Returning to Cameroon

In 2014, Sr. Rosemary returned to Wosing-Bali, Cameroon, in the North West Region of the country. There she served as the principal of a middle school and high school. In November 2016, Cameroon faced an internal conflict after English-speaking teachers went on strike over issues with the dilapidating English subsystem of education.

“We thought it would just be two weeks, but it was the whole school year,” Sr. Rosemary said.

The Sisters opened the school in 2017, which was risky. But it was shuttered again. This time, for three years.

In 2018, Sr. Rosemary was transferred to an all-girls school. Four years into her service, there was an attack on the school. The school’s dormitory was burned down.

“When the dormitory was set on fire, the girls were inside. We were lucky that they could run out to the convent to call the sisters,” Sr. Rosemary said. “Nearly half of it was gone by the time I got to the dormitory.”

Twenty-four students lost everything. They had only what they were wearing – their pajamas – and many were barefoot. “But all the girls were safe.”

Sr. Rosemary was recently transferred back to her original school, which is now a K-12 co-ed facility.

Struggle in Cameroon

In 2019, just months after leaving her previous school, there was a struggle between the “Amba Boys,” the armed separatists, and the military. The village was deserted, and the schools shut down.

“Children around there were not going to school,” Sr. Rosemary said. “Generally, there was no school for one year in the South West and North West regions. But when they restarted, the villages were not habitable.”

The children in the village where the school was located did not attend school for three years.

Sr. Rosemary learned about one boy who threatened to join the Amba Boys because he was angry with his father. She asked the boy if he knew how to read or write.

“He said, ‘No.’”

The boy told her he would be able to carry a gun and shoot anyone as a member of the Amba Boys.

“But do you realize if you join the Amba Boys, in about three or four years, you will die?” she asked him. “You are not educated. You are not trained in anything. When there is a situation, you may not be protected. You may be killed.

“But if you go to school, in the next five to 10 years, you are going to get a degree and a job, and you are going to take care of yourself and your family,” she said.

The boy had not thought about that. She asked him if he was willing to go to school. He agreed to attend the summer classes that she organized for children who could not read or write.

“There are many of them like that,” she said.

Learning Leadership at CSM

Sr. Rosemary credits her experience at CSM with helping her think for herself and become a leader of her community.

“One of the things I observed here was the modeling of leadership, especially from (former president) Sr. Maryanne Stevens. I learned a lot from her,” she said. “She led by example.”

Sr. Rosemary also learned how to empower others while giving back.

“I was able to redefine my vocation,” she said. “It wasn’t just being a sister, but also what I do matters and what I do with people matters.”