Khadija Magardie
Eons ago the Prince of Denmark delivered his stinging pieces of prose to his once lady love; and, generations later, people are still debating what Hamlet meant by his infamous utterance “Get thee to a nunnery!” to Ophelia.
Thanks to Shakespearean innuendo, nobody really knows, even today, whether the words were advice born out of concern, or a cynical insult. Similarly, the idea of women choosing the simplicity of convent life over the glitter of the world is met with confusion.
At the end of a narrow dirt road, just beyond the concrete and asphalt tentacles leading from the city of gold, is Carmel. The modern, face- brick property, on a smallholding just outside Benoni, bears witness to the striking simplicity of the life of the residents of the convent.
The only decorations are spirals of bougainvillea and a bird-bath on the immaculately kept lawn. The architecture is inward facing all the rooms lead to a central courtyard and a chapel, and a dense hedge makes it impossible to see the rooms from the road.
The Carmelite community is an “enclosed” order within the church, and except in cases of medical necessity, the nuns spend their entire lives within convent walls. A housekeeper does their shopping and their only contact with the outside world is occasionally listening to the news on the radio.
To a city slicker fed on a daily diet of television, daily newspapers and the Internet, a visit to Carmel would be like arriving on another planet.
The only sounds punctuating the air are birdsong, or water gurgling down a drain. But it is not unnerving unless one considers that the convent is barely 20 minutes’ drive from the “Sodom” of South Africa. The 10 sisters who live at Carmel have built their lives on the foundations of silence, devoting themselves to a simple life of prayer.
Every day in the life of a Carmelite sister revolves around prayer. The first of the day is an hour of silent prayer starting at daybreak. This is followed by communal prayers and mass in the chapel. After breakfast, there is a break for a few odd hours, for work. The convent supports itself by making communion hosts and various other items, like rosaries. At midday, mass is followed by lunch and time for recreation. The late afternoon and evening is spent doing prayers, dinner and dishes. Every evening ends with personal reading, prayers and night silence.
To many, the life of the order, and its traditional dress a brown habit and a black head veil is too austere. But judging by the open, shining faces, which radiate an inner happiness, the life chosen by the women of the order some as early as their teens is far from what others may deem oppressive.
The order has had a presence in South Africa for more than 70 years and first established a community in Rivonia, near Sandton. But they moved when the suburb became too built up and, as a result, noisy the antithesis of the Carmelite way of life. There are various religious orders within the Church where the vocation of nuns extends itself to several activities, from nursing, to teaching, to social work. But the Carmelites believe prayer is their contribution to the world.
“The only way to reach all the needs of the world is to pray for them,” says Sister Marie-Therese of the Benoni convent. Originally from the Eastern Cape, she joined the order as a 19-year-old, because, she says, she wanted to do something for the good of others.
“I saw there was so much need in the world, and I wanted to help,” she adds.
Carmelite communities rarely exceed 20 in number, because the order’s founder, St Theresa, described prayer as “an intimate sharing between friends”. The order is also particularly known for its diversity in addition to South Africans, there are sisters from as far afield as Rwanda, Germany and the Democratic Republic of Congo living at Carmel.
And intimacy it is indeed spending nearly all of their waking hours in the same company has forged strong bonds of friendship. Although the order has a general rule of silence during private prayer, and during work hours, there is time devoted in each day to recreation. Muffled giggles from the refectory, where the community has its lunch, or a gentle buzz of conversation as the sisters engage in handiwork, are not unheard of.
The sisters are also extremely open-faced and friendly to visitors, who arrive at the convent to ask for prayers, or to purchase items like rosaries from the gift shop. There is also a guest house on the property where visitors stay for retreats.