Becca Reither, a parishioner of St. Anne in Hamel, felt inspired at the age of 6 when her dad first started going on mission trips to Uganda. As Reither got older, she met a religious sister from Uganda named Sister Salome. It became Reither’s childhood dream to visit Sister Salome, but it wasn’t until after Reither’s senior year in high school that she was able to take a trip to visit.
Reither told “Practicing Catholic” producer Rachael McCallum on the program that will air at 9 p.m. Dec. 6 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM, “I never met someone like her, so I just wanted to go see her in her home. … I was terrified because, again, I just finished high school two days before I left. … I didn’t know if I could talk to my family or anybody at home. I knew Sister Salome, but I didn’t know anybody there besides her. I’d never traveled outside the country, so I was just tired and scared and then I walked out of the airport, and I saw Sister Salome.”
In that moment, Reither said, she felt as though it was exactly where she was supposed to be. All her fear went away, and she felt excited. The first thing she got to do was meet kids at the orphanage where she would be watching them in the three months she’d be there. The children were all under the age of 1.
Reither said she had plenty of support from other members of the community while caring for the young children during the day.
“Everybody in the community loves kids and they’re always wanting to help,” Reither said. “If I went somewhere, they’d always take the kid and just hold them and play with them. It was really beautiful to see. It takes a village to raise a kid.”
To hear more about Reither’s experience in Uganda supporting the needs of an orphanage, tune into “Practicing Catholic,” which repeats at 1 p.m. Dec. 7 and 2 p.m. Dec. 8.
The program also includes a discussion with Cynthia Palm on her journey through the Advent season as a former Baptist. Also, Bishop Michael Izen explains how to lean on God during the stress of the Christmas season.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the program can also be heard after it has aired at archspm.org/faith-and-discipleship/practicing-catholic or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters.
