(L to R) Sister Ann Rita Centeno and Ashwena Apao
 Fr. Nestor Duhilag and Sister Cecilia Cuizon.

On August 15, 2005, Ashwena Maria Cahanap Apao made Final Vows as a Columban Sister in her home town  of Jimenez where her mother still lives, her father having died 13 years ago.  One of a family of five, Ashwena went to High School in Jimenez and then went to Manila for college.  She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology and worked for three years in Lourdes Hospital in Manila.  She left this in 1996 to join the Columban  Sisters' formation program.

Following her First Profession in 1999, she  was assigned to Midsalip in the Southern Philippines to work with a tribal people known as the Subanans.  There, she says,  she  learned to appreciate her own culture more deeply and her identity as a Columban Sister became more rooted.

Her next assignment was to the Motherhouse in Magheramore, Wicklow, Ireland where she  spent about eight months before being assigned to our reopened mission in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. (The Columban Sisters had previously worked there until they were expelled in 1966).  In March 2003, she  left for Myanmar with four other Columban Sisters - two Irish, one Korean and one other Filipina. 

She now  lives and works in  Myitkyina in Northern Myanmar.  She works  mainly with  with young people, teaching religion,  creative arts and is also involved in some  human development activities. 

She has this to say about her time in Myanmar: "The life style there is very simple.  I am still struggling with the language and with insertion into a new culture, but I like it there.

To contact the Columban Sisters,
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