Redemptoristine Sister Skho, born as Mavis Esther Khumalo on July 25, 1941 in Ixopho, Natal South Africa, died peacefully on January 13, 2025 under the extended care of the Redemptorists. Sr. Skho’s mother was a teacher, and her father worked in Johannesburg as a cook in one of the worker’s hostels.

According to the norm of apartheid time in South Africa, her father worked away from home for most of the year, coming back only for the Christmas break. Mavis was her grandmother’s favorite, and she spoiled her treating her with the rare commodity of meat and meat with fat on it, much to Mavis’ delight. If she had been naughty her mother could not scold or punish her if her grandmother was there. If her father was home, he would be swift to want to punish her but his mother and her grandmother would stop him. Her father would then relent. Her mother died when Sr. Skho was young, about seven or eight. Her father remarried, bringing a woman and her children home. They became a blended family, making a household with seven children. Some of the children were the same age. Sr. Skho said her second mother was very good to her, and she loved her very much.

The family lived on a large farm owned by a very prosperous white Afrikaner whom Mavis said was so kind. His land was tended by the ten families living and working there. He was very good to his workers, giving them meat to celebrate on special occasions, and he would give them a goat to slaughter at Christmas and some cloth for the ladies to make dresses. Mavis said he was much kinder than the other landowners were to their workers, but his wife was just the opposite and did not treat the workers very well. She was the mother of two girls and was known as a very strict lady, both with her own children and the workers.

When Mavis was about nine or ten years old, she was invited into the owner’s house to play with their children. This was unusual, and a ruse. The madam saw how strong Mavis was for her age, and the next day she handed Mavis a broom and made her one of the maids in the house. When Mavis’ mother became ill and had to go to the hospital, the madam took her into the city to visit her mother. She told her she could buy gifts for her sick mother. This was a change of character for the madam that surprised Mavis. She went along and bought things. The madam even encouraged her to buy various things for her mother, which made Mavis very happy. To her surprise, at the end of the month when she would receive her pay, she received nothing. The madam said she had already spent all of it on things for her mother!

Her father wanted her to have an education, so he secretly sent her away for some time to live with a relative so she could go to school. Otherwise, she would have remained a servant in the house of the madam. News was circulated in the village about jobs and education being offered if the girls would be willing to travel from the village to other places. Mavis and her mother were thrilled with the idea. She packed up, said goodbye and she and her mother set off on foot into town for this new opportunity. They happened to meet her aunt on the road and told her of the good fortune that was awaiting Mavis, now a teenager. The aunt then cautioned them not to go. It was not true what was being promised. At that point, Mavis and her mother turned back and went home. It wasn’t until sometime later that they found out what a good decision they had made. None of the girls who left for this new opportunity were ever heard from again, and the principal of the school who had encouraged it denied knowing anything about it. Mavis had been saved from being a victim of trafficking by the wise advice of her aunt and the grace of God, who had a different and better future in store for her.

Mavis and her family were Methodist. While working in Johannesburg her father learned of the Catholic faith and converted. On his return to Ixopho, the rest of the family followed and were all baptized Catholic. They belonged to a mission parish dedicated to Our Lady Help of Christians. It was a vocation poster on the door of the Church that caught her eye and inflamed a spark in her heart to become a Bride of Christ. Living in a country that was rife with apartheid gave little possibility of religious life, but Mavis had hope! Receiving both the encouragement of her father and the blessing of her parish priest, she took the leap of faith.

There was an established group of Sisters following the rule of St. Francis of Assisi and a newly started group called the Montebello Dominicans, so called because they happened to be located in a place called Montebello. It was started by a Dominican Sister who came from Germany. When Mavis arrived at the convent, she presumed it was run by Franciscans but found instead the Montebello Dominicans. She decided to stay anyway. She then began a vocation journey that was to see her as a Montebello Dominican for over thirty years. She was given the name Sr. Raymond.

The first years were especially hard not only for her but for the fledgling community. The Dominican motherhouse in Germany told the Sister in charge that she could give them formation but only to pretend that they could be accepted as religious sisters. They even had a habit different from other Dominican Sisters. The Sister in charge refused. She felt that they were called to be true religious Sisters. When the motherhouse stepped back from the project, the new group had to fend for themselves. They experienced poverty. They had no beds at first and had to sleep on newspaper mats laid on the floor. The local Bishop helped them as best he could. Later, help came from different sources and places. More and more vocations came. The convent grew and grew. They gained recognition as true religious. In the years that followed they received land and were able to establish a farm to supply both the needs of the convent and sell produce, and they started a hospital for the poor sick as well as a school.

During the next 38 years, whether it was with the sick sisters in the infirmary, working in the kitchen or the garden, or entertaining with her songs and stories, Sr. Skho was a ray of sunshine and a very treasured member of community. Her talents were many. She was given charge of the large garden and workers of the convent. She was made superior in one of the communities. She cooked at the convent and for priests. The Sisters in the infirmary at the Motherhouse appreciated her devoted and loving care even as she prayed with them and told them of the homily that the priest had given at Mass that day. They found her a very comforting presence, so much so that they asked to have her by their bedside when they were dying.

Through the years there had been another quiet call in her heart for the contemplative life. She spoke with the Superior and the Council about it. Neither they nor some of her close friends gave her encouragement. They did not want to lose her in their community. Instead, she was transferred back to the Motherhouse and sent to care for the sick Sisters as a way to distract her. However, it was through the support of the Bishop and her spiritual director that she found encouragement. Her director, a Redemptorist, suggested that she contact the Redemptoristine Nuns from Liguori, United States, who were starting a new foundation in South Africa.

That initial contact opened a new path for her. She was sent to Liguori for part of her formation. There she found an international novitiate in process, with companion novices from several other countries. Her prayer life deepened and was enriched by studies of Blessed Maria Celeste and St. Alphonsus.

Sr. Skho made solemn profession as a Redemptoristine Nun and returned to her native country. The people called the Sisters the Church Ladies, or the Sisters who always pray. Zulu being her first language, the local people felt free to speak to her of their needs and ask for her prayers. She was also fluent in English and several other African languages. She helped the founding Sisters gain insight into the culture and customs of the area. Her love for nature and creation prompted her to remark that feeling the earth under her bare feet was a bit of paradise! Whether it was chasing the monkeys from her garden or killing a poisonous snake with one great thrust of her spade, she could do it!

Sr. Skho lived the life of a Redemptoristine for 24 years. When the foundation was recalled to Liguori in 2010 because of health issues and a lack of vocations, she returned to Liguori saying that as the American Sisters had come to her country on mission, now it was her turn to go on mission in the States. COVID came and led to the closing of the Liguori monastery in 2023. It was then that the Lord’s providence escorted her back to South Africa, where Sister died very peacefully on January 13 under the extended care of the Redemptorists, for whom she prayed so much.