Bakhita chooses a new beginning

Bakhita was born in Sudan. When she was a child, people took away her freedom and treated her cruelly. That was wrong. Later, in Italy, she became free and chose to stay with the Canossian sisters.

She was baptized and later became a sister herself. Her life included cooking, sewing and welcoming visitors. People came to know her warmth and faith. She was a person with choices, abilities and hopes of her own.

Every person has dignity: a worth that does not depend on money, appearance or how useful someone seems. Nobody deserves to be treated as an object. We can practice respect by learning a person’s name, listening carefully and including them.

If someone hurts or frightens you, tell a trusted grown-up who can help you be safe. Forgiveness never means that you must accept being hurt. Bakhita’s story can remind us to care about both kindness and freedom.

Background: Holy See, canonization biography of Josephine Bakhita. Original retelling and activity; no invented dialogue.

For a grown-up: read the full biography.

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