The new General Council:
Sr Angela Nemilaki Kapitingana, Tanzania (Superior General)
Sr Jeanne d’Arc Ouattara, Burkin Faso (Assistant General)
Sr Leticia Garduño, Mexico(Assistant General)
Sr Małgorzata (Gosia) Popławka, Poland(Assistant General)
Sr. Angela Kapitingana, new MSOLA Superior GeneralSr. Angela Nemilaki Kapitingana (Superior General)
Sr. Angela Kapitingana, was elected Congregational Leader on 12 May 2023 during the 26th General Chapter. She is the 12th Congregational Leader, succeeding the first Congregational Leader, Mother Marie Salome.
Sr. Angela is Tanzanian and has served as a missionary in seven different African countries. She has extensive experience in formation, having served at various levels, including postulancy, novitiate, and the accompaniment of temporarily professed sisters.
At the time of her election, she was a member of the Entity Leadership Team of East and Central Africa.
The Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa are currently present in 26 countries across Europe, North America, and Africa.
Sr. Jeanne d’Arc Ouattara (Assistant General)
I am Ouattara, Jeanne d’Arc, originally from Burkina Faso. I was born in Ivory Coast, where I lived my childhood before going to Burkina Faso where I continued my education. I met the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa in the youth chaplaincy in Bobo-Dioulasso. After nursing studies, my first community experience was in Dori in the north of Burkina Faso. After working two years away from the congregation I returned to the postulate in Ouagadougou. After 2 years of apostolic formation in Kigali I did the novitiate 2000-2001. After my first vows I was appointed for further nursing studies to the community of Butare in Rwanda. Then I was sent to Gitega in Burundi, where I spent five years in the dispensary. I was sent to study at the Centre Sèvres in Paris (France). In 2012 I joined the team of formators at the novitiate in Bobo-Dioulasso. Since the end of 2018 I am in the team of leaders of NOUA until now.
Sr. Leticia Garduño Mejía (Assistant General)
My name is Leticia Garduño, Mexican, born in 1971. I am the 4th of 11 children. My parents brought us up in the Catholic faith. When I was about 10 years old, I was touched by the famine in Somalia and I had the desire to become sister or doctor to help the people. At 18, I discovered God’s love for me and for humanity and I had a strong thirst for Him. I came to know the MSOLA while at university and after a vocation-discernment I stopped my studies to join the sisters. I did my first MSOLA formation in the community of Morelia in Mexico and I went to Canada and to Belgium to learn French. I was sent to Kolokani, Mali for an apostolic experience before the novitiate I did in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. In 1999, I resumed my studies in Morelia and in 2004 I did the Juniorate in Rome. After my perpetual vows, I was sent to the DRC and in 2008 I returned to Mexico to a new community from where I went to Canada to learn English. In 2016, after my tertianship in Rome I went to Burkina Faso to work at the International Postulate.
Sr. Małgorzata (Gosia) Popławska (Assistant General)
My name is Małgorzata (Gosia) Popławska. I was born and raised in Poland in a Catholic family. I discovered my vocation through African art. I was fascinated by Africa and the missions, and I discovered that God was present here and that He expected something more from me. I began my formation in Poland in 2001 and I went to Uganda for the postulate in 2004. The next stages of my formation were in Tanzania and Kenya. In March 2009, after my first vows in the MSOLA congregation I was sent to Oran in Algeria, where I worked with children and young people and I build many relationships with Algerians and people from other nationalities.
In 2014, I went to the juniorate in Rome from where I was sent to Lublin (Poland) for studies and mission-vocation-animation. I made my final vows in 2017.
