An intervew on the missionary life of Sr. Adoración Bolivar, in our community in Logroño, Spain
The source of this article is the “Misioneros Tercer Milenio”, No. 266, June 2026, p. 57 written by Israel Íñiguez
Burkina Faso, Mali, Tunisia, Mauritania and Mexico. These have been the missionary destinations (outside Spain) of our protagonist, primarily in the field of education.
Her name is Adoración Bolívar Castro, the fifth of seven siblings, raised in Seville and blessed with an extraordinary wealth of experience. Speaking of her parents, Encarnación and Miguel, and of growing up in such a large family, our missionary says:
I thank God for them. I am who I am because of them, and I have carried Christian values as my guiding principles wherever I have lived.”
She studied to become a teacher and soon obtained a position in La Puebla del Río (Seville). “My former students still write to me and keep in touch,” something that fills Adoración with pride and nostalgia.
Her connection with the Christian faith came through her sister María del Carmen, who wanted to become a nun from a very young age. “There was no one else in the family with that vocation, except for a cousin of my father’s who was a Carmelite,” she recalls. “When my sister left Puebla del Río, it had a profound impact on my own desire and calling to become a missionary. I contacted the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa by letter. But everything happened very quickly, because when I was 21, my father gave me permission to leave Las Palmas, they were living there at the time, and go to Madrid so that I could begin my training with what were known as the White Sisters.”
This period of formation began in Logroño, after which she went to Toulouse to improve her French. She was also appointed to go to Pennsylvania to study English, but her visa never arrived, so she had to learn English in Madrid
instead.
The beginning of her “African tour”
Adoración’s first destination was Burkina Faso (then known as Upper Volta, when she arrived there in September 1968).
“I was travelling alone, and the first major shock was the climate, the heat. Your shoes would stick to the asphalt. As soon as I got off the plane, there was no one there to meet me. I went to the airport offices, where I met two Swiss girls who were going to work with the White Sisters on an educational project at the very school where I was going to work. So they accompanied me to the community. There they told me that they had never received the telegram announcing my arrival,” she says, laughing.
She continues: “After an initial period at the school, where I settled in immediately and enjoyed myself enormously, I was sent to Burkina’s administrative capital, to another community and another school. In this case, it was a French lycée, where I taught Administration and Secretarial Studies.”
As a curiosity, she adds: “Just before I left, the first computers arrived at the school. Imagine what a historic event that was!”
One project from this period is particularly worth mentioning. It began with the bishop of the diocese and focused on recovering the language of a particular region.
“We are talking about the town of N’dorola and the Senufo ethnic group. In order to obtain funding and present the project to UNESCO, we had to identify the entire community of speakers, at least two million people. As a result of colonization, this ethnic group had been divided among three countries: Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Mali.
“We eventually obtained approval and settled in a small, very traditional village inhabited exclusively by members of that ethnic group. After several visits, the village chief invited us to stay, and we began living alongside the people and working with them. In the end, we produced a kind of dictionary or language manual, which helped to revive the language,” she says proudly.
The next stop was Mali. In the capital, Bamako, she once again had the opportunity to teach, this time in two schools: one primary school and another secondary school, run in partnership with a congregation from Canada.
“For nine years I watched the girls graduate prepared to begin university,” she says.
Another very enriching experience in Mali was her involvement in the first evangelization efforts in Kolokani.
“I was at the central mission, and we had approximately 200 small villages to visit. People interested in the faith would come from these small communities to the central mission to be baptized. Learning the local language was extremely important, as were the translated catechisms, Gospels and Bible.”
During another period in Bamako, Adoración became involved in university ministry.
“They were older boys and girls; it was a delight to talk with them as adults. During this period, and thanks to the support of Manos Unidas, we managed to build a study room, something the young people lacked in order to be able to prepare for their studies.”
The Arab world
Her subsequent move from Mali to Tunisia brought a major discovery for our missionary: the Arab world.
“It was wonderful. I didn’t know much about its history and culture. Working once again in a school, it was a joy to encounter the Islamic world, with a culture of extraordinary richness. Wonderful bonds of fraternity were formed.”
The most striking anecdote from this period was related to her name.
“I couldn’t introduce myself to the boys and their families using my name, because Adoración is a term that can only be used in reference to God. They asked me to change it, and eventually called me Dori: Sister Dori, Sor Dori,” she explains.
Since many scholarship students from other countries (Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon…) came to Tunisia, she and a priest from Benin organized university ministry.
“They asked us whether Muslims could come, and we said yes. There were weekends when we brought together 350 – 400 people. We went to where Mother Teresa’s sisters were based; they allowed us to use some of their facilities, and that is where we carried out our work. It was a very fluid Christian-Muslim dialogue.”
Mauritania
Dori’s final period in Africa was in Mauritania. By then she was older and retired, which meant that she did not have a specific job and was able to work in several different areas.
In the field of education, she gave training courses in teaching methods for teachers. At a women’s development centre, she also worked “with the daughters of families living in the poorer outskirts of the city. In those same neighbourhoods, together with residents’ associations, we tried to identify the problems they faced and how to solve them. We eventually created an NGO to help them.”
A move to Mexico
And just when it seemed that she would spend the rest of her life on the African continent, an opportunity to go to Mexico arose.
“I was assigned to a community in the Federal District because the sister who had originally been appointed was unable to go. I loved the experience, but even so, I still saw myself in Africa. While I was there, in Mexico City, I was responsible for preparing the Domund [World Mission Sunday] campaign. Although I was there only a short time, I have very fond memories of it.”
Mexico was her final posting outside Spain. Logroño came next.
“I began working with the Umoya Group, an organization dedicated to making people aware of the richness of the African continent, denouncing the injustices committed there, and promoting solidarity with and affection for Africa. I took part in many events and exhibitions, and we organized Film Week…
“We also have the Rioja Acoge programme, in which groups of young people come to learn our language. I became involved by teaching Spanish to a group made up of Pakistanis and Moroccans.
“And another important area was our involvement with issues surrounding the Immigration Law, including cases involving seasonal workers who come to La Rioja for the grape harvest.”
Dori now lives in a residential home in Málaga. She still finds time for her “little things,” as she calls them.
“I am involved with the Immigration Committee, the Missions Department and the refugee centre. I thank God for allowing me to continue living out my missionary vocation.”
And we are grateful too, for having such a devoted person committed to the causes of others.
Link to download the article in Spanish Misión Viva (Adoración Bolívar)
