She was then granted another three-month scholarship on managing primary health care. When she returned, she established the health training programme for community workers, which benefits not only her own group of development practitioners but also those from other NGOs, as well as the Ministry of Social Affairs. In the cloister, she says, you are living in a community of sisters, committed to the same way of life, having similar goals and sharing the same preoccupations. An active nun, however, needs to be able to work with people very different in their vision, lifestyle and motives. A consecrated deaconess works in the world, argues Tasoni Yoanna, but more often than not her work is within or close to the church, and so only a segment of the community is dealt with.
People expect nuns to be submissive, meek, obedient and generally passive.
They end up, she confides, a little disappointed when they see that she is an assertive, proactive woman who has a great deal of decision-making power that she does not hesitate to use. You are not supposed to get upset or agitated or feel pressured. You are just supposed to take everything with a smile. But you are human, and sometimes people get disappointed when they see that.