26/08/2026
A beautiful tribute to our beloved Sr. Amelia 🙏❤️
Assumption Sister’s legacy lives on through generations of service
By Ragel Maritz
As South Africa commemorates Women's Day this weekend, an Assumption Sister's story reflects not only her own dedication to serving others but also the enduring legacy of the Assumption Sisters, who have been part of Makhanda's history since 1849.
The life of Sister Amelia Murphy, whose compassion and commitment touched countless lives in Makhanda, is being remembered as part of a remarkable tradition of women who have served the city for more than 175 years.
Maso Nduma, Programme Coordinator at the Assumption Development Centre in Joza, confirmed that Sister Amelia Murphy died on Saturday, 1 August. Her funeral was held on Wednesday, 5 August in Gqeberha.
Murphy arrived in Makhanda in 2011. Her principal ministry was at the Assumption Nutrition Centre in Joza, where children from vulnerable families receive breakfast before school, lunch afterwards, academic support in English and mathematics, and opportunities to participate in recreational and developmental activities. Parents are also supported through programmes designed to strengthen the families.
Sister Mary McAteer said Murphy also served for several years as community leader for the convent, helping to coordinate community life and support fellow sisters. Between 2016 and 2025, when the Grahamstown convent served as the novitiate for the Assumption Sisters, she assisted in the formation of young women preparing for religious life through classes in scripture, prayer and community living. "Certainly she was [a] centre of unity in the community," McAteer said.
In the days following her death, said McAteer, messages from people whose lives Sister Amelia had touched shared a common theme.
"I can't believe the number of people who have written to say how much she touched them. Again and again they talk about her compassion and her listening and her presence," she said. "A quiet presence. She could be there while others were busy discussing or sharing, and then she would come in with something very profound at the end."
McAteer recalled that many people had written about the comfort Sister Amelia brought during times of grief and hardship. "She had great compassion and great understanding," she said. Murphy's humility was reflected in the Scripture passage she chose as her personal motto: "He must increase, and I must decrease," from John 3:30.
"I think she would like people to remember her just as somebody who cared, as somebody who tried to make a difference, somebody who had a kind word," McAteer said.
"Many people have talked about how kind she was." She added that many children who attended the Assumption Nutrition Centre, now adults themselves, still speak about Murphy's lasting impact. "They'll come and say that they'll never forget Amelia's kindness."
McAteer believes Murphy's work reflected the same mission that inspired the congregation's founders nearly two centuries ago. "When Mother Gertrude (Josephine Amelia de Henningsen) and our founding sisters came out originally, what they saw was just so many needs," she said. "We would see our charism really as responding to the needs of the times."
She said the first Assumption Sisters arrived in 1848, just before the Eighth Frontier War (1850–1853). "There were orphans of all races, and [Mother Gertrude] took in the orphans and they slept in the convent. At night, when they were very afraid, they would take them down to the church. There's a cellar there under St Patrick's Church, and the sisters would sleep with them there because they felt they were protected there."
She said that spirit of responding to the needs of the community has remained central to the congregation's work ever since. One example is the building that now houses the Assumption Development Centre in Joza. It originally served as a clinic during apartheid, when healthcare services in the township were limited.
"Thank God after Mandela got out of prison, and there were new clinics opened, there wasn't really a need for it as a clinic anymore," McAteer said. Rather than deciding themselves what the building should become, the sisters consulted the community.
"We thought, 'What is it needed for? Let's ask the people what they would want." According to McAteer, more than a thousand responses were received. "The overwhelming majority of the responses, over a thousand responses, [was] something to help the young people."
Murphy played a key role in establishing the Assumption Development Centre, which now provides programmes for unemployed and out-of-school youth. These include life-skills development, savings groups, personal development initiatives and other opportunities designed to help young people gain confidence, strengthen relationships and build brighter futures. " McAteer said. "Her life and work reflect and continue the legacy of the first sisters, which was to come and serve those most needy."
Looking ahead, she believes Murphy's influence will continue to inspire both the congregation and the wider community. "Her sense of mission and going out to serve, and taking the risk of beginning something new, that will continue among our other sisters and among those who haven't yet joined us."
McAteer's said people would remember Sister Amelia as "somebody who cared, somebody who tried to make a difference and somebody who had a kind word".
As Makhanda marks Women's Day, Sister Amelia's story stands alongside that of the women who came before her, women who crossed continents in the 19th Century to serve a growing settlement, sheltered orphaned children during war, established schools and clinics, and, generation after generation, responded to the changing needs of the community with quiet compassion and unwavering faith.
The Makhanda Assumption Community alongside the Buckingham Assumption Community on Feast Day. Photo: Supplied by Sister Francisca Chinenye.
