WHAT STARTED AS A HOBBY HAS TURNED INTO A FULLY- FLEDGED MISSION FOR MARIANNHILL CONVENT’S SISTER AMANDA, WHOSE CANDLES GRACE ALTERS AND HOMES AROUND THE COUNTRY, WRITES DEBBIE REYNOLDS
Born in Austria’s Tyrol region before training as a nurse in Germany, 25-year-old Sister Amanda came to South Africa to work at a mission hospital in the Eastern Cape. “I started out as young nurse at the Sacred Heart Hospital in Paderborn in western Germany, and even then I was fascinated by chemistry and loved working in the laboratory,” she remembers. “When I came to South Africa and joined the Mary Theresa Hospital in Mount Frere, I was quite shocked to find it didn’t have its own laboratory and all our samples had to be sent to East London.” Later, when the hospital built a TB unit, Sister Amanda was delighted when the doctors insisted the samples were dealt with on site. “I volunteered to help set up the little rustic laboratory and with the doctors’ encouragement I decided to get my qualifications,” she says. “I first had to finish my matric by correspondence course, do some training in Cape Town and then I moved to Addington Hospital in Durban where, after three tough years, I got my diploma in clinical pathology.”
She then moved to St Mary’s Hospital in Mariannhill where she was immediately put in charge of its laboratory. “I worked there for an incredible 27 years until I had to retire in 2009,” she says. “I think having a nursing background really helped my understanding of haematology – I still miss it so much.”
She was lucky then to have another interest to keep her occupied. “The candle making started back when I was still at Mount Frere,” she explains. “At that time the Mariannhill Monastery supplied Easter candles to all the Catholic churches in the country.
“The one year we got a lousy batch and the sister in charge, Sister Adelfrida, declared she was going to make her own. Then with a smile and a twinkle in her eye she said she would also show me how to do it.” The trick, says Sister Amanda, was that they had stored plenty of old candles which could be recycled.
To this day, she mainly uses recycled wax to make her candles, explaining that it is as simple as putting the wax in a big pot, adding water and boiling it slowly. “Then you allow it to cool overnight, so all the wax is on top and the dirt goes to the bottom. You cut it like a cake, and you have your wax, which is much cheaper than paying R805 per 25kg for new wax.”
Keen to practice this new craft, Sister Amanda began making candles in the lab “outside working times” until she was given her own little room from which to work. When she moved to Mariannhill, she continued her candle-making hobby “on the side”.
“The brothers at the monastery were known across the country for their candles, but when they died the skills went with them,” she says. “My hope is that I can teach this skill to as many people as possible so in time they can pass it on as well.”
She insists she doesn’t make candles “officially”, but rather puts her hobby to good use. “I am blessed to be able to do something I love which keeps me very busy,” says Sister Amanda, proudly showing me the selection of candles she offers.
Working all on her own from a work room at the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood Convent in Mariannhill, she produces candles for churches of all denominations across the country, and even as far afield as Mozambique, as well as for the public.
“I do everything from huge Easter candles to candles for special celebrations, like christenings or golden anniversaries and I use as much recycled materials as possible,” she says.
“I love making candles – for me they are a lovely symbol of life, giving warmth, light and beauty. I’ll keep making them until I can’t anymore.”