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| Excerpts from Bakhita's story are taken from manuscripts told by Bakhita herself to her Sisters in Venice between 1910 and 1929. |
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Two years of peace and comfort followed. Only one thing was missing to complete her happiness - the light of Faith. Bakhita unconsciously hungered for the knowledge of God. Sometimes she asked herself, "Who is the master of the beautiful stars, who lights them in the night, and puts them out in the morning? Who makes the sun shine and send warmth and light? Oh! how I wish I could know him!" At this time Khartoum was threatened by revolutionaries who were on their way to taking over the city. Signor Legnani decided to return to Italy. He thought of leaving Bakhita behind in the care of the governess. But she begged him so earnestly that the kind-hearted man found it impossible to refuse. Taking the girl with him, he set sail for Genoa. On the ship's bridge I looked at the African coast which was getting further and further away, and I felt in my heart that I would never again see my own country: goodbye parents, friends, forests, plains, deserts!... I felt a great yearning for the life I could have lived and which was stolen from me. Then I turned my face towards the open sea. My heart was beating fast and I thought, "Now my new life is beginning! I know it, I can feel it!" At Genoa, they were welcomed by Maria Turina, wife of Signor Michieli, who was a friend of the Consul. She took a fancy to Bakhita at first sight. So much did she insist that the Consul was prevailed upon to hand his charge to the care and keeping of his lady. Bakhita was heart-broken to be parted from one who had been like a father to her, treating her as one of his own. It hurt me to leave the Consul who had been so good to me. Yet again I'm changing hands. Will I never be free to decide my own life? |