A peaceful year passed. Then Signora Michieli, Mimmina, and Bakhita traveled back to the seaport of Suakin in Sudan, where Signor Michieli was running a large, successful hotel. The family had been there nine months when Signor Michieli made the decision to close his business in Italy and concentrate exclusively on the one in Suakin. While Signor Michieli remained in Africa managing his busy hotel, Signora Michieli would return to Italy with Mimmina and Bakhita to take care of their affairs there.
As the ship set sail, Bakhita gazed at the African shoreline. Years later she wrote: “This was to be my last farewell to Africa, my native land. Something in my heart told me that I would never again set foot on its soil.”
Horizons were opening to the young woman. She still had a long way to travel along the road of life, but she was moving ahead steadily. She didn’t know where the path would take her, where the journey might end... Did some instinct tell her that the ending would be a happy one?
Standing by the rail, little Mimmina clutched Bakhita’s hand and smiled up at her. Bakhita smiled back. Together they watched the shoreline until it grew dim.
Back at the Michieli villa in Italy, the days and months flew by. One day Signora Michieli made an announcement.
“It’s time for me to return to Suakin,” she said, “and I’ll be gone for at least nine months.” Bakhita had known this moment would come, but she wondered what else the plans involved. What would become of her?
“I’ve decided to enroll you both, Mimmina and Bakhita, in a boarding school in Venice where you will receive a good education,” Signora Michieli explained. Bakhita was relieved and happy. She would be able to remain in Italy!
Signora Michieli wanted the girls to live at the Institute of the Daughters of Charity of Canossa, known as the Canossian Sisters. Their school accepted students who wanted to learn the Catholic faith and prepare for the sacrament of Baptism. This would be a wonderful opportunity for Bakhita, but what of Mimmina? She didn’t need to prepare for Baptism, since she had already received the sacrament as an infant.
Signora Michieli, however, insisted that Mimmina and Bakhita must not be separated. Discussions between the Signora and the sisters continued for a month. During one of their visits, Sister Maria Fabretti, the sister in charge of religious instruction, asked to speak to Bakhita alone. “Is it your intention to become a Christian? Do you come of your own free will?”
“Oh, yes!” Bakhita replied fervently. “With all my heart!”
The sister smiled. “Don’t worry, then, Bakhita,” she said gently. “God will find a way.”
God did find a way. Impressed with the young African, Signor Illuminato Checchini, the Michielis’ business manager, guaranteed that if the sisters would accept both girls, he himself would pay Bakhita’s school fees, in case the Michielis ever failed to do so. Finally the sisters agreed to make an exception and allow both Mimmina and Bakhita to attend the school. Signora Michieli could now travel back to Sudan content in the knowledge that her daughter and Bakhita would be in safe and loving hands during the months she would be away.
The time had come for Signora Michieli to say goodbye. “This is your new home, Bakhita,” she said with a smile. The young African smiled back. Those words would come to mean far more than Signora Michieli ever imagined.