PHOTO BY JULIANNA LEOPOLD

ATHENS—By early afternoon, scores of neighbors filled the concrete courtyard between the classroom trailers. This outside gathering area would become a sanctuary as the community gathered for Mass.  

It was the feast day of St. Raphaela, the founder of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A small shrine adorned with colorful bouquets stood near the altar. A four-member choir, backed with two guitars, led the faithful in Spanish hymns.  

The celebrant, Father Fabricio Robalino, found shade underneath a red and black golf umbrella while the congregation moved their plastic seats to stay out of the warm spring sun. Earlier, Sister Uyen-Chi Dang, a member of the Handmaids, handed out cold bottled water.  

During Communion, two religious sisters who had made their home in this modest trailer park received the line of believers as they carefully placed the Eucharist on tongues and outstretched hands.     

Later, those same women would again serve these faithful with hugs as they said their goodbyes. Sister Margarita Martin and Sister Uyen-Chi had only two weeks before they moved on to new ministries in Pennsylvania, drawing a close to their congregation’s two decades of ministry at Oasis Católica Santa Rafaela here.  

In the hours that followed, a woman, her hair short from treatment of breast cancer, shared how Sister Margarita accompanied her to the doctor’s office to translate complex treatment options into Spanish. For a University of Georgia graduate, the Oasis Católica tutoring experience, which links college students to the trailer park, broke her out of the university bubble. Another young woman, who grew up in the trailer park, said the sisters’ steady kindness aided many people who came to them in their time of need.   

“They have been the heart of this neighborhood itself,” said Esveydi Alvear, 25, who attended Oasis Católica as a grade schooler and returned to serve as a tutor. “They have healed many hearts.” 

Nearby, the guests could slip handwritten notes of appreciation into a box, wrapped in colorful butterfly-decorated paper. At the food table, lines formed as neighbors handed out plates heavy with tacos covered in onions and cilantro. Now, it was their turn to serve the sisters.   

As she prepared to pack, Sister Uyen-Chi said she accepted the decision to withdraw from the Georgia ministry after first shedding tears. The years at Oasis Católica have been a “beautiful gift and everything about it,” and now it’s time to trust that God allows another group “to take care of the vineyard,” she said.

A statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe is adorned with roses in the mobile home convent of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Athens. Below is a statue of baby Jesus, clothed in turquoise with a sheep in hand. Photo by Julianna Leopold

A ministry among mobile homes 

The road into the Pine Wood Estates mobile home park is rough gravel with trees casting shadows over the trailers. Among the 200 mobile homes on the edge of Athens, sits the convent—a doublewide trailer that, but for the large image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, looks like the others.   

The sisters came in 2002, trading the Atlanta suburbs for this working-class community. At the time, Georgia had one of the fastest rates of growth of Hispanics in the country. Around the Athens area, Latinos went from marginal numbers to nearly 12,000 people, making up 11 percent of the community in 2010, according to government statistics. The religious sisters were invited to be of help to the newcomers. 

“Pitching the tent among God’s people” is how co-founder Sister Margarita put it. 

They named the mission for their founder saint, who encouraged her sisters to be generous to those struggling. 

Now, it’s home to the two sisters. In addition, Oasis Católica serves as a religious center and cultural hub. On its front hangs the large image of Our Lady, the patroness of the Americas and a revered image for Mexicans. Tucked in closets and cabinets are diapers and canned food for anyone who asks.   

A side porch where people once sat to be in the open air has become a chapel. The sisters sit here daily in quiet contemplation in front of the boat-shaped tabernacle holding the Eucharist. Neighbors are invited to the chapel at all hours to pray.  

The convent became a literal shelter during the storms that swept through the park. 

Sister Margarita recalled one night when the trailer shook as a storm blew through. The wind seemed able to lift it and wrap it around a tree. With a late-night knock at the door, a couple with their children asked if they could come inside afraid their nearby trailer wouldn’t hold. 

The sisters welcomed them. But Sister Margarita reminded them that their trailer was not any safer than their own. 

However, the father said simply: “Pero Diosito está aquí.” “Dear God is here.” 

“They keep telling us we’re family,” Sister Margarita said. “That we’ve been family to them.” 

Sister Margarita Martin, left, and Sister Uyen-Chi Dang stand before an image of St. Raphaela, the founder of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, at their porch chapel. Neighbors in the mobile home park near Athens can come to pray there anytime, night and day. Photo by Julianna Leopold

The work here has been focused on “broken hearts of our brothers and sisters,” said Sister Margarita, from consoling families with immigration issues and women seeking shelter from domestic violence to children at school unable to reach their parents. 

Sister Uyen-Chi said the work has always been grounded in their neighbors’ lives. Brushing aside talk of a legacy, her work and the efforts of sisters before her has been to create “a place where (Hispanic people) feel that they belong, a place that they can gather, a place that they celebrate who they are, a place where kids can grow to their full potential.” 

The Madrecitas 

The families call her “madrecita,” a term of affection from young and old. Sister Uyen-Chi, 52, fled to the United States as a child from Vietnam in 1981. The family settled in California. She studied bioengineering in college before teaching high school math. Around the same time, she attended retreats introducing her to the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, which emphasizes “finding God in all things.” Her goals started to shift. She searched for a religious order that shared his values and discovered the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart, which married Ignatian spirituality with eucharistic devotion. 

She moved into the three-bedroom trailer in 2018. Life here has been “a gift of privilege,” Sister Uyen-Chi said one afternoon, sitting under the awning at Oasis Católica, where about 100 college students a semester are volunteer tutors to 60 neighborhood kids four days a week. She is the Oasis director while working at the UGA Catholic Center, acting as a bridge between the two communities. 

Living here opened her heart beyond barriers of culture and language. At the farewell Mass, she stood before the congregation and, her voice breaking with emotion, shared what they had meant to her. The founder of her order, she said, wanted sisters to “have a heart that’s very universal, like the church. The heart that embraces all nationalities.” The people they served allowed her to do that.  

“Here, among you, I live with a very open heart because you received us with much love and much heart. We could not have done anything really without your help,” she told community members. 

Sister Margarita is sorting through the piles of paperwork and many photo albums filled over the years. It was she who, years ago, convinced a benefactor to contribute $15,000 to buy the trailer that would become the convent. 

“My mission is accomplished here. I know that they will be praying for me … as I am praying for them,” she said. “And you see, as religious, we are not to be in a place the whole time.”  

Sister Margarita Martin, a member of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, blesses a youngster during Communion at the farewell Mass for the sisters on May 18. After two decades of living in a trailer park outside Athens, where they organized a tutoring program for neighborhood kids, the Handmaids were returning to be closer to their community members in Pennsylvania. Photo by Andrew Nelson

The 84-year-old sister, a native of Spain, persuaded her fellow sisters to open the ministry as a one-year pilot project of immersion and encounter. But it wasn’t her idea alone. Sister Margarita credited a local Hispanic teen, outspoken and advocating for her community, with offering her a challenge to rethink what service means. Why the need to travel to Latin America to serve in a mission when Mexican families and immigrants around Athens desire to feel welcome, seen and loved? 

More than two decades later, those words continue to motivate her. 

An active faith inspires 

The sisters’ faith did not draw attention to itself. It was steady and grounded. Those who crossed paths with them felt inspired, not by words, but through love and care.  

Alvear grew up with them, first as a neighborhood youngster and now as someone who is inspired by them to give back.  

“I have seen the sisters being of service. I have seen the sisters running left to right, up and down in order to be able to serve the community,” she said. 

Alvear said the devotion of the sisters has inspired her to lean into her own faith, attending Mass when many of her peers have stopped. Witnessing this dedication makes her want to volunteer more and offer time to those who need it, she said.

Our Lady of Guadalupe adorns the outside of the Athens convent of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Photo by Julianna Leopold

Deacon Jim Gaudin, 89, has known Sister Margarita from the very start when the center was only an idea. He helped her scout out locations to establish a center. 

“They’re such a clear example of putting faith into practice, about loving one another,” said Deacon Gaudin, who retired from active ministry in 2019. Their faith was concrete, providing for religious and material needs. Their mission was one of collaboration. For years, they have partnered with a university professor to distribute thousands of eggs to families in the park and beyond. Another time, the sisters convinced the local bus company to extend the route so women at the park could use it to get to work. “Sister Margarita was a real advocate for them,” he said.  

Emma Langford, 21, worked alongside the sisters, first as a tutor and then as an administrative assistant while studying Spanish and communications at UGA.  

Though she attends an Anglican church, she found herself shaped by their Catholic witness. The difference in faith traditions did not matter as she witnessed in small, quiet ways how Sister Margarita upheld the dignity of others. When tutoring supplies were torn or dirty, the sister spent hours cleaning them and repairing torn books to ensure the students had whole, good supplies for studies.  

“They really just changed my perspective,” said Langford, “on you can’t just go to church and read the Bible and then be like, ‘I’m a Christian.’ I think it’s so important you adhere to those biblical ideals of helping people who need help and not belittling people, giving everybody dignity, even people who maybe don’t have the same beliefs as you.”  

She added, “They always put others above themselves, and I think that speaks (more) than just trying to force people to believe what you believe.” 

The mission evolves 

On June 1, the sisters’ rented minivan will head north to Pennsylvania, leaving behind everything except their own items. After some two decades, they will move out of the trailer and leave it to others.  

In 2026, the Handmaids will celebrate 100 years of service in the United States. Today, two dozen sisters continue the mission. They lead retreats, educate grade schoolers, attend graduate studies and work with neighbors in cities like St. Louis. Sister Margarita and Sister Uyen-Chi will take up new assignments, at a school and at a retreat center, respectively, close to the motherhouse in the suburbs of Philadelphia.  

Organizing the college tutors at Oasis Católica is taking shape for the fall semester. The trailer will become home to a group of refugee women from Central America. The mission continues in a new way.