Life lessons across the world - from mother to daughter

As Mother's Day approaches, Nuria, mother to Rionah and Rishona, and National Lead of The Salvation Army’s Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) Engagement team, reflects on some of the lessons that shaped her life.

Many of those lessons were first learned as a daughter — watching her own mother respond to very real challenges with courage and faith.

As the oldest of three children growing up in a safe and quiet Catholic village outside Mumbai, in many ways Nuria’s childhood was idyllic.

“I was born in this beautiful town called Vasai,” she says. “We had 26 parishes and I grew up in a parish called Gokhivare. I can still picture waking up to the sound of church bells echoing through the streets of our village. The air was always filled with a sense of tranquillity.”

The village was small — around 200 families.

“This town was just a tight-knit community where I grew up. Everyone knew each other. Our lives intertwined with the church calendar. Family was not just biological — the congregation was like a larger family bound by faith.”

Faith challenged

One night, when Nuria was just eight years old, that sense of safety was shaken.

Her father, who worked for Air India, had recently returned from travelling to Singapore. It was monsoon season and the electricity had been cut.

“Mum and Dad immediately woke up, and they knew something was not right. Mum closed the bedroom door and picked us up from sleep, [hid] us under the bed.”

Nuria pressed her hands over the mouths of her younger siblings as a gang of robbers entered the house and began beating her father with wooden sticks in the same room. Her aunt was attacked elsewhere in the house.

“We had three doors to our house, so Mum ran to the back door. It was very terrifying. If I think of it, I get pins and needles all over — even now,” Nuria says.

“But Mum was very strong and she had a strong faith.”

Supernatural help

“At that moment Mum was just saying constantly, ‘Christ help me, guide me.’ In the midst of the chaos, she went to the back door and said something incredible happened to her. She jumped into the fields to go to the neighbours to seek help, and it felt like there was a divine presence.

“She rushed to the neighbours for help, and she was crying in the loudest voice ever. Some of the robbers saw her and followed her.”

A neighbour ran to the church and began ringing the church bell in the middle of the night, waking the community who came to help.

Her father needed more than 20 stitches. Her aunt was injured. Her grandfather, who had been locked in another room, died two days later from the shock.

“It was really the most terrifying experience for our family,” Nuria says. “But it was also a turning point for our family. It deepened our connection to our faith in ways we hadn’t imagined, built resilience and showed the importance of forgiveness.”

Nuria says her mother and father taught her that ‘no matter what challenges come our way, through our faith, we can overcome’.

Believing in God’s goodness

After completing her Bachelor of Education and teaching for a year, Nuria entered an arranged marriage with Rodney, an engineer from Mumbai who had been offered work in Australia.

That lesson — and many others from her parents — stayed with her when she moved to Australia as a young bride in her 20s.

“Within a month of getting married, I was here,” she says. “It was total culture shock. I was no different to any other community member who comes to a new country. No family. No relatives. Everything new.”

Even language felt unfamiliar.

“People would say ‘no worries’ and I would think — I’m not worried. Colleagues would crack jokes and I would laugh but have no understanding.”

Though naturally outgoing, she experienced loneliness.

So she did what she had always done.

“Every morning, I would walk to St Anthony’s Church near where we lived and attend Mass. Most of the time there were women who were retired and attending church, and I made friends with them,” Nuria shares.

“There was this lovely woman from Sri Lanka, some were Italian, there was a Vietnamese woman. They were very loving.”

Motherhood joy

Rionah was born in 2007 and Rishona in 2011.

Nuria speaks of her ‘beautiful daughters’ and the experience of motherhood as ‘beautiful and life-changing’.

Nuria’s parents and parents-in-law regularly travelled to Australia to support the family as the girls were growing up, which Nuria says she deeply appreciates.

“I’m just so grateful for all they have done.”

When asked what she hopes to pass on to her daughters, Nuria is clear.

“I want Rionah and Rishona to carry the courage and resilience my mother showed me, to trust God even in the most uncertain times. I also hope they cherish our Indian roots — the culture, the language, the festivals, the food, the sense of community — while embracing the opportunities of life here in Australia.

“These are gold nuggets that shape identity, faith and a sense of belonging.”

A Salvation Army career and a calling

Although trained as a teacher specialising in mathematics, Nuria eventually began working with The Salvation Army, later moving into her current national CaLD leadership role.

Today, as National Lead for CaLD Engagement, Nuria supports Salvos corps (churches) and teams across Australia to engage meaningfully with culturally and linguistically diverse communities — work that has become more a calling than simply a job.

But while her leadership spans the country, the lessons that shaped her life are also still lived out at home.

The everyday blessings of being a mum

“For me, motherhood is made up of both the extraordinary and the everyday moments,” Nuria says. “Sometimes the smallest things — making their favourite food, hearing them laugh together, teaching them a simple recipe or doing chores as a family — are the ones that matter most.”

When guiding her daughters, Nuria often draws on her own experiences and treasures moments that weave faith naturally into family life.

“I treasure moments of prayer together as a family and gardening with the children, weaving faith, curiosity and joy into daily life,” Nuria says. “Through it all, I want them to see that fear does not have to define us, and that love, kindness and compassion should guide every action.”

Reflecting on her own upbringing, Nuria says the example set by her mother continues to shape the way she lives and parents today.

“My mum was very hardworking and disciplined. Even today she goes to church every single morning and is up at 5am,” she says. “She was consistent, always guided us to the Lord and carried herself with a positive smile, even in difficult times.

“In so many moments, when I am unsure of what to do, I find myself asking, ‘What would my mother do in this situation?’”

The advice that her mother once gave her from the book of Joshua in the Bible is now the same advice Nuria shares with her daughters — “be strong and courageous… for the Lord your God is with you.”

To hear Nuria tell her more of her story, visit:
https://my.salvos.org.au/rich-tapestry/episode-1-nuria-gonsalves/