In the second of her meditations, Theodora Hawksley, a novice living with a religious community in a village in Guyana, learns the importance of simplicity 

This week we headed into the mountains to visit a small village, Tipuru, which sees a priest perhaps only three or four times a year. We made the journey by truck, sitting comfortably on top of sacks of rice. We put up our hammocks in an empty house and gave a few days’ catechesis for local lay leaders and parishioners.

Life becomes simpler as you head into the mountains. Houses of brick and cement are largely left behind, and homes are made of mud brick and wood. People farm for their food and, on Sunday morning, men passed our house in twos and threes carrying woven ­back-baskets and bows and arrows, heading off into the bush to hunt. There is only a little solar electricity, but enough for us to rig up a television to a battery and show a Jesus film one evening.