ATLANTA--Despite civil strife in Zaire, Atlanta native Sister Margaret Goode, a sister of Notre Dame de Namur teaching there, has reassured her family of her safety.

Sister Goode teaches at a girls preparatory school in Pelende staffed by native and missionary members of her order. Pelende is in Bandundu Province about 350 kilometers southwest of Kinshasha, the capital of Zaire.

Her brother Joe Goode, a parishioner at St. Jude in Sandy Springs, said he and his brothers talked to Sister Goode in a conference call while she was on retreat in the capital at Easter.

"She indicated she was OK and we were not to worry about her," he said.

Rebel forces are seeking to oust Mobutu Sese Seko, president since 1965. Most of the fighting appears to be in the eastern part of the country near Rwanda, and what is most threatening is the general state of anarchy that exists, Goode said.

His sister is able to get messages to her family via E-mail and has indicated that she expects to come home in mid-July.

A native of Atlanta who grew up in Christ the King Parish, Sister Goode taught at St. Pius X High School from 1970 until 1978.

She has been at the mission parish since 1978. The mission includes a farm from which the boarding school gets most of its food and a dispensary.