Kenya: New Video about Irish Missionary, Sr Dr Miriam Duggan FMSA

Sr Dr Miriam Duggan with President Michael D Higgins

A new video about the life of Irish missionary and doctor, Sr Miriam Duggan - a member of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa - has just been released on YouTube.

Whilst the story is about Sr Miriam's life, she enthusiastically uses it to further the cause for canonisation of Wicklow-born, Mother Kevin, foundress of her congregation in Dundalk and also the Little Sisters of St Francis in Africa. Mother Kevin was declared Servant of God by Pope Francis in 2016. Sr Miriam has been inspired by Mother Kevin and has followed in her footsteps.

Sr Miriam is a native of Limerick, and is now aged 82 but continuing to minister in Kenya. She graduated from UCC with a degree in medicine in 1964. She studied obstetrics in Birmingham and was admitted to Fellowship of Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 1982. In 1969 she was one of the first qualified obstetricians in Uganda where she headed the maternity unit of Nsambia Hospital in Kampala for 30 years.

In this 26 minute interview - https://youtu.be/15011lJzRoA - she discusses her experiences, including:

Addressing the Ugandan parliament on abortion.

The behavioural change and character formation programme for HIV which reduced transmission of the virus from 25% to 6% in Uganda
The role of Mother Kevin (Sr Teresa Kearney from Wicklow) in the development of health care in Uganda

Conscientious objection for pro-life medical students and health care personnel

UK abortion when working in Birmingham

Her early medical training and specialisation in obstetrics.

It is ironic that two days after this video was launched, the Irish government announced that its new policy on overseas aid will include the promotion and funding of abortion in African countries. There is no evidence that African countries sought this, and it is likely that it will damage the reputation of Irish aid amongst the 34% of Irish voters who voted against abortion in Ireland. Many people in Africa will see it as an attempt at ideological and cultural colonisation, and a perversion of human rights upon which Ireland's overseas aid programme is supposedly based.

Sr Miriam was Superior of her congregation for 12 years in Dublin. During that time she served as Chairperson of the Irish Missionary Union when, at the request of the government, Misean Cara was set up as a channel through which Irish missionary organisations can obtain funding from Irish Aid to support their development and humanitarian projects in the global south.

She received an Irish Presidential Distinguished Service Award in 2015 in recognition of her missionary work in Africa. Her work was also recognised in 2008 by the Parliament of Uganda, by her alma mater, University College Cork in 2011, and she was honoured by Harvard University, Church of Uganda, and Templeton Foundation for pioneering behaviour-based HIV prevention.

Despite her age, she is currently working with out of school youth in Huruma in Nairobi delivering programmes on rehabilitation and character formation. Although she cannot register as a medical doctor due to age, her youthful spirit, deep prayer and love bring healing to many.

The use of video is an excellent means to record the history of the pioneering and transformational work of our missionaries in the global south. At the turn of the century, Irish Life and Lore in association with the Irish Missionary Union recorded audio tapes on the lives and work of 151 Irish missionaries.

These: www.irishlifeandlore.com/product-category/recordings/thematic/religious/imu-missionary-stories-project/ are a very valuable oral historical record.

Several films about missionaries, many of them digitised, are held by the Irish Film Institute in Dublin. Additionally, many documentaries have been produced by TV and radio stations on the work of our missionaries over many decades.

The video on Sr Miriam was recorded by Dublin-born, Fr Conor Donnelly who, after many years ministering in the Philippines and Singapore, has been working in Kenya since 2005. After graduating in medicine from UCD in 1977, he worked in St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin, and subsequently was ordained a priest and was incardinated in the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei.

Amongst the video recordings he has made is a series of 12 individual interviews of Loreto Sisters about their early days in Kenya. These are available on YouTube. The Loreto Sisters arrived in Kenya in 1921 and will celebrate their centenary there in 2021. In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of Kenyan independence, the sisters received a special award from the President in recognition of their services to education.

Hopefully, these new videos and the one about Sr Miriam will be a spark to encourage other congregations to film the transformational work by members that will be historical data available for research by students and scholars long into the future.

(Matt Moran is a writer and author based in Cork specialising in missionary stories)