Kenya: Missionaries responding to Covid-19

Sr Miriam Duggan with President Michael J Higgins, Nairobi

Kariobangi is one of the large slums in the Kenyan capitol, Nairobi. Limerick-born, Sr Miriam Duggan, works there in the Hands of Care & Hope Centre set up by the Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa who were founded in 1952 by Wicklow-born, Mother Kevin. The sisters run several projects including a Cheshire Home for destitute elderly people and a day centre for up to 300 elderly poor people.

They also run two primary schools and a secondary school for poor children who the social workers identify and who are not going to school because of poverty. As part of their life skills training, they run an eight-week rehabilitation and character formation programme for out of school youth who are idle, after which they sponsor them into vocational training so that they can get employment and find a way out of chronic poverty.

Covid-19 impacted their work very severely. "The poor people were very badly hit especially those who depended on day-to-day earning doing casual work which is the majority" Sr. Miriam says. "With the tourist industry at a stand-still, many people working in hotels, bars and restraints lost their jobs, and were left with no source of income. This led to hunger in families, unable to pay rent where people faced eviction, apart from a few thoughtful landlords. With schools closed the meals provided in schools were no longer available".

She pointed out how the Government was advocating working from home, but this "was unrealistic in the society in which we live, and where manual labour is the most form of employment. This was the new challenge we faced, hungry families, hungry children, and homelessness."

Missionaries are dependent on the goodwill and generosity of donors, and Irish missionaries have always been strongly supported by people in Ireland and the UK. This generosity enabled Sr Miriam and her colleagues to make a positive response during the Covid-19 pandemic. "With donations of food and money we made up food parcels" she said. "Youth and teachers volunteered in bagging and packing food. Social workers and teachers identified families who were most in need. Some groups came to the Youth Centre to collect parcels of food, others were delivered. We paid rent for 58 families who faced eviction by their landlords.

Sr Miriam's specific responsibility is running the centre's Life Skills Programme. "With some easing of the restrictions, we were given permission to continue this programme with the youth but limited to groups of 25. We just completed the course this week, and now as colleges have re-opened, we are hoping to sponsor them into skilled vocational training" she said.

Covid-19 impacted and caused concern for everyone involved in the activities of the Hands of Care & Hope Centre. It has drained limited resources and is making it very difficult for the sisters to continue their work as before amongst the very poor and marginalised. Readers wishing to support their life-saving work can send a donation to Sr Miriam Duggan, c/o FMSA House, 34A Gilford Road, Sandymount, Dublin 4.

Sr Miriam qualified as a medical doctor and gynaecologist in Ireland, and has spent most of her missionary life ministering in Africa. Her work on the prevention of the spread of the HIV virus in Uganda has been recognised by the Parliament and President of Uganda. In 2015, she received a Presidential Distinguished Service Award from the President of Ireland in recognition of her lifetime's work in the service of the poor and marginalised in Africa.

More information about the Hands of Care and Hope Centre can be found at: www.fmsa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=166&Itemid=

(Matt Moran is a writer and author based in Cork who has written extensively on the work of Irish missionaries in the global south. His forthcoming book is 'The Theology of Integral Human Development')