Roscrea Sisters' good work in Uganda
Roscrea Comhaltas will next month hold a concert in aid of children in Uganda, where local nuns Sr Eileen and Sr Mona have been working for more than 40 years.
Educated at Clonlisk National School and Sacred Heart Convent School, sisters Eileen and Mona Maher joined the Daughters of Mary & Joseph Congregation and went to Uganda in 1970 and 1972 respectively. They have both lived and worked there ever since, always being involved in education, both formally and informally, believing in the empowerment of women and girls as a means of uplifting the standards of people and alleviating poverty in family life.
In 2010, as both were thinking that time for retiring had come, the sisters were asked to assist in the administration of a new primary boarding school for girls. It has been a great privilege and challenge for them and now, seven years on, the school is growing and developing very well, thanks to the people of Roscrea, Birr and the surrounding areas.
1959 was a great year for the Sisters of the Daughters of Mary and Joseph Congregation, when they opened a mission in Uganda, East Africa. They had been invited to begin a boarding secondary school for Catholic girls in a catchment area greater than the size of the whole of Ireland. It was a daunting work but within two years the first 16 girls were admitted.
That same school continues today to grow and develop as one of the best schools in Uganda. It now has 1,300 boarding teenage girls - unthinkable for Ireland, isn’t it?
Uganda js a small country relative to its neighbours in East Africa. It has a population of nearly 40 million and continues to increase. This high population puts a great stress on resources – land, education, health and results in a high unemployment of the youth. The land is being exploited and forests cut for firewood, both of which are adversely affecting the climate, resulting in reduced rainfall and newly created drought affected areas.
During the dry season there is no rain for about three months and everywhere the grass and plants get burnt up. During the wet season the rain can be torrential and everywhere is green and with fast growing vegetation.
As a result of the AIDS epidemic, the country has as many as 2 million orphans. Many families are headed by children as young as 12 years, while many others live with grandparents. The Church and the missionaries give high priority to the care and welfare of these orphans. Many of these are very poor.
A fundraising concert for the children of Uganda will take place at the Racket Hall Hotel on Sunday February 12th. The concert will also celebrate the work of these two sisters, who have between them spent 90 years in Uganda. More details to follow.