47 Days To Go………

If you are still with us in the 101 days of prayer for PEACE IN SUDAN! in fact, you will have 9 more days in the New Year to hang on in there while the REFERENDUM is held.

The atmosphere is electric these days in Sudan. Everyone in the South is focused on Referendum Day – 9th January 2010 – as the most important date ever in their country’s history. Despite the secrecy of the vote, it is NO SECRET that 95 percent of Southerners are determined to vote for the separation of the South from the North of Sudan; from Arab domination and exploitation.

Many obstacles lie in the way, not least that the North wants do all it can to thwart the South’s plans. It is certainly the South that stands to gain, as they themselves would say: to be no longer second-class citizens in their own country; a country where the only modern city with twenty first century lifestyle, health-care and education is Khartoum while the South struggles along dirt and murram roads and village life has not changed for centuries.

An everyday insight into the flaunting of power by the North’s President Bashir (he of the ICC’s most-wanted list):-

On Saturday, our engineer was in Wau (a troublesome 12-hour bus journey from his Rumbek base) to collect two truckloads of building materials to transport to Marial Lou – we need to rebuild a collapsing school dormitory there to present parents with encouragement and a safer option for sending their daughters to school.  It would have been completed earlier this year, in March, in fact, but soldiers engaged in the disarming exercise, in preparation for the Easter Election, commandeered the fully laden truck, threatening to tip out the contents at the roadside. Eventually, the builders, from neighbouring Uganda, managed to escape and took the first opportunity to race home and, on the way, collected their friends from another of our projects. By the time the Election was over, the annual rains put paid to any further transportation hopes for several months.

Flooded roads

So here we are in November, ready to try again, the roads beginning to dry out, and back to last Saturday… in the middle of purchasing the materials in Wau, without warning, the shops are suddenly closed. The President is around…………….. no sale or movement of goods allowed until he decides to move on. AND PEOPLE WONDER WHY PROGRESS IS SLOW!

P.S. The Presidential jet is too big to land at Wau airstrip so a scheduled commercial flight had to surrender its aircraft for the day. A colleague of mine travelling to a Development Workshop in Kenya was stranded for the whole day with the rest of the passengers at the airstrip.

WHILE RENEWING YOUR PRAYERS FOR PEACE IN SUDAN,
PLEASE REMEMBER A FEW EXTRA ONES……………..
FOR OUR PATIENCE.

sr.maureenl@gmail.com
education@dioceseofrumbek.org

Maureen Limer rsm

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Why not Celebrate….?

Mukuru Promotion Centre marks their Jubilee!

The readiness and ability to celebrate is deeply ingrained in the African culture and so it was fitting that Mukuru Promotion Centre would duly celebrate its 25 years of existence on August 4th this year.

What was there to celebrate? In short; its growth from a tiny seed to a mighty tree!
When an informal primary school with forty five pupils and two untrained teachers was begun in Kayaba settlement in 1985 under the aegis of Sr. Mary Killeen and Fr. Manuel, M.Afr. no one could have envisaged how vast would be the development that followed. At that time the parents had to pay for education at all levels and understandably those in Kayaba were not able to do so. In their desperation they turned to the Church for help and thank God their appeal received such a worthy response.

As the educational needs of the children were being met other needs became evident and in the spirit of Catherine McAuley who said ‘the poor need help today, not next week’ Mukuru Promotion Centre took up the challenge. Health Care, Social Work, other primary schools, Skills Training, a Home for Orphans – later to become a Secondary School and a Centre for the Rehabilitation of Street Boys, were all provided for over the following years.

In the Mass of Thanksgiving celebrated by Cardinal John Njue, Archbishop of Nairobi we were able to acknowledge and thank the gracious Lord for making so much possible.

After the Mass the guests, among whom were several friends and donors from England, adjourned to the grounds of St. Catherine’s Primary School, which was suitably festooned for the occasion. The Boy Scouts and Rangers from our Secondary School opened the festivities with a flag-raising ceremony which was followed by their forming a Guard of Honour, which the chief guest, Sr. Mary Killeen was invited to inspect.

Sr. Mary Geason, of the Melbourne Mercy Congregation and current Director of MPC welcomed all present in her own inimitable way. As well as praising the dedication and commitment of the Staff, which made such an event possible she reminded us of how necessary it is for us to keep focusing on the emerging needs of the community.

While enjoying a very tasty lunch the guests were treated to some delightful entertainment from the pupils of all our schools and the Street Boys Rehabilitation Centre, which was intertwined with some speeches. It was a fitting time also to acknowledge the success stories of the many men and women from Mukuru who are making such an impact in society today and are always willing to give back to society and to the Project something for what they have received.

The dedication and commitment of the six Directors of MPC: Srs. Mary Killeen, Patricia O’Meara (now on the South Central PLT and who was happily able to be with us) Kathleen Rooney, Mrs Orla Cawley, Srs. Teresia Njonge and Mary Geason was recognised and each presented with a token of gratitude by Sr. Liz Fletcher, Kenya Provincial Leader.

For MPC Staff and Students who had put so much effort into the event it was surely a memorable day and we feel confident that the enthusiasm and energy generated will continue to fire the hearts of all so that the flame of Mercy will continue to burn in Mukuru and its surroundings.

Sally Mounsey rsm
Kenyan Province