21 Mar 2024
It is with glad hearts that we received recent news from our friend Sr Jenny Christie FDNSC, International Development Officer for the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, with an update from the OLSH Global Outreach Projects that are blessed with such generous support from our mission friends here in the Irish Province.
Educating children in Burkina Faso
In our 2023 World Projects Appeal, the Sisters asked for help in funding the development of classrooms at their school in Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso, West Africa. Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world, and the Sisters in Ouagadougou have been working in the region since 2007 to help young children who would otherwise have no prospects of education and advancement. The demand for places at the school is overwhelming, and the Sisters strive to accommodate as many children as possible, which has led to severe issues with overcrowding in recent years.
Thanks to the wonderful response to our 2023 appeal, which raised funds to create separate classrooms in the existing school space, the work has already been completed to great effect. Teachers and students now have the use of four new classrooms, giving the children a safe, comfortable space to learn and grow together.
Caring for the elderly in Papua New Guinea
Sr Jenny also shared photos from her recent visit to Port Moresby, in Papua New Guinea, where funds raised by our 2021 World Projects Appeal funded a laundry area in the Hartzer Centre, an aged-care facility for elderly OLSH Sisters and MSC missionary priests. Prior to the installation of the laundry room, the nurses at the centre had to carry the residents’ dirty laundry through the dining room at the adjacent convent in order to reach the communal washing area, a significant hygiene issue throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and in subsequent years.
Now, the centre has its own dedicated laundry area, with a drying spot outside to hang clothes, and indoor lines to dry washing in rainy weather. “The Sisters are deeply appreciative of the difference this has made to their lives,” writes Sr Jenny. “Sincere thanks once again to the very generous donors.”
With thanks to Sr Jenny for sharing these very welcome updates with us, and to you, our mission friends, for making this work possible through your ongoing support and friendship. Every day, your compassion is touching lives all over the world, in ways that you can’t imagine. On behalf of our OLSH Sisters and MSC missionaries everywhere, we thank you, sincerely, for your kindness. We keep the OLSH communities of Ouagadougou and Port Moresby in our prayers as they continue in their dedicated work, with gratitude for the encouragement of our extended Sacred Heart family.
IF YOU CAN,
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR OLSH SISTERS IN THEIR GLOBAL OUTREACH