Jun 6, 2019
We were delighted to read this wonderful piece by South African publication Spotlight, highlighting the marvellous work done by Sr Sally Duigan OLSH and the team at the Holy Family Care Centre in Limpopo.
Calling the Holy Family community “the biggest and happiest family in Limpopo”, this Spotlight story gives us a glimpse into daily life at the centre, where Sr Sally and her team care for over 70 infants and children. The majority of these children are battling serious illnesses, such as HIV, and many have been orphaned or abandoned.
Founded in 2002, the centre is run by the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart with the support of the MSC. We are very pleased to work closely with our Sacred Heart sisters, from fundraising efforts here in the Irish Province to our annual volunteer programme at Holy Family.
“Each child that comes through the gates of HFC is guaranteed two things, regardless of how they arrive or where they come from, they will be loved and well taken care of,” reads the Spotlight article. “At the moment this is home to 70 children (Sally sheepishly admits that they never turn a child away, sometimes the facility cares for up to 80 children) eight of whom are babies. There is a large staff contingent who care for the children 24/7, bathing them, feeding them, clothing them, teaching them, helping them with homework, playing with them and showering them with heaps and heaps of love. It is absolutely clear that this is one big family.”
It’s a big family, and a happy one. The sense of unity and love at Holy Family is in abundance from the moment one steps through the doors, and Sr Sally is dedicated to ensuring this remains the case for every child that comes into her care.
“Above all, we continue to give our children love, security, and care, in the hope they will thrive,” she wrote in a letter to our MSC Missions. “We want them to have the energy to enjoy playtime, be able to learn and live a happy life.”
We are very proud to see Sr Sally’s tremendous work being recognised – congratulations to all the team at Holy Family!
Read the full Spotlight article
Find out more about our work with the Holy Family Centre
Jan 22, 2019
An important part of the Sacred Heart family, the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (OLSH) work all over the world under our shared motto: “May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved.”
OLSH Global Outreach Programmes
Survivors of domestic abuse in Kiribati
Kiribati is a country in the Pacific Ocean, composed of many separate islands. The Daughters have ministered there for many years.
One vital role they play is in the area of assistance to women escaping situations of domestic violence. In many cases, women often have to leave their homes in a hurry, without time to pack essentials such as clothes, toiletries, or food for their children.
€15 will provide a family with the essentials they need in an emergency situation of domestic abuse.
Catechism books in Maranhão, Brazil
In Maranhão, Brazil, the Sisters are in great need of books to help them with the teaching of the catechism. The people there are very poor and would greatly appreciate the gift of books.
€10 will buy one of the 30 books needed.
Street children in the Philippines
The Sisters in Manila provide an after-school tutoring programme for young children from a local slum area.
Many of the children work on the streets during the day, selling sweets or flowers and other small items, and so they miss out on a formal education.
This programme helps 80 children keep up with some formal study, while also providing a simple feeding scheme and a health and hygiene programme to teach these youths important life skills.
€10 will help to teach a disadvantaged child essential life skills.
Kurisanani Education Project, South Africa
The Kurisanani outreach project is run from Tzaneen, in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. One element of this outreach programme is the provision of funds for vulnerable children to access education. 200 children are currently benefitting from the programme.
€15 will provide a child with a school resources pack, including pencils, pens, exercise books, and a backpack.
Educating women in South Sudan
In Mapuordit, a remote area of South Sudan, three Daughters minister to local communities. Many young women here are forced into marriage and are denied a basic education.
The Daughters here support young mothers in their return to education by providing them with bicycles and solar lamps.
The bicycles allow them freedom to travel to and from school, as well as helping with chores such as collecting water and gathering firewood. The time saved by cycling long distances, rather than walking, helps them them to keep up their studies, while the solar lamps allow the young women to study at night, despite the fact that there is no electricity in their village.
€90 will buy one bicycle and €30 will buy one solar lamp to help the education of vulnerable young women.
Convent repair in Venezuela
Three Sisters from Brazil currently minister to locals in a remote area of Venezuela. The convent here has fallen into disrepair, and the Sisters are raising funds to paint some of the damaged areas.
€100 will buy the paint required to repair the ruined areas.
OLSH saving young lives in Africa
The Holy Family Care Centre is situated at the foot of the Drakensburg Mountains, in the far north of the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart founded the centre in 2001, in response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Currently, 70 children are in care there.
“The children in our care come for many reasons, but always because it is a last resort – when all other avenues of care have been explored,” writes Sr Sally Duigan OLSH, Director of the Holy Family Care Centre. “They are admitted with a court order after their local social worker takes their case to the nearest magistrate.”
“The reasons for admission vary, but many children have been abandoned, sexually abused, physically abused, orphaned, or made vulnerable because of HIV/AIDS.”
“This is a place where we OLSH can really live our charism of compassionate love,” says Sr Sally. “Here, we learn to love these children unconditionally.”
PLEASE SUPPORT OLSH GLOBAL OUTREACH
