Development in the Nigerian Mission

On April 4, 2006, our Nigerian Mission began with the arrival of two Sisters, Sr. Nkechi Iwuoha, a young professed, and Sr. Christeta Hess, from Germany. They had been invited by Archbishop Obinna from Owerri to start some project for street children. The Sisters rented a house in Prefab and established some contacts to the Ministry of Women Affairs as well as to parishes in Owerri. Soon they started a survey among the beggars and street children in Owerri, and also were asked by the Ministry to look into the Government Remand Home in Logara.

Small children kept in Logara Remand Home
 From Logara came our first children - three small children under the age of 12 who had been kept in the Remand Home for more than four years, as well as two school age boys who wanted nothing more than a chance to go to school. The children joined the Sisters in their house. They were extremely malnourished, the younger children could not speak.
In June, we found the family of one of the small children. The other two are still with us. The boys who could speak, were prepared for school and started school in September 2006.

By that time, we knew that a house for children was necessary, and we found a building site near the village of Mgbele, Oguta II, Imo State. At first the children lived in a rented house, by now in 2009, we have built a house and a convent and started building a clinic in Mgbele.

 
The rented house for our children

  
in Mgbele, Oguta II

Also in September 2006, we accepted the first group of candidates who had applied to join the congregation, some already for Germany, others who heard about us.

In the same year, two of the Nigerian Sisters who had been trained in Germany, came back to Nigeria and started working with us.

We tried to find a building site to build our formation house. As this was difficult in Imo State, we looked around and found a site in Niger State, with the help of the Bishop of Minna in whose diocese we then started our building. This is in Garam, Tafa LGA. The building was finished in February 2008 when the formation groups moved there.

In Owerri, we had to move house again to another rented place in Works Layout. We started work with young men who were looking to get professional training, and rented a house in New Owerri for them. The first apprentice was also from Logara. Others joined him. With the trained Sisters coming back from Germany, we could start mobile clinics both in Garam and in and near Owerri.
 


    Some of the apprentices with Emeka, their
                   supervisor, and Sr. Nkechi


 



In October 2008, we started work in Ifetedo, having been invited by the Bishop of Oshogbo to work in his diocese. The Sisters live in a rented house and started mobile clinics in Area 4, Meforowade and many other villages in the rural area at the border of Osun and Ondo State.


The house in Ifetedo with Bishop Gabriel
and Fr. Julius

So between 2006 and 2009, three convent areas have been built up: Imo State, Niger State, Osun State. The Sisters work in health care and education and help in the parishes with catechism. The children we took from the streets, are taken care of and they can go to school. And formation of new members keeps going on. After the first group of September 2006 (8 candidates), two more groups were accepted: 12 in March 2008 and 11 in March 2009. Several of the candidates left us again, but we also accepted four young women who had started their formation in Germany. One took vows in November 2008 in Garam.

 
Dining room and kitchen in Garam      

 


At present, we have 6 novices in their canonical year, and 9 postulants. Also, 6 candidates live in our missions and get to know the congregation, and several others prepare to come in soon. And we have 3 German professed Sisters and 15 Nigerian professed Sisters.


Some members of our community in January 2010