Franciscan Sisters of Immaculate Conception
86 Saracen Street
Glasgow
G22 5AD
Tel: 0141 336 3027
Fax: 0141 336 4096
Charity No SC 006881 7109
 
Latest News
On the Mission Front
 
Kenya
The Rift Valley province of Kenya, where most of our Sisters live, is slowly returning to normal after last year’s post-election violence. With a lot of apprehension, many of the Kikuyu and Kisii people who were forced to flee are now beginning to come back and we hope that peace will prevail. Since the violence of last year, the number of HIV orphans and vulnerable children cared for by our Live with Hope project has increased to more than 2,000. Most are cared for in the extended families and supported by the project but the most needy will now be cared for in the new Children’s Home just opened at Motobo.
It has accommodation for up to 40 children and in the main, will provide long-term accommodation for those who are completely homeless and serve as a transitional care and training centre for many more.
As one of their new income generating projects, a new flour mill at Motobo is almost complete. This has been built with donations given to Tony, one of our VMMs, from his parish in Hamilton. This will give employment to many of the people, and the Sisters hope it might be possible to develop alongside this an altar bread industry. There is a great need for such a project in the Kericho district, and we are currently trying to locate reconditioned or second-hand machinery for that.
 
 
Nigeria
In Nigeria, the two main projects on which the Sisters are concentrating are the hospital at Badagry and the school at Ejigbo. The foundations of the hospital have been laid, and work is now ready to begin on the superstructure. In Ejigbo, the secondary school began on land loaned by the local king while work on the permanent site went on. To date, two classroom blocks have been completed and a start has been made on hostel provision for the 150 students already enrolled in the school.


The Sisters out there are also very keenly aware of the child trafficking problem in Nigeria and very willing to liaise with any groups here who may be trying to get children back into Nigeria and into a safe environment.
 
Volunteer Project

This remains one of our most successful home-based projects and over recent years has seen more than thirty young people go out to Kenya to spend time working on our Live with Hope HIV/AIDS project.

Some have gone for a gap year, others for just a few months; but all have come back and told us they gained much more than they gave to the people they worked with.

 

What they do varies according to their own skills and interests, and so we have had nurses, medical students, social workers, young people willing to work with youth groups, street children, orphans …. not to mention the football teams!

Football is as much of a Kenyan craze as it is Scottish and thanks to Martin Miller and the parents of Celtic’s junior teams, there is a fully equipped Motobo Celtic team that earns its place in all the local tournaments!