In September this year, Misean Cara CEO, John Moffett, was joined by a group of staff and guests representing leadership from the three churches in Ireland represented by Misean Cara-funded projects (Roman Catholic, Presbyterian Church of Ireland and Church of Ireland).
“Nothing takes the place of being on the ground at the projects we fund, meeting the missionaries and staff and especially the people they work with and whose lives our members are helping through their holistic, long-term projects” says Mr. Moffett. “It’s only by talking with people living in poverty and struggling every day with hardships few of us can imagine, yet who still aspire and work to overcome this, that we truly come to understand the incredible value of missionary development work. Our members really do work tirelessly and with awe-inspiring commitment to help lift lives out of poverty every day and year after year.”
“That’s what this trip has been about – taking the opportunity of our 20th anniversary to shine a spotlight on our members’ work, their years of dedication and perseverance to helping the furthest behind, and really, the incredible ways, big and small, that they are bringing about real, lasting change in the lives of people living on the margins.”
John was joined on the trip by Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan, Bishop of Waterford & Lismore; Reverend Uel Marrs, Global Mission Secretary for the Presbyterian Church of Ireland; and Jenny Smyth, Mission Director of Church Mission Society Ireland; along with Misean Cara Board Vice-Chair Sr. Jo McCarthy (Presentation Sisters) and Misean Cara Marketing & Communications Officer, Clare Matthias.
Join us through the galleries below as we share just a snapshot of the four member projects visited during Misean Cara’s 20th anniversary visit to Kenya.
Samburu Awareness & Action Programme – A project of the Presbyterian Church of Ireland
Samburu Awareness & Action Programme (SAAP), present in Samburu County since 1989 under the direction of Stephen and Angelina Cowan, is committed to community empowerment through training in sustainable livelihoods (especially learning by doing), promoting girls’ rights and access to education, land rights advocacy, and climate change adaptation.
Situated in a vast, remote and sparsely populated area 350km north of Nairobi, SAAP serves a population made up mostly of pastoralist herder communities. County-wide, the illiteracy rate hovers around 84% and cultural practices such as early marriage and FGM present ongoing challenges to mindset changes and promotion of rights for women and girls. SAAP takes a holistic approach to its mission and ministry, working alongside and in partnership with local leadership to realise mindset change over time and encouraging confidence in all activity areas of its project through the promotion of hands-on learning.
Learning Skills by Doing
Promoting sustainable livelihood practices using local resources, including honey production and refinement, nursery and home garden cultivation, improving crop production using drip irrigation, livestock care and marketing.
Agriculture and animal care in a changing environment
Safe Spaces for Girls to Learn
Tujisaidie Community School
– a project of Church Mission Society Ireland (Church of Ireland)
Established in 2003 by the Tujisaidie Self-Help Group, the Tujisaidie Community School serves 350 children aged three to fifteen in the poor and largely self-reliant informal settlement of Soweto, in Nairobi. The school is a vital part of the local community, itself formed in 1992 by the original 350 families internally displaced when their homes in the Muorto and Kibagare areas of the city were demolished forcefully by the then government.
Since 1992, the Church Mission Society Ireland has been linked with the Tujisaidie Self-Help Group, attaching lay missionaries in partnership with the Anglican Church of Kenya.
Misean Cara funding for the construction of four new classrooms is helping the school bring its buildings into compliance with new standards required by the Kenyan Ministry of Education. The new classrooms will reduce classes and also enable the accommodation of more students and contribute to more students progressing to better secondary schools and increasing their options for third level education and work.
Daughters of Charity, Thigio Services
The Daughters of Charity have been serving the rural, impoverished community of Thigio, 40km northwest of Nairobi, for over 20 years. Their project is holistic and multi-faceted, catering for a diverse range of needs, including educational, social and medical services. The specific range of services has evolved over the years, in close consultation and collaboration with the community itself, reflecting a relationship of listening and trust that has continued to grow from the start, and with an enduring objective of affirming the dignity of the people they serve.
Services provided in Thigio include:
-The KISIMA Special Needs Programme and School, providing education and care for 118 children, youth and adults with wide-ranging intellectual, developmental and physical disabilities. Children come to classes daily, as well as many parents who attend classes to learn how to participate in their children’s development. Older teens and young adults participate in skills-building classes in cookery and catering.
-A Day Centre for elderly community members, who attend once a week for social activities, meals, and faith sharing
-A nine-bed hospice that provides palliative and end-of-life care for patients with terminal illnesses
-A general medical clinic that serves the surrounding community with services such as mother and baby care, immunisations, comprehensive care for persons living with HIV, and cancer and TB screening
-A women’s development project that provides small grants for micro-enterprises
-A library, and sports and arts programmes available to children from local schools
Hands of Care & Hope – a project of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa (FMSA)
The Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa (FMSA), working in Africa since 1903, set up the Hands of Care and Hope (HCH) programme in 2007, serving the needs of people in the Huruma settlement, one of the poorest areas of Nairobi, where need levels are chronically high and government-provided resources few.
Over the nearly two decades since its founding, HCH has set up two primary schools and one secondary school, providing equitable access to affordable education for more than 1,000 young learners annually. Parents of students can also participate in life-skills classes and and an income-generating programme that helps them develop the skills, mindsets and resources to provide better for their families. The Sisters and staff at HCH also run programmes to teach students, youth and parents about social justice and how to advocate for their human rights.
In an area where youth unemployment hovers around 75%, the Sisters have set up an Out-of-School Youth programme, currently receiving Misean Cara funding, that engages local youth in an eight-week course of personal development leading on to a vocational training course of their choosing, including a certified nursing assistant specialty, mechanic training, plumbing and electrics, and catering. Last year, the programme reached 220 young people.
