Doreen Ajiambo

The late Sr. Marianna Hulshof, a Medical Mission sister from the Netherlands changed the lives of many members of the Samia people of Funyula. Her work touched almost every aspect of life in the small rural town.

Tanzania's government stopped publishing COVID-19 data almost a year ago, and the president has stated that vaccinations are dangerous. The recent deaths of the 60 nuns and dozens of priests in the span of about two months has left religious sisters stressed about their safety.

The goal is as simple as it is complicated to achieve: Shift the care of children from institutions like orphanages to a family or family-like environment.

The combination of economic and social stresses brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as restrictions on movement, have severely increased the number of women and girls facing abuse in almost all countries. Sisters are counseling couples and advocating for change.

Hundreds of women in Kenya are benefiting from a project of the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco. In Dagoreti, the project provides microloans to help women start small businesses in order to provide for their children.

When Sr. Miriam Duggan was sent on mission to Africa, she had no idea what she was going to face, but her passion was always serving those who live in poverty and the less privileged as a doctor. She was first posted as an obstetrician in Uganda, where she headed the maternity unit of St. Francis Nsambya Hospital in the capital Kampala for 30 years.

Dominican Sr. Astridah Banda and other sisters in Zambia are working together to ensure that educational messages on the coronavirus reach communities in rural areas where there is little access to information.

Religious are among those trying to find a solution to rising cases of teen pregnancies, as some men use the COVID-19 lockdown to lure girls into sex in exchange for money to meet basic needs that schools would have provided.

"May the Lord give them good health and safety as they work to heal and serve us." The nature of sisters' work in Africa — health care, education, community projects — has put them at risk during the pandemic.

With nearly half the population living on less than $2 a day, Zimbabwe is a place where people take risks to find jobs in other countries and where others take advantage of that desperation.

To mark World Humanitarian Day, GSR asked Catholic sisters and those they work with in four countries — Malawi, Kenya, India and El Salvador — about their humanitarian ministries in the face of the pandemic.

The Daughters of the Redeemer use produce grown on their 15 acres outside Chilanga, Zambia, to feed young students and vulnerable families, and have taken training in organic farming to villages in the area.

Cheshire Home for the Elderly in the Kariobangi slum northeast of Nairobi, run by the Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa, used to be a hive of activity. More than 300 men and women of advanced age would meet their relatives and lifelong friends every day. They would share meals and pray together.

In an area that experiences routine flooding, sisters, who have been distributing relief items to families affected by COVID-19 restrictions and food shortages caused by locusts are appealing for humanitarian support.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage Kenya, Sr. Winnie Mutuku has managed to sustain a feeding program for street children and families in Kitale, a town about 280 miles west of Nairobi.

Sisters in African countries are using their own money in some cases to provide food for people whose livelihood has vanished during coronavirus lockdowns. They are doing outreach, making masks and hand sanitizer to give away to people who used to earn — and live on — about a dollar a day.

The widespread belief in witchcraft West Africa has devastating consequences, especially for women and especially when they have property at stake after becoming widowed. Accused, they are tortured, sometimes killed, and at best are driven from their homes to live in exile with their children.

Bungoma Regional Police Chief and County Commissioner Abdi Hassan said that his officers managed to arrest two priests, 13 nuns and 46 congregants as they were conducting a church service despite a government directive issued March 14 that bans all public gatherings in order to tame the spread of COVID-19.

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Sr. Caroline Ngatia runs Kwetu Home of Peace, where homeless boys ages 8-14 are plucked from the streets and inducted into a process of reintegration.

"The transformation I see in the life of survivors whose recoveries I've been part of makes me want to give up my all to save the lives of others," says the Daughter of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul from Nigeria.