Doreen Ajiambo

Looking to change lives in prison and after release, sisters bring inmates food, underwear, sanitary pads, Bibles and basic health services, along with teaching skills, spiritual coaching and behavioral change.

Tanzania is rated among the 20 countries with the highest maternal mortality rate, and among the Masai community there, the rate is higher than the national average. Catholic sisters are providing education, advocacy and hospitals to turn that around.

Dozens of nuns battled thick mud and floodwaters across the remote areas of eastern Uganda to find survivors of a deadly river burst that submerged entire villages. "We took most survivors to various churches and are stranded as they are living without food, beddings and clothing among other basic needs," said one sister.

In some parts of Ghana, children born with physical and mental disabilities are believed to be "spirit children" who cause of all kinds of misfortunes, from famine and failed crops to infertility and the death of parents. As a result, many of these children are killed. One sister is working to save their lives.

Religious sisters, grantees and partners convened in the U.S. and in Zambia for the Hilton Foundation's discussion of ways to achieve the goals of its Catholic Sisters Strategic Initiative Strategy.

Mary Rashmi, a Notre Dame Sister, works with Tanzania's Masai community. She started an organization to improve the lives of women and children by increasing access to social services and economic empowerment.

South Africa's president Cyril Ramaphosa said that gender-based violence had increased during xenophobic attacks that began Sept. 1 and targeted foreign-owned businesses in and around Johannesburg. That month, the Southern Africa Catholic Nuns, a newly organized group, called for unity amid raging xenophobic attacks and condemned gender-based violence, including rape, sexual harassment and battery against migrant women.