Welcome to our last MissionAid of the year. In this issue we share some incredible success stories from around the world. These are just a handful of examples of how missionaries make real and sustained differences to the lives of vulnerable and marginalised people.
It has been a busy year for Misean Cara and we have been involved in a number of key advocacy and policy activities. At a global level Misean Cara was part of the Irish delegation to theUN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in New York, and at national level we made a submission to the White Paper consultation on Ireland's New International Development Policy. You can read Misean Cara's submission on our website here. Recently Misean Cara was represented at the Parliament of World's Religions in Toronto, Canada.
In this issue we have a spotlight on Post Ebola in Sierra Leone. I recently visited the sisters who joined the ranks of the epic Ebola Fighters who remained with their communities when the Ebola epidemic was unfolding. Against all the odds and advice, the sisters reached out to communities where some families were barricaded inside their homes in quarantine. The sisters provided lifelines of medical care, food, psycho-social support and Ebola prevention information. Today they are supporting Ebola survivors who have been marginalised because of the stigma of the disease. 'The Impact of the Ebola Epidemic Continues in Sierra Leone' blog post and 'Life in Crisis: The Ongoing Impact of Ebola in Sierra Leone' video tell the story of people living in very extreme circumstances, and how the Sisters are making a difference.
We launched the Misean Cara 2017 Annual Report at our AGM at the end of June. In 2017, Misean Cara funded 263 missionary development and humanitarian projects in 51 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, with 1.4 million intended beneficiaries. Whilst the statistics are very impressive, the report also provides an opportunity to hear some of the incredible stories behind those figures.
Thank you to RTÉ for allowing me to highlight some of the amazing stories, missionaries and work funded by Misean Cara around the world in the 'Living Word' radio programme. The full scripts and podcasts are linked below so you can listen back at your leisure.
For this year's World AIDS Day, we launched a social media campaign called 'H3ro for Z3ro' to highlight some of the community health workers who are dedicated to fighting HIV and AIDS. I hope you enjoy some of their stories. The #Eis4Education social media campaign highlighted some of the global challenges girls face in accessing education. The campaign also showcased some of the ways Misean Cara members support girls in education around the world.
Merry Christmas from all of us in the Misean Cara team and we look forward to sharing more inspirational stories of our members' work in 2019.
Finally, I just want to thank you for subscribing to MissionAid, and taking the time to read about the inspirational projects we support. If would like to help, you can donate online at www.miseancara.ie/donate.
Yours in solidarity,
Heydi Foster CEO, Misean Cara
Spotlight on
Sierra Leone
The Impact of the Ebola Epidemic Continues in Sierra Leone
Heydi Foster, Misean Cara CEO writes that Sierra Leone’s Ebola survivors are living on the margins of society due to the stigma of the disease. But Misean Cara’s members are offering support and hope.
Five years ago the Ebola epidemic wreaked havoc in the country of Sierra Leone. During the epidemic the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny and the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary risked their lives by going where no other aid workers would – into the places where the disease was rampant. The Sisters went to the poorest communities and visited and delivered food to people in quarantine who were suspected of having Ebola.
Despite the panic and fear of the epidemic, the Sisters stayed in solidarity, providing lifelines in the form of medical care, food, psycho-social support, and Ebola prevention information. Fearlessly, they worked in the front line against the disease, bringing hope and saving lives.
Life in Crisis: The Ongoing Impact of Ebola in Sierra Leone
Ebola survivors are living on the margins of society
Five years on since the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, Ebola survivors are living on the margins of society due to the stigma of the disease. Misean Cara CEO Heydi Foster visited the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny and the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary to their work. The Sisters have been supporting Ebola survivors with food, access to health care and love and kindness.
Click here to view the video on the Misean Cara website.
'Welcome to Misean Cara’s Annual Report for 2017, which will introduce you to this vibrant membership organisation at the forefront of community based development work around the world. What you read here will give you a taste of the transformative power of their work, 'to the core', in education, health, livelihoods, human rights and emergency response.' From the Foreword by Lucy Franks, Chairperson.
The Misean Cara 2017 Annual Report was launched on Wednesday 27th June 2018 at our AGM at the Emmaus Centre in Swords, Co. Dublin. The report shares the compelling stories of the individuals and communities who have benefited from the dedication and skills of Irish missionaries.
In 2017-2018, Misean Cara commissioned an effectiveness review of peacebuilding and human rights projects established by Misean Cara Member Organisations in Kenya.
Click here to read the Learning Brief on Peace-building in practice: Learning from a 2018 Effectiveness Review of Missionary Peacebuilding and Human Rights projects in Kenya .
Facilitating the Journey to Transformation
A long-term perspective is inherent in the Missionary Approach to Development, and the notion of living in solidarity is a core principle. Many of the projects included in the meta-evaluation involve a missionary presence of more than ten years, with one of fifty and two of twenty-five.
Click here to read the Learning Brief on Facilitating the Journey to Transformation: Findings and Lessons from a Meta-Evaluation of Misean Cara Project Evaluations.
Missionary Responses to Ebola Virus Crises
'In Sierra Leone, the Sisters’ response to the Ebola crisis can be understood as a journey that they undertook in order to accompany the people among whom they lived and worked as they struggled to find pathways that would lead them safely through the crisis and onwards to the rebuilding of lives and communities. By travelling alongside the people in this way, the Sisters gave hope and built trust where previously there had been neither.'
Missionary Responses to Ebola Virus Crises, Conclusion.
Click here to read the Learning Brief on the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary’s effective responses to the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) crises in Liberia and Sierra Leone between 2014 and 2016.
Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Eamonn Casey, Project Officer for Human Rights writes that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights empowers us all despite some of the socio-economic challenges of today.
It is a challenging time for human rights champions and practice as Human Rights Day comes around, and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights turns 70 – with norms and standards under attack from many emerging authoritarian populist governments.
At the same time, there is a reaction to protect rights from some politicians and social movements, and increasing efforts within civil society and international development to strengthen linkages between human rights and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the fulfilment of both agendas.
Missionary Effectiveness Offers Pointers for Global Education Focus on the Displaced
Equal access to Education for refugees, internally displaced and migrants.
Eamonn Casey, Project Officer for Human Rights shares some of the insights from a recent review of Misean Cara Education projects that support equal education rights for refugees, internally displaced and migrants
Both the 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report (Migration, Displacement and Education), launching in Dublin on Thursday 6 December, and the recent Global Compacts on Refugees and on Migration bring a welcome renewed focus to the rights to education of the millions of people displaced and on the move in the world today.
Misean Cara welcomes the timely focus on quality education for refugees, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and migrants, particularly in light of its own additional focus in this area and the opportunities presented by Ireland’s drafting of a new International Development Policy.
Misean Cara members have been delivering quality education in developing countries for generations, often starting in a harsh environment with nothing other than vision, courage and dedication. In particular, we support projects that address equity of access, quality of learning and educational outcomes, and contribute to system strengthening.
Harry Shier, Learning and Development Officer reports on our members’ ground-breaking work with the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva.
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child is an international human rights body set up to monitor implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and, in doing so, to promote and defend children’s rights worldwide. It is made up of international experts elected by member governments, and holds its sessions at the UN office in Geneva, where it reviews and comments on the child rights progress reports that UN member states are required to submit every five years (all except the USA, that is, which is the only UN member state that is not a Party to the Children’s Rights Convention).
The United Nations is an organisation of States (i.e. governments), but the Committee on the Rights of the Child works in partnership with NGO Child Rights Connect to ensure that NGOs and other civil society organisations have a strong presence and influence in its work.
Every two years the Committee holds what it calls a “Day of General Discussion” (DGD) in Geneva. This is a one-day international conference which aims to focus attention on a particular aspect of children’s rights that the Committee believes is not sufficiently understood and needs this spotlight to promote debate and action in the wider international Children’s Rights community.
Harry Shier, Learning and Development Officer discusses the importance of the child’s right to play, and his experience visiting missionary projects in Peru and Colombia that work to uphold this right.
“And the streets of the city shall be filled with boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.” (Zechariah, Ch 8 v 5)
When I visited missionary development projects in Peru and Colombia on behalf of Misean Cara last year, the child’s right to play was not the first thing on my agenda; in fact it wasn’t on my agenda at all. And yet, as I went from city to city, I found in the right to play a common thread linking community projects with very different approaches. Each one gave me new insights into the right to play: not just its importance as an undervalued human right, but also the day-to-day practice of defending and upholding it.
I started at Santa Bernadita, a civil association supported by the Columban Fathers in St Martín de Porres, Lima. For someone like me who has campaigned around the child’s right to play for many years, this place was like a dream come true: A massive centre (four stories high – see photo) for all the children of the neighbourhood where play is the only agenda.
Let me explain what I mean by this: I have seen so many projects where play is used to manipulate kids in the interest of adults’ agendas; e.g. to control them, socialise them, educate them, mind them while their parents are working, get them into shape, therapise them, keep them off the streets, stop them becoming obese etc. At Santa Bernadita they come to play because they want to and it is their right and that is enough. All those other benefits occur too, but they are realised through the power of play itself, not through adult interference.
"Thousands of people who have had to flee war... find themselves here in a country that is also experiencing its own conflict." Fr. Tony O’Riordan SJ, JRS Project Director in Maban.
Photojournalist Paul Jeffrey visited the refugee camps in Maban County, South Sudan. Watch the video to see the incredible work of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), transforming lives in this extremely challenging environment.
Heydi Foster, CEO at Misean Cara recently attended the UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in New York. The Irish Government updated the UN on the country’s progress to date on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Ireland’s first Voluntary National Review (VNR).
Research conducted for Misean Cara in 2017 identified five key features which, when taken in combination, describe a way of doing development work that is unique to missionaries. Misean Cara has produced a series of videos on the Missionary Approach to discuss and reflect on these five key features.
This video explores the first of the five features: Long-term commitment. The video hears first hand from missionaries through a multi-media presentation incorporating audio, video and photography footage from the archives of Misean Cara members and from Misean Cara media projects.
Click here to visit Misean Cara's Vimeo page and watch more videos.
"They know that only education can create opportunity for their children… they don’t want their children to do this sort of work…"
Documentary Maker Fergal McCarthy traveled to Kolkata, India to visit a unique Misean Cara funded education project, run by the Loreto Sisters, for children living and working on brickfield sites on the outskirts of Kolkata city and throughout the state of West Bengal.
Brickfields are locations in India where bricks are made by hand for the local construction industry. This industry depends on the cheap labour of migrant families and their children, coming from some of the poorest districts of the neighbouring states of Bihar and Jharkhand.
In the state of West Bengal alone, there are at least 2,000 brickfield sites with an average of 50 children on each. Starting in 2008, the Loreto Sisters began supporting a school program on 20 sites. Today, with increased funding, they now support schools on 40 sites, reaching approximately 2,000 children and employing 80 part-time teachers.
The Brickfield Schools of Kolkata was broadcast on Newstalk 106-108fm in May 2018 and is now available on the Audio page of the Misean Cara website.
Click hereto read the full story and listen to the documentary.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of World AIDS Day, and this year’s theme is ‘Know Your Status.’ During the last three decades a lot of progress has been made in the fight against HIV and AIDS with 3 out of 4 people living with HIV knowing their status. More work still needs to be done to ensure that every person living with HIV knows their status and linking them to quality care and prevention services. HIV testing is one of the most important components to ensuring that people living with HIV can lead healthy fulfilled lives.
Eliwaja Samwell is from Singida in Northern Tanzania and married with one son. Throughout his life she has worked hard to pay for his upbringing, and he is now 23 years old and has a certificate in teaching. Eliwaja separated from her husband in 2003 after testing HIV positive.
She was tested at the Faraja Centre outreach programme run by the Medical Missionaries of Mary, and at that time there were no anti-retroviral medications (ARV’s) available. In 2006 she was one of the first people to begin the treatment with counselling from the Faraja Centre and referral to the Singida government hospital. Eliwaja’s CD4 count at this time was 101, which was under the 200 threshold to start treatment with ARV’s. She followed all of the instructions and did very well on the regimen.
Sr. Margaret Hosty SSL Rallies to Help Breastfeeding Mothers Living with HIV
Sisters of St. Louis
Sr. Margaret Hosty, a Sister of St. Louis, is a native of County Roscommon in Ireland. She is coordinator of Grupo AAVE (Association Aids: Support, Life, Hope) an award winning NGO focused on preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS. Margaret co-founded Grupo AAVE in 1995, in Goiânia, Brazil, and has been working with the organisation ever since.
“A mother who is living with HIV must not breastfeed her baby, as there is a strong possibility that the baby will contract HIV from the breast milk,” said Sr. Margaret, “I was shocked to learn at a health council meeting on October 30 that our State of Goiás had failed to fulfill its obligation to supply powdered milk to children who are born to mothers who are poor and living with HIV. We discovered that this problem has been going on since the end of September.”
Margaret has a strong commitment to supporting and empowering those who are poor, marginalised and living with HIV. She feels called by God to do something with people who are strongly stigmatized in Brazilian society because of their HIV and AIDS status. At the same time, as a Sister of St. Louis, Margaret´s work furthers the charism of her congregation “That they may be One” (John 17:21), through her tireless and ongoing efforts to give dignity to those who are discriminated against and are pushed to the margins of society because they live with HIV/AIDS.
AIDS is the second biggest killer of teenagers worldwide. In 2017, 590,000 young people between the ages of 15-24 were newly infected with HIV, of whom 250,000 were adolescents between the ages of 15-19. To compound this, only 23% of adolescent girls and 17% of adolescent boys aged 15-19 in Eastern and Southern Africa – the region most affected by HIV – have been tested for HIV in the past 12 months and received the result of the last test.
My name is Margaret Wanjiru and I have been the Clinical Coordinator for the DREAM Kenya Trust, Nairobi since the inception in April 2008. Apart from being a Clinician, I am also a youth mentor. I coordinate Youth Support Group activities to ensure the clinic is youth friendly and serves the needs of the young people.
I have great passion and interest in adolescents and youth programmes, addressing various key and core issues affecting the youth. Notably, there is a rise in cases of depression and suicide amongst the youths and the adolescents in Kenya due to social issues, among them HIV and AIDS.
Tackling Forced Displacement: A Growing Global Crisis
“One person being forced from their home every two seconds. Displacement is ultimately about people, about lives disrupted and opportunities denied.”
This was the message from Misean Cara CEO, Heydi Foster at the ‘Tackling Forced Displacement: people, poverty & rights’ seminar on Thursday 25th October 2018 at Wood Quay Venue in Dublin.
The seminar discussed forced displacement – of refugees, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and migrants, in different contexts and locations – as well as related rights and advocacy avenues in Ireland and internationally, through which Ireland and the European Union could scale up their commitments and response.
Forced displacement denies development opportunities to millions of people, causes poverty and erodes human rights. It is a major obstacle to efforts aimed at ending poverty. This seminar on ‘Tackling Forced Displacement’ comes just a week after the UN International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, held annually on 17th October. This year marked the 70th anniversary of the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and addressed the fundamental connection between poverty and human rights, with people living in poverty often disproportionately affected by human rights violations.
Misean Cara CEO Heydi Foster delivered RTÉ Radio 1’s A Living Word programme from 8th October to 12th October 2018. Heydi spoke about her experience visiting Misean Cara funded projects in Colombia, South Sudan, India, Zambia and Haiti.
In this episode, Heydi speaks about a project supporting children with disabilities in Haiti, supported by Viatores Christi.
Suddenly, I was surrounded by flowers. We’d travelled out of Port-au-Prince into the mountains to the south of the Haitian capital to visit a centre for children and adults with disabilities supported by Misean Cara. It was a relief to get out of the traffic, heat and hassle of Port-au-Prince into cooler air. But I was bowled over by the flowers – not blossoms from the earth, but the bright, warm, welcoming smiles on children’s faces as we arrived at St. Helene and got out of the car.
In Haiti, tradition and suspicion combine to make a family feel cursed upon the arrival of a child with a disability of any kind. Children with disabilities are kept at home, hidden away and often abandoned so as not to draw stigma on the family. They are denied the opportunity to grow and flourish. But in one part of St. Helene, Kay Christine, people with disabilities are the centre of attention all day, every day.
The Director of Kay Christine, Gena Heraty, a Mayo woman, is a volunteer with Viatores Christi and has been working in Haiti for over 20 years. Gena and her highly skilled and committed team care for children with a disability and train families how to do so. By demonstrating love and respect for the children they challenge prejudice. Surrounded by flowers, I could see the results of their loving, heroic work in the smiling faces of the children. Brought from the shadows into the sun where flowers grow.
Misean Cara CEO Heydi Foster delivered RTÉ Radio 1’s A Living Word programme from 8th October to 12th October 2018. Heydi spoke about her experience visiting Misean Cara funded projects in Colombia, South Sudan, India, Zambia and Haiti.
In this episode, Heydi speaks about the Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa who live and work in Livingstone, Zambia.
In a world of hyper-specialisation, it’s refreshing to meet people who can turn their hand to everything and anything as the need arises. Like the Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa who live and work in Livingstone, Zambia. Working with people in really poor communities, they respond to a range of very different needs.
The Sisters receive support from Misean Cara, so I stayed with them to see their work up close. They’ve been in Livingstone for over 25 years and, far from specialising, have dealt with whatever has come their way. Today, they work with inmates in the local prison; they care for people living with HIV and AIDS; they run a mental health project; they provide adult literacy classes; they operate small-scale credit schemes and they help people with legal issues. Throughout the world, this is what missionaries do – they turn up, live in solidarity amongst poor communities for many years and work with them to meet the most important challenges they face in their lives.
I was overwhelmed by the positive energy of the Sisters that day, from when we started at six in the morning to when we finished at ten at night. I saw that they were driven by a deeply-felt conviction that everyone they met had a right to a life of dignity and opportunity. Their commitment to the people they lived amongst was whole-hearted and unconditional. I can see now that these inspiring women did have one particular specialisation – believing in people.
A Living Word – Empowering Vulnerable Women in India
Misean Cara CEO Heydi Foster delivered RTÉ Radio 1’s A Living Word programme from 8th October to 12th October 2018. Heydi spoke about her experience visiting Misean Cara funded projects in Colombia, South Sudan, India, Zambia and Haiti.
In this episode, Heydi speaks about a project run by the Good Shepherd Sisters in India that supports Dalit women through human rights and economic development activities.
Scientists tell us buffalo milk is good for the heart. On a trip to see Misean Cara’s work in India, buffalo milk gave my own heart a lift. I was visiting a project run by the Good Shepherd Sisters, working with poor communities to improve their livelihoods. I met a group of Dalit women, members of one of the lowest levels in India’s ancient social hierarchy. Dalit women, even more so than Dalit men, have no voice and little opportunity to improve their lot in life.
Each of the women had received a buffalo cow so that they could sell the milk to generate an income. The women decided not to compete with each other. Instead, the twenty of them formed a cooperative. They agreed to sell all their milk on to local retailers at a common price and not to under-cut each other. They managed the cooperative themselves. They met each week and faithfully gave a portion of their earnings to repay the cost of their buffalo.
Now they had more control over their daily income and, consequently, more control over their own lives. Within their own homes, it earned them a greater degree of respect.
I asked the group of women what would make their life better? I should have guessed but I didn’t. When the answer came – “a second buffalo” – we all laughed at how obvious it was. With such modest improvements, lives are transformed.
With or without scientific evidence I can honestly say that buffalo milk was good for my heart.
A Living Word – Caught Between Conflicts in South Sudan
Misean Cara CEO Heydi Foster delivered RTÉ Radio 1’s A Living Word programme from 8th October to 12th October 2018. Heydi spoke about her experience visiting Misean Cara funded projects in Colombia, South Sudan, India, Zambia and Haiti.
In this episode, Heydi speaks about a project run by the Jesuit Refugee Service in Maban County, South Sudan, that supports refugees and IDPs.
The silent child followed wherever we went, from tent to tent to school shed. We were a group of Khawajas. That’s the Sudanese Arabic for “foreigner”. We were visiting the vast refugee camp in Maban County, South Sudan. I wondered where his family was. I wondered what he wanted. I still wonder.
Maban County is home to four crowded refugee camps with over 150,000 people who have fled from violence in the Republic of Sudan to the north. But they ended up in a place wracked by the South Sudancivil war – replacing one conflict with another. I wonder about the things that child has seen, about his journey from his home to that temporary camp. In the four months since I visited, his silence has returned to me many, many times.
But, even in that harsh place, there is hope. Fr. Tony O’Riordan, a proud Corkman and member of the Irish Jesuit Missions, personifies it. He and his team are working to bring hope to lives torn apart by violence and displacement. There are other organisations trying to help with the basic material needs of the refugees. But Fr. Tony’s work, supported by Misean Cara, also addresses other needs – psychological support for people who have experienced trauma; education for children to bring learning to their day and hope to their future. His commitment is to the work of hope. A recent protest turned to violence. Many Khawajas pulled out. Fr. Tony stayed, cleaned up and reopened his services. Fr. Tony’s work is what provides my heart with hope for that silent child.
Misean Cara CEO Heydi Foster delivered RTÉ Radio 1’s A Living Word programme from 8th October to 12th October 2018. Heydi spoke about her experience visiting Misean Cara funded projects in Colombia, South Sudan, India, Zambia and Haiti.
In this episode, Heydi speaks about a peace building project in Colombia, run by Misean Cara member the Little Sisters of the Assumption.
In the end I said: Silencio, por favor dejen hablar a las mujeres! [Silence, please let the women speak]. I wanted the men to let the women tell their story. In Latin America, women can be sidelined, overlooked, their rights ignored. Even more so women from an indigenous background, or descendants of West African slaves. So, I asked the men to let the three women speak for themselves.
They were volunteer peace promoters in their communities – part of a Misean Cara project run by the Little Sisters of the Assumption in Putumayo, southern Colombia. This area suffered greatly during fifty years of armed conflict. Quietly, calmly, they told me about the awful cruelty in their own lives. How, when violence was everywhere, they chose to promote peace. How eventually with the Sisters they found ways to resolve disputes in their families and between neighbours. They put their lives at risk by standing up to those who used violence. One of them said to me: “It was not easy, as a woman, to be respected but we had to stop the pain which fighting brings”. The women spoke about respect for Mother Earth, about the connectedness of all things, about the need to embrace new ways of being and relating.
What struck me most as I listened was their courage. Not raw, physical courage, no. But a quiet, strong, irresistible courage that came from a deep conviction that what they were doing was right and good and, above all, embraced human dignity. The type of courage we all need to create something better.
Follow #Post Ebola and Misean Cara on Facebook and Twitterthroughout the months of December and January to see a series of message about the impact of Ebola in Sierra Leone.
The campaign will showcase the work of Misean Cara members the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny and the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary in Sierra Leone as they support Ebola survivors to rebuild their lives.
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