Kenya Province

Introduction

The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur belong to an international Congregation. Our foundress, St. Julie Billiart and her great friend Francoise Blin de Bourdon together with Catherine Duchatel made their first Vows on 2 February 1804, in the city of Amiens in France. St. Julie, then aged fifty-five years, was from a peasant family and at that time she had been paralzsed for more than twenty years. Francoise Blin was an aristocrat who had narrowly escaped death during the French Revolution. They became friends and realized that God was calling them to found this new religious Congregation dedicated to working with the poor, especially women and children. Julie was miraculously cured of her paralysis in June 1804.

More than two hundred years have passed since the congregation began and in that time the Sisters have travelled across the world so that today they work in fifteen countries on five continents. As an international congregation we know that when the Sisters go to a new country they hope to work there and attract vocations so that in time the country will have a province of Sisters who are from that country. Let us look at the story of Notre Dame in Kenya.

The Beginnings

Kenya became independent in 1963 and shortly afterwards there was a great growth in the number of schools both primary and secondary. Teachers were needed for these schools and the Teacher Training Colleges were expanded and new ones opened. These institutions had to be staffed and the Sisters of Notre Dame were invited to Kenya to train teachers and to open and manage schools.

In 1964 members of the SND General Government visited Kenya at the invitation of Bishop Bessone of Meru Diocese. They made arrangements for Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur to teach in the Teacher Training College in Egoji and in St. Mary’s Secondary School for girls. Early in January 1965 Sister Rosemary Wach and Sister Julie Adams arrived to initiate the work until the founding group could arrive. On 25 August 1965 a founding group of five Sisters came from America to work in Egoji, Meru. Sisters Ann Maxwell, Camille Baker, Frances Hannan, William Susannah Harahan, and Marie Therese O’Brien taught in St. Mary’s, Egoji, which was just changing into a secondary school for girls having been an Intermediate School. Sr. Julie Adams stayed on and later Sisters Martina Gallagher, Maura Browne, Mary Bernard Geiger, Agnes Mary Sheridan, Catherine Joan Skelley, Margaret St. Paul Cawley, Anne Malone, Agnes Marie Shibata, Joan Kerrigan, Dorothy Castles, and SND Affiliate Florence Namulunda joined the St. Mary’s Secondary Staff at different times.

In 1966, the St. Mary’s Women’s TTC was amalgamated with St. Lawrence’s College to form a mixed college with which many Sisters remained associated until 1998. Some of these Sisters were: Ann Maxwell, Camille Baker, Christine Julie McGuirk, Maureen Shea, Agnes Fasy, Linda La Monaco, Rosemary Wach, Carolyn Buhs, Janet Mullen, Ann Mendiola, and Frances Connochie.

St. Lucy’s School for the Blind eventually occupied the buildings that had begun as St. Mary’s Intermediate School until that school was moved elsewhere. Affiliate Rosemary Atema and later Sisters Mary O’Brien and Judi Beltz taught the children in St. Lucy’s School.

Seven Sisters of Notre Dame, among whom were Claire Callahan, Fredericka Jacob, Agnes Mary Sheridan, Rosemary Wach, Frances Randall and Therese Gerard Kleh were on the staff of what is now Kenyatta University between 1966 and 1984. Their ministry went beyond the classroom not only with the students but also with other staff, the workers and their families. The last Sisters withdrew when there were graduate Kenyans ready to take their place.

Diocese of Kakamega

Eregi Teacher Training College was originally a college for men whilst the womens’ college was at Mukumu under the guidance of the Ursulines. In 1967 the Dutch Ursulines withdrew from the now mixed college at Eregi; Sisters of Notre Dame taught there for the next seventeen years. Very many teachers in Western Province were trained at Eregi and can speak of the twelve Sisters of Notre Dame who, during those years, lived and worked there. Among those twelve were: Sisters Margaret McCarthy, Marie Morris, Francine Ciccrelli, Frances Randall, Ruth Ella and Patricia Tryon. The Sisters also found ways to assist the local community by working in adult literacy and giving in-service courses for primary teachers. At that time a number of the Sisters of Mary of Kakamega had not had the opportunity to advance their schooling.

An up-grading school was opened in 1977 at Mukumu staffed by the Sisters of Notre Dame Juliet Lemelin, Patricia Loome, Katherine Hennessey, and Mary Ellen Howard. These Sisters are still happily remembered by those whom they taught for all that was shared and learnt.

Harambee Schools

Harambee was a new term in the 1960’s. It was used to bring together communities in establishing institutions such as schools. Harambee schools which prospered in time became Government schools. The Sisters of Notre Dame soon realised that Harambee schools would make it possible for girls, who would not otherwise have a chance, to attend secondary school. In 1969 the Sisters were invited by the Consolata Fathers to staff Mikinduri Girls’ Harambee School in Meru. Sisters Maura Brown, Mary Bernard Geiger, Anne Ronayne, and Patricia Loome helped to establish it so that it is today a well-known and successful school. Other Harambee schools in which the Sisters were involved were St. Kizito’s Tigania where Sr. Patricia Tryon taught and the Girls’ Harambee School in Egoji, which Sr. Rita Keesey helped to start.

Another Harambee school was Eregi Girls’ Secondary School which was opened on 13 May 1970, the feast of St.Julie, by Sr. Camille Baker, helped by Sisters Francine Ciccarelli and Anne Ronayne Many girls have been students at this school which was well-established and then in 1976 was handed over to the Sisters of Mary as had been planned from the beginning.

In the same year as Eregi Girls’ School was opened, Sisters Margaret Usuka and Maureen Shea, then later Mary Milano and Mary Fitzpatrick began Hambale Commercial School (now St. Clare Maragoli Girls School) to provide secondary education together with training in secretarial skills and in home science so that the students would be equipped to find employment as soon as they completed Form Four. Once well-established the school was handed over to the Sisters of Charity of Mary Immaculate and the Sisters of Notre Dame moved on.

Religious Education

The teaching of religious education was very close to the heart of St Julie and the Sisters in Kenya took seriously the call to develop the teaching of religion in the schools. In Meru Diocese Sisters Ann Maxwell, Frances Randall, and Anne Ronayne were for ten years the Diocesan CRE Directors and in the course of their ministry they travelled many kilometres on slippery roads to help the teachers to develop their skills and knowledge so that the students would benefit. A little later Sister Ann Maxwell moved to do the same work as CRE Director in the Archdiocese of Nyeri training teachers in the teaching of religion. Sister also established the Pastoral Centre for the Archdiocese. In 1981 this work was taken to the Diocese of Lodwar when Sisters Anne Ronayne and Rita Keesey went to the diocese to train teachers in religious teaching, as schools were being opened for the children of the Turkana and methods had to be adapted to a pastoral people. Later Sister Ann Maxwell was on the original team that established CISRET – Centre for the In-service Education of RE for Teachers, a programme which was developed, organised and run for the training of teachers in Catholic religious education and in the work of the Pastoral Programme. CISRET was made available to a number of dioceses and contributed greatly to the effectiveness of the teaching of religious education in Kenya.

Institutions of Further Training

AOSK – the Association of Sisterhoods of Kenya – is an organisation which was founded to help the religious sisters in Kenya, especially those belonging to diocesan congregations, to work together for their common good. Several Sisters of Notre Dame collaborated from 1973 to work in posts such as Executive Secretary, Sr. Claire Callahan, and provided the vision needed to oversee the building of the Scholasticate in Nairobi which set out to offer courses for young religious who needed further religious study so that they would be able to take a full part in the work of their congregations. In time this developed into the institute known as Tumaini, a place of training, especially for religious. Sisters Miriam Teresa O’Connor, Patricia Loome, and Barbara Metz helped with this formation ministry.

At a slightly later date, Sister Frances Randall who had been teaching at Kenyatta College withdrew from the College in 1983 to start Amani Counselling Centre. The whole concept of such a centre was new in Kenya at that time and Sister put great energy into making the centre known and encouraged the setting up of more courses to supplement the counselling which was taking place. Sr. Carole Proctor later joined in counselling at Amani Centre. Today the centre is well-known and respected.

Starehe Boys’ Centre

Some Sisters had a great interest in teaching at the primary level and this led in 1974 to the beginning of an association with Starehe Boys’ Centre where Sisters Linda La Monaco, Juliet Lemelin, Miriam Teresa O’Connor, Ann Maxwell, Francis Connochie and Jane Soita have worked as teachers in both primary and secondary sectors and in various other capacities. The Centre is home to many boys, a great proportion of the students are very poor and receive an education despite their home circumstances which are such that there is no hope of finding fees for primary or secondary school.

For many years, Dr. Geoffrey Griffin, founder of Starehe Boys’ Centre and School, dreamed of starting Starehe Girls. In 2005, the dream became a reality. Dr. Geofrey Griffin encouraged Sr. Jane Soita to go teach at Starehe Girls’ Centre and School in Kiambu. Today, she is the Director of the School.

Kisumu

In the Archdiocese of Kisumu, Sisters Mary Ellen Howard and Janelle Sevier lived and worked in Pandipieri Catholic Centre and later established Magadi Catholic Centre with Sisters Ruth Ella, Janet Mullen, Anne Strange and Stella Humphries. In Magadi the Sisters had a special emphasis on projects for women. These centres are in the heart of Kisumu where poverty and unemployment are widespread. The Sisters began projects to help the people to develop their own opportunities for advancement and to deepen their spiritual lives. These projects included a tie-dye industry, a home science centre, a library and an art centre. There are many churches across Kenya which have murals painted by the students and graduates of the Art Centre where Sr. Janet Mullen was the artist in residence. The Fish Group which was started by Sister Mary Ellen Howard and Mill Hill priest Tony Chantry in 1984 was a well-known group for Youth in which faith-sharing led to action to serve the local community and there were social and educational activities such as sports, drama, music and seminars. This group has helped very many young people to understand their faith, to practise it and to become valued members of their communities. Another project was work with street boys helping them to earn their own living and to return to the community. Two Sisters were for a long time deeply involved in firmly establishing Small Christian Communities at a time when this was a new development.

Lodwar

Lodwar diocese, Turkana District is hot, dry desert. Drought and famine are frequent and devastating in their effects. In 1981 Sisters of Notre Dame Anne Ronayne and Rita Keesey went to Lodwar, one to be the Director of Religious education for the diocese and the other to be in formal education. Lodwar was one of the dioceses in which the CISRET programme was used and Sister Anne Ronayne travelled around the diocese helping the teachers to adapt their methods-of teaching CRE. Since that time, development education and leadership training, especially for the women, has resulted in a vibrant programme, the women having their own centre at Nawoitorong in Lodwar. In 1983 a day primary school for girls was opened in Lodwar town by Sister of Notre Dame Juliet Lemelin, assisted by Sisters Rita Keesey, Rosemary Atema, Pauline O’Shea, and Marie Martin McGuire. This became a two-stream school which produced many secondary students. As school fees continue to rise and poverty increases this school has declined in numbers but still endeavours to educate as many girls as possible. In 1989 the school was handed over to the Sisters of Mary although Sisters of Notre Dame have continued to take a keen interest.

Many children in Lodwar drop out of school and there is an informal school during the afternoons which seeks to enable the children to return to full-time education. A holiday programme for the girls provides opportunities to spend time together, to discuss, to learn and to be ready to return to school once the term begins. There is much work to be done in Lodwar.

Kakamega Again

Bishop Sulumeti Girls’ Secondary School – the first girls’ secondary school in Kakamega town – was opened in ‘January 1982 as a day secondary school especially to serve those girls who could not afford to attend boarding schools. Two Sisters of Notre Dame, Patricia Loome and Ellen Keane guided this school through its first eleven years finding funds for buildings and trying to help with fees for some of the students. Because of the Sisters’ good administration the school very early received government assistance. In 1993 the school was handed over to a lay head mistress and is doing well. Today there are many boarders and the school has changed considerably. More recently Sister Jane Soita taught here from 2010 to 2014.

New Areas of Ministry

Between 1985 and 1988 there were three significant new areas of ministry. For a short time, Sister Patricia Tryon went to Marsabit at the request of Bishop Ravasi to help to establish the Moi Girls Secondary school and within weeks found herself as the headmistress.

She worked hard to teach, to run the school and to provide buildings. After two years she resigned as there was at that time no other sister to be with her in Marsabit and the place is very far from any other Notre Dame community. The school continued taking strength from the work done during those two years.

The second new area was the opening, in 1988, of the mission in El Obeid in the Sudan. The needs in the Sudan are very many and the project had been under consideration for ten years. Sisters Jane McAndrews and Carolyn Buhs taught in the secondary school and did pastoral work. St Julie tells us to do the good we can do – not all that there is to be done. In that spirit the Sisters, with regret, left El Obeid partly because of the need for the Sisters to be available to the formation programme in Kenya. Sister Carolyn Buhs, joined by Sister Mary Ellen Howard continued to work with the Sudanese in Kakuma Refugee Camp and later Sr. Carolyn Buhs moved to Blessed Josephine Bakhita Sudanese Formation Centre in Kitale where both catechists and teachers were trained for work in Sudan.

The third of these new developments was the work with the Institute of Development Studies in the University of Nairobi. Sister Dorothy McCormick was the Director of the Institute of Development Studies for many years. The work of the Institute includes research and development amongst the jua kali workers and has influenced the growth of some enterprises, especially some owned and managed by women, to become export businesses.

The 1990’s

The year 1990 saw the celebration of Notre Dame’s first twenty-five years in Kenya. This was a time to see how the original ideas had grown, changed and expanded. The charism of education had by then become understood in a very much wider context than that of formal education which nevertheless has always retained a place. At that time and for several years later Sisters and those in formation worked in the Mukuru School, Nairobi, which is a project of the Mercy Sister, Sister Mary Killeen. At that time also health ministry started and is still part of Notre Dame’s ministry in Kenya. Sister Masheti Wangoyi worked for some time in the maternity department of the Mater Hospital in Nairobi. For several years Sister of Notre Dame Janelle Sevier was a member of the parish team at St. Teresa’s Eastleigh. Her main work was the training of lay spiritual directors and giving directed retreats. Another Sister was involved in parish work, helping in the initial setting up of Small Christian Communities.

Sister Mary O’Brien began teaching in St. Peter’s Minor Seminary in Mukumu of Kakamega Diocese in 1996. Many priests of that Diocese are very grateful for Mary’s help in understanding Mathematics.

By 2010 we had bought land in Kisumu and Sisters Masheti Wangoyi and Evalyne Aseyo were working at the Great Lakes University of Kisumu.

As Kenyan vocations began to come it became clear that we could begin to look forward to a time when the Sisters in the Kenyan Province would be mainly Kenyan and this realisation brought a change of emphasis. In order to be rooted in Kenya we needed to find a home for Notre Dame, Kenya, and so, in 1995, after much research we purchased ten acres of land in Malava near to Kakamega. Gradually we developed a farm and built a place of formation for our postulants as they journey towards the novitiate and profession. Looking forward to a Kenyan Province made us also move towards ministries in which we could work together as Sisters and also be seen to be Sisters of Notre Dame following St. Julie who said, “We are for the poor, only the poor.”

In 1997 the Nairobi parish began a Creative Learning Centre for children from Shauri Moyo, the Director being Sister of Notre Dame Rita Jolley. Sister handed over once the Centre was established and meanwhile also worked towards the setting up of the Challenge Programme in the parish for mentally and physically handicapped children. Both of these programmes continue to flourish and to serve children from very poor parts of Nairobi.

This concern for the handicapped was also seen in one of the ministries in Malava begun by Sr. Judi Beltz. There are many children with various handicaps and the families need help to know how to teach the children to make the best use of the abilities they have. Another venture in Malava was the work with the parish sponsored Youth Training Centre where Sisters Mary O’Brien and Catherine Horan taught skills to school leavers which enabled them to be employed. In addition, work with Catholic Women Groups sought to aid in development, education and income generating.

It was with great joy that the Notre Dame Educational Centre, Malava, began slowly with the Preprimary units under the guidance of Sister Margaret Inziani and Jane Nyaga. Many other Sisters have taught there and are teaching there today. Now the Centre has reached Junior Secondary Grade 8.

We credit the continuing growth of NDEC to the contribution of the many sisters, friends, partners, donors, parents, the different administrative boards, the teaching and non-teaching staff members and the learners. The story of NDEC will certainly continue beyond our time.

Notre Dame Educational Center Malava

Formation

When Sisters of Notre Dame first came to Kenya it was with an understanding that they would help to develop education to meet the needs brought by independence and then withdraw from Kenya. At the time of independence there was a great need for teacher training and also to establish secondary schools for girls as, until that time, there were virtually no opportunities for girls to attend secondary schools. The Bishops’ asked the Sisters to help young girl who felt that they had a religious vocation to join the local diocesan congregations. As time went on young women were attracted by the charism of St. Julie and asked to join the Sisters of Notre Dame. After much prayer and discernment, it was agreed that a formation programme could be developed and started. Our first Kenyan Sister, entered the novitiate in 1984 and made her final Vows in 1990, The next Kenyan Sister made her final Vows in December 2000. Our Kenyan Sisters have grown in number and almost all SNDdens today are Kenyans! In an international congregation we can always hope to have some Sisters from other provinces as part of our Kenyan Province for a longer or shorter time, such as our Nigerian SNDdens Apollonia Ibekwe and Esther Adama, Congolese SNDens Lilian Sweko and Astrid Bamba, and many Zimbabwean novices.

Adaptation

We can see from the ministry of one Sister in particular how the general pattern of the ministry of the Sisters developed from strictly formal education into much broader fields of educational work during the years. Sister Fredericka Jacob arrived in Kenya in 1966 and went to teach chemistry at Kenyatta College – it had not then become a university. After a time, this teaching work broadened into research into the causes and effects of the common types of childhood malnutrition. Catholic Relief Services then asked Sister to assist in coordinating their sub-Saharan programme aimed at preventing malnutrition in children aged under five years. This work took Sister all over Africa and involved educating the mothers and those who taught the mothers.

For several years Sister Fred gave an annual series of lectures on nutrition to medical students in Ethiopia. Later Sister worked for Jesuit Relief Services and for People for Peace working for justice and seeking non-violent ways of achieving a more just society in Kenya. Then her work took her to teaching the novices in the joint novitiate for Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. That is how Sister Fred worked not only for Kenya but for the wider Notre Dame community.

The New Millenium

The New Millenium has witnessed great growth of the Notre Dame Mission powered by Kenyan SNDs! Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS) inspired the Sisters to recall that the Congregation was a displaced entity from the Diocese of Amiens to that of Namur. Fredericka Jacob, Jane McAndrews, and Evalyne Aseyo journeyed with refugees from Rwanda, Burundi, and Sudan between 1993-2009.

In mid-2004 the Kenya Unit purchased a five-acre piece of land in Lang’ata and construction of the novitiate house began. On 14 August, 2005, the Sisters had their first real home on their own land in Nairobi blessed by Bishop Mugambi, the good friend of Sr. Anne Ronayne from her Meru days. Sisters Gerry Bolzan, Rita Keesey, and Evalyne Aseyo formed the novitiate community welcoming the Kenyan women desiring to become Daughters of St. Julie.

New Mission in Eldoret Diocese

In 2021 we opened our doors as Daughters of St. Julie by accepting the invitation of Bishop Dominic Kimengich to the Diocese of Eldoret, where we were invited to run a secondary school for differently abled youth.

Bishop Korir Memorial Secondary School for the Differently Abled opened its doors on 8th February, 2023. This boarding school is mixed boys and girls with both hearing impaired and hearing students. Bishop Dominic Kimengich officially blessed and opened it on 11th April, 2023. Our sisters from different local communities attended. Our Congregation now has another opportunity to look ahead and work harder to make a better and brighter future for learners who are differently abled.

The Future

Sisters of Notre Dame have been in Kenya for fifty-seven years and during that time many Sisters from USA, from Britain, from Japan have lived the mission of the Congregation in Kenya. Now we see a province which is still small but is becoming a real Kenyan Province of Notre Dame. We are part of a world-wide Congregation and look forward to further enjoying the fruits of our being international. We look forward to continuing our collaboration especially with our Sisters in other African countries – Nigeria, Congo-Kinshasa, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. St. Julie told us to, “Have confidence in the good God, great confidence, and all will go well.” With that before us we go forward into the next forty years.

Endpiece

St. Julie Billiart was born on 12 July 1751 and so we have in 2001 celebrated her 250th ‘birthday’. It has been a time of rejoicing and recommitment to our mission. Our congregation became two hundred years old in the year 2004. Is God inviting YOU to be inspired to become a Sister of Notre Dame ready to give your life to God as a Sister and to minister among those living in poverty in Kenya – or elsewhere in the world? We would be happy to be in contact with you as you seek to know God’s will for you.

Why not write to:

Vocation Animator, Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, Billiart Community, PO Box 15220-00509, Nairobi; or perhaps visit the Sisters at the house in Lang’ata-Karen;

or in the house at Malava PO Box 323-50103 Malava

You will be very welcome.                                 

 26 December 2023

Bibliography

Maxwell, Anne. (1990), Kenya 1965-1990. Nairobi, Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Kenya Region

Connochie, Frances. (2001), Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Kenya 1965-2001. Starehe Copy, Nairobi, Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Kenya Unit

Masheti, Wangoyi B. (2020), Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur Mission Beyond Expectations Kenya Unit 1965-2018. Ipswich, MA, Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur Congregational Mission Center

Cherop, Carol K. (2023) Email to Kenya Unit