The chair of the Irish Hospice Foundation and a Longford farmer are working to assist nuns in Central Africa who have devoted their lives to caring for others, by helping to buy cows for the small farm that provides their income.
One time Irish midlands GP, Dr. Sybil Magan, spent the widowed second half of her life as a nun in Central Africa with the Medical Missionaries of Mary caring for those in one of the most remote parts of Tanzania.
Now her granddaughter, Irish Hospice Foundation chair, Jean Callanan, and her grandnephew Mike Magan from Killashee, Co. Longford, have organised a GoFundMe effort to boost the farm.
On a recent visit to Uganda, Jean met an inspiring Ugandan nun, Sr. Jane Frances, and heard first-hand about the tough financial challenges she and her community of nuns are facing.
Sr. Jane Frances is regional superior of the Little Sisters of St. Francis in central Uganda, and she struggles to provide for the 250 sisters in her care.
“Many of those nuns are now elderly, and providing them with a good life and death, weighs heavily on Sr. Jane,” said Jean.
Jean’s response was to think of her grandmother, Sybil, who had worked in similar hospitals.
How could women who had worked so hard and selflessly for all of their own lives, be left almost destitute in their final years, she pondered. The injustice struck Jean hard.
The Little Sisters of St Francis and the hospital Sr. Jane Frances manages were both founded by an Irish woman.
Mother Kevin Kearney was born in Arklow, Co. Wicklow in 1875, and she had such a major impact on health care in that part of the world that Ugandans still to this day, refer to hospitals and hospice care facilities as ‘Kevina’.
One of the main sources of funds for Sr. Jane Frances and her community, is the land around the mother’s house where they grow food and keep some livestock.
They currently have seven cows but have space for 20, and would love to have more.
Jean and Mike have set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to buy livestock to make the lives of these remarkable women more financially secure in the long-term.
In a post on X, Mike Magan appealed to farmers to support the initiative: “I know times are tough, but if some of you can help with this…please. A cow costs about €300 in Uganda. Maybe a discussion group might have a few spare euros? Every little helps.”