Beauty Nanyangwe of Zambia, shows off beans harvested at her family farm, where she grows crops to feed her family and sell for profit to fund her other farming and business ventures. Beauty took part in the Households in Distress project run by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, funded by Misean Cara. The Irish Catholic Autumn Legacy Supplement 2024
Five years ago, Beauty Nanyangwe, a single guardian to her two young nephews, was struggling to support her small family with the meagre income she earned from poorly-paid piecework. When the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary offered a ‘Households in Distress’ project in her area to train women in farming as a business, she quickly enrolled.
The classes taught Beauty how to efficiently and sustainably farm a variety of crops such as beans, maize, ground nuts and sweet potatoes. Over the past few years, Beauty’s hard work has earned her success through her farming ventures, making it possible for her to build a new, iron-roofed house for her family and invest in oxen and a plough to boost the productivity of her new banana orchard. She also leases the animals and equipment to other local farmers, for extra income. “I really thank Misean Cara and the SSHJM – HID programme for changing my life,” says Beauty. “In the past, I could only eat one meal a day, but can now eat three.”
Since 2004, Misean Cara has helped Irish missionary organisations like the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary to bring services and projects like these to the poorest, most marginalised people in developing countries, transforming lives out of poverty and into secure, healthy futures.
Celebrating 20 years of support to Ireland’s Missionaries
2024 marks an important milestone for Misean Cara as it celebrates the 20th anniversary of its founding. Originally established to provide grant funds to individual missionaries overseas, Misean Cara has grown over the years to a network of 77 member organisations working in over 50 countries.
Funded primarily through the Ireland’s Irish Aid Programme, Misean Cara provides dedicated funding to missionary development organisations and also works with them to build the skills and capacity of their organisations and staff.
Last year, Misean Cara provided support to 321 projects in 52 countries implemented by 52 member organisations. These projects helped transform the lives of nearly 1.9m people across the world by upholding the right to climate resilient livelihoods and decent jobs, quality education, better health, human rights and support during emergencies.
Over the past century, the extraordinary work of Ireland’s missionaries has been acknowledged both at home and abroad as having greatly contributed to local and international development. During an address in Kenya in 2001, President of Ireland Mary McAleese remarked “Centuries before a free and independent Irish nation sent her first ambassadors around the world, we were privileged to have the best unpaid ambassadors in our Irish missionaries.”
Moving into the Future of Missionary Development
One undeniable factor affecting missionary development work today is the fact that the numbers of missionaries coming from Ireland is in rapid decline. So, what does this mean for the Irish missionary model, and the future role of Misean Cara?
In the place of Irish-born missionaries, thousands of local missionaries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are now training to take on the leadership of the projects in their countries, carrying on the charism and tradition of Irish missionary work, and poised to take over the leadership and management of development projects serving vulnerable communities.
The majority of existing Irish missionary organisations will retain a presence in the countries where they operate, with the focus on locally led development. Misean Cara will continue to support the international development work of the Irish missionary organisations and is committed to working with a new cohort of missionaries from the global south.
To learn more about Misean Cara, the Irish missionary tradition, and how you can support the continued legacy and impact of Irish missionary development overseas, visit Misean Cara’s website at: www.miseancara.ie/legacy/