Brandon Scott
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. A member of Misean Cara, an Irish membership organisation supporting the overseas development projects of missionaries who work with poor, marginalised and vulnerable communities, has said that the organisation’s aid to South Sudan, the youngest country in the world, is “building-up” systems and commended the efforts of missionary priests committed to improving the lives of the South Sudanese, saying that “you won’t meet anyone in the missionary circle that doesn’t want to be there”.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Seamus O’Leary, Organisational Change Manager of Misean Cara said that the organisation’s funding of humanitarian efforts in South Sudan has gradually amassed to over €10 million in just over 10 years.
“Since 2012, we have approved €10 million in funding for South Sudan,” he said. “That would put it in the top 10 countries where Misean Cara channels the funding.
“We put a lot of funding into an organisation called Solidarity with South Sudan, which is an umbrella body of many different missionary organisations, about 40 in total are involved. The director at the moment is Fr Jim Greene who is a Missionary of Africa Father from Kilkenny.”
The goal for Misean Cara is the development of systems in the nascent country and this is something that Irish missionaries have played an integral role in, particularly in the provision of education and healthcare. According to Mr O’Leary, missionaries working to improve the structures in the country are there because “they believe they can make a change”.
“Solidarity with South Sudan has a focus on building up systems,” he said. “A thing we like about the organisation is the way they work with the local Church structures. In many parts of the world, Church structures and institutions are the primary providers of education and health care. So trying to strengthen the Church structures around that is a key area of focus.”
“You won’t meet anyone in the missionary circle that doesn’t want to be there. They’re there because they believe they can make a change.”