Sr Teresa McKeon SJC receiving an award from President Ernest Bai Koroma in Freetown for her dedication to education and empowerment of women. An Irish missionary has been awarded for her dedication to the education and development of women in Sierra Leone.
The President of Sierra Leone presented Sr Teresa McKeon with the award of ‘Officer of the Order of Rokel’ at a ceremony in Freetown.
Sr Teresa has ministered in Sierra Leone since 1954 serving as a school principle and provincial leader, she also conducted development work with rural women in Dambala. The congregation fled in 1994 when civil war broke out, and she moved into Guinea where she helped refugees fleeing from Sierra Leone’s conflict. She returned in 2001 to help refugees returning to the country in Lumpa.
She continued her development work with women through education the following year in the Kono region. Sr Teresa is of the St Joseph of Cluny congregation, and is from Streamstown in Westmeath. She was “surprised” to receive the award “for just doing the work I was destined to do in God’s plan for me,” she added: “I humbly accept it not for myself but on behalf of all the Cluny Sisters who have ministered in Sierra Leone, and our families and supporters who have made possible our efforts to help and to empower our beloved people in this beautiful country.”