Local nun returning to Africa

Local nun returning to Africa

12 April 2017

A MISSIONARY sister has appealed for support as she prepares to make a farewell trip to Zambia.

Sister Mary Delargy, who is one of just two remaining Sisters of Mercy in Downpatrick, will travel to the south African country in June to oversee the completion of a house being built for an impoverished family.

The retired schoolteacher, who began her career at Convent of Mercy Primary School in Downpatrick in 1974, will also meet students she has sponsored throughout their secondary and university education through local fundraising.

As the Sisters of Mercy prepare to withdraw from Zambia and hand over their projects to indigenous sisters, Sr Mary says she expects this will be her last visit to the country she first travelled to in 1999.

Recalling the culture shock she experienced during that first visit, she remembers being reduced to tears during an encounter with a blind elderly woman who was preparing to look after her grandchildren as her daughter died from AIDS.

She said she was also humbled by her first visit to a local market where women sold handfuls of flour to feed their families.

Despite the devastating levels of poverty, she was amazed by the strength, generosity and faith of the Zambian people. She said that admiration never left her, prompting her eventual move to the country for eight years in 2004.

It was during this time she met Charles Mwanda, an administrator and translator for the Mercy Sisters whose family, including four young children, live in very poor conditions.

Through fundraising at home, Sr Mary began to oversee the construction of a house for the Mwanda family and she is determined it will be complete by June before she says her final goodbye.

She is also looking forward to meeting 22 year-old Astridah Phiri, who she has helped through school and university with help from St Mary’s High School students in Downpatrick and provided with a basic two roomed hut in which she lives alone.

“When I travel to Zambia I remember each time the difference sponsoring one woman like Astridah can make to an extended family,” she said.

“When they get a job they they educate other members of their family. The expectation is that they empower their own siblings.

“You are not just educating one person, you are empowering the whole family.”

Sr Mary will host a fundraising coffee morning on Saturday, April 22, in the St Michael’s Centre in Downpatrick. She hopes people will come along to support Zambian projects in their final stages.

“Sisters have already built schools and centres for women that have been handed over to other religious orders,” she said.

“Although we will continue to send money out through the bank the reality is that we are in the process of leaving Zambia. Our work has come to an end.

“It would be wonderful to undertake as much work a possible when I travel there in June.”