SENEGAL |
SENEGAL |
RNDM PRESENCE IN SENEGAL
To express what presence in
Mission is for us RNDM in Senegal,
what better symbol can we find than the "calebash" – a practical
and
beautiful vessel.
A "calebash":
Fruit of the earth
Gift of the rains
Ripened by the sun
Emptied to receive all, to resonate the rhythms of celebration
The calebash is present in the life of the Senagalese people from birth until death … in all the ceremonies of life. It is also simply there every day, for the life of each day. The calebash is open to receive, to listen; it is ready to pour out freely as gift all that it has received. A calebash circles in communion and has the depths of prayer. May we be calebashes for the people we have been missioned to here in Senegal.
Population - 8.3 million
Religions - Islam:94%; Christian (mainly Catholic) - 4.9%; In country areas, still a strong influence of Traditional Religion.
Languages - French (official language); Six officially recognized national languages of which Wolof is widely used.
Literacy - 30% (significantly less for women).
There are two RNDM communities in Senegal: 1) Mboro in the region of Thies and 2) Ndondol in the region of Diourbel. The Sisters arrived in Mboro September 22, 1971. On October 18th of that year kindergarten was opened and on November 8th a Dispensary was opened. Two years later (1973) was the opening of the Parish Primary School.
The new mission at Ndondol was opened September 26, 1984. In 1996 the Sisters celebrated 25 years of presence in Mboro and Senegal. At present there are 5 Sisters living and working in Senegal one from each of the following five countries: Australia, France, Peru, Central India, and New Zealand.
During 2000 we started to welcome some younger Sisters who have made their first commitment in their own country, and for whom it is now time to experience an international mission in preparation for their act of final profession.
By the end of 2001 we had with us two sisters from Kenya, two from Vietnam and one from the Philippines. They are experiencing life in an RNDM international community, and work in a mission and culture totally different from their own. After two years with us they will return to their own countries to reflect again on their call to RNDM missionary life and to prepare for Final Profession as a Sister of Our Lady of the Missions.
1. Yvonne Baumann [French] works full time in the Mboro clinic, which
handles more than 100 patients from the local area every day.
2. It is a good idea for the Sisters to get a blood test from time to time in
the clinic - Fabiola in action, Patricia Boyd [New Zealander] in the chair, and
Maureen Dwan [CLT] observer.
Health: Dispensary; Mother/child health care groups; Nutritional program; Vaccination program; Formation of health workers; Health education and animation in villages and schools.
RNDM
DISPENSARY, MBORO
Photo: Waiting area at the Mboro dispensary.
The people start arriving at the dispensary from
early in the morning, having walked in the cool of the pre-dawn to wait patiently for
their turn.
There will be anything from 150 to 250 patients each morning, depending on the time of the
year.
All types of care are provided –
maternity, accident and emergency, infections, dressings.
The dispensary has a FWD vehicle to
take the staff around to the villages for vaccinations and other health programmes, and to
take serious cases on the two-hour drive to the nearest hospital.
The dispensary has its own laboratory
and can do all the basic analysis work needed for care of infections and of the blood.
Photo:
Other links for Child-health
Resources - child-health related news, books and web resources.
Report from Senegal – Mother and Child Health Programme <from Sister Patricia Boyd>
Here
in Senegal we are blessed with the support of generous friends who have helped us over the
years. One of these dear friends is Carein Roselaars-Phumers. Carein returned to her
native Holland two years ago and with friends there has set up an NGO (non-government
organization) which presently funds three different projects in Senegal. One of these
projects - the responsibility of our Sisters at Ndondol – is concerned with nutrition
and other health related activities in the villages around Ndondol.
Madame Philomene Dione works with seventeen groups of mothers with infants aged 0-30 months ( total – some 850 women). At the monthly session with each group the babies are weighed and Philomene presents and discusses with the women a specific health topic. Sometimes she demonstrates the cooking of a meal for the children. Children identified at the weighing session as being malnourished are brought to the Centre each week; here the mothers received further advice and a small quantity of enriched food, vitamins etc. The women make a small financial contribution for each session – their families often have little or no cash income.
Carein’s NGO is funding this work for a year – meeting the cost of Philomene’s salary, helping with vehicle costs (fuel and maintenance), and establishing a credit fund to initiate and support group activities e.g. buying stocks of local produce to be processed ready for cooking.
Philomene’s own words are a warm testimony to her own commitment and to the generosity of our friends who enable this work to continue: "What makes me happiest about my work with the women is when I see their response in action. Also I know that, since we started the mother/child programme, the survival and health of the babies has improved so much. Above all I enjoy the stimulus of the direct contact with so many women, in this milieu where I belong, with all the links of our family relationships. As well as being able to influence the way the mothers care for their children, I can also use the opportunities to improve relationships between the women themselves."
Pre-natal visits
Sr. Amala and Sr. Dorothy
Most families in Ndondol - an isolated rural area - have no books to help with their children's education.
One of the fruits of the 18 years of the Catholic development project in Ndondol is that the parents have an increasing awareness of the importance of education for their children. The number of children going on to secondary education is steadily growing but the resources are very limited.
With the help of RNDM Solidarity Funds the Sisters set up a small library of reading and resource books for the secondary school teachers and pupils in Ndondol. The Sisters used one of their own rooms and the school Principal and teachers encourage their students to use the library for research and borrowing.
Sister
Elsie Valenzuela d'Acosta (Peru) watches Samba Dieye sign out his book.
Sister Patricia Boyd (New Zealand) who is responsible for the buying, helps
Youssou Sène select something for his research.
to offer their donation to any Sister of Our Lady of the Missions
or email fundraiser@rndmgen.org
Project : SEN-1 : Metal shelving for the Mission Library, Ndondol
In 2001 the RNDM Solidarity Fund helped the Sisters at Ndondol set up a small library of reading and resource books, principally for the teachers and pupils of Ndondol’s Junior High School The same fund helped us build an extension to the library in 2003. The library is very much appreciated by all who use it and the College Director attributes a large part of the success of his pupils in the public examinations to the increasing availability of resource materials in the library and the pupils’ use of them. Sr Elsie has been responsible for running the library very successfully and has been able to offer part-time work to some young people from the village who assist her in the library work.
The new project seeks assistance to replace the wooden shelving with metal ones. Every rainy season Elsie has to store all the books as the termites make their annual visit to feast on our wooden shelves! Metal shelving is more expensive, but given the valuable asset that the library has become for our young people, we feel it is a necessary expense.
The local contribution to the shelving is US$250.
The request to RNDM Solidarity is for US$1500.
Project : SEN-2 : Assistance for malaria medicines, Mboro
Our dispensary at Mboro, founded in 1971, is the focus and base for a health care programme serving people in the numerous villages scattered throughout the Rural Community of Mboro and often beyond this. With a team of 9 Senegalese - of whom one is the Chief Nurse - and one Sister, the dispensary offers curative services as well as an important laboratory service, a weekly ante-natal clinic, various preventive programmes [vaccinations, hygiene, nutrition] in outlying villages, and education/information programmes concentrating on Aids, sexually-transmitted diseases and malaria prevention.
Over the past few years our dispensary has been able to function financially completely from the contributions of the sick to our services. Now we find that we are having difficulty in covering all our costs. We would like to ask for financial assistance to help pay our medicine bills; more precisely assistance to cover the cost of medicines for malaria treatment. Each year the dispensary treats over 2500 stricken with malaria, and medicines for their treatment have become more expensive. The medicines for malaria make up about 1/6th of our annual bill.
The annual medicine bill comes to US$12,000 – 13,000. The amount available locally is US$10,000 – 11,000.
The request to RNDM Solidarity is for US$2,000.
Donations can be made by
contacting fundraiser@rndmgen.org or
any RNDM Sister
Pastoral: Catechumenate; Catechism classes; Sacramental programs; Support of catechists; Women's groups; Vocational group; Home visitation; Support of small Christian communities.
Michel, Sr. Yvonne - Mboro
ASSOCIATES AND VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
Senegal does not offer an Associate program at present. They do offer volunteer opportunities especially in the health care area.
Notre Dame des Missions - Regional Co-ordinator
Mission Catholique
BP 57
MBORO
Senegal, West Africa
____________________________________________
VOCATIONS
We have a contact Program for girls and young women interested in the RNDM way of life and charism. For the past two years we (Senegal RNDM's) have welcomed 3 of our Kenyan Novices on apostolic missionary experience and next year (2000) we will have the joy of welcoming RNDM Temporary Professed Sisters from Kenya, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Anyone interested in more information regarding vocations in Sengal contact:
Notre Dame des Missions - Regional Co-ordinator
Mission Catholique
BP 57
MBORO
Senegal, West Africa
More info on Senegal missions and
apostolates see: Newsletter #4/00,
#2/02, #1/03,
#3/04
