The Sisters of Notre Dame serve in East Africa educating children, empowering women, providing healthcare and forming future leaders for the Church and society. Other outreach includes social work and pastoral care, which often involves cultivation of food for distribution to those in need. Their ministries span Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. Although these missions were founded by SNDs from India and the United States, their leadership is now comprised entirely of African Sisters of Notre Dame. SND USA continues to support East Africa in educating native sisters and making plans for long term sustainability
Tanzania
Tanzania remains one of the poorest countries in the world, despite its political stability. There are almost two million orphans in Tanzania, many of them HIV-infected. SNDs arrived from India in 1992, providing the first SND presence on the African continent. In Arusha, there is a house for candidates discerning entrance into the SND community, as well as an international novitiate community. Sisters serve in education, healthcare and social work ministries.
Aloysia Home, Kiomboi
offers residential care for orphans and children from challenging family situations. This home is a response to the great number of children orphaned due to HIV/AIDs. Students attend Notre Dame Primary School and nearby secondary schools.
Zinduka Women’s Centre
in Arusha helps women gain literacy, economic independence and leadership skills. Women are introduced to micro-financing and income-generating small businesses such as tailoring.
Outreach to the semi-nomadic Maasai
began in 2010. Sisters lead small Christian communities, sacramental preparation programs, women’s empowerment groups, and nursery school programs. Through caring outreach, SNDs have gained the trust of the Maasai elders.
Education Ministries
In Tanzania, SNDs operate 6 schools in Kiomboi, Njiro Arusha, Simanjiro and Mpanda. They educate children in nursery, primary and secondary school levels. Sisters focus on meeting the physical well-being as well as educational goals of the children in their care.
Uganda
Sisters of Notre Dame from Covington, KY and Los Angeles, CA began ministry in Buseesa, Uganda in 1995. What started as a small mission has grown into a major educational compound that includes early childhood, primary, secondary and junior college-level education, as well as a formation center and a working farm.
St. Julie Mission in Buseesa, Uganda, includes St. Julie Nursery School, St. Julie Model Primary Boarding School, Notre Dame Academy Secondary School (including both O-level and A-level studies), St. Julie Formation House and a working farm.
Notre Dame Education Center Mpala was established in 2009 as a house of studies and hospitality. Postulants from Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Uganda live in this house in the city during their initial formation as young Sisters of Notre Dame. The site also includes Notre Dame Nursery School.
Notre Dame Convent and School Buwama, Mpigi is an emerging ministry. Sisters have begun food cultivation and drilling for water. They plan to open a school in the coming year.
Kenya
Kenya serves as the formation and administrative hub of the East Africa Delegation. Formation emphasizes spiritual growth, leadership development and English fluency, essential for university education and for uniting sisters from many ethnic and linguistic backgrounds.
