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.
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.
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.
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.
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 begun 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.
Notre Dame Schools in Syokimau, educate more than 1,000 students in pre-primary (preschool), primary, and junior levels. The school offers holistic development, life skills, mentorship, and extracurricular activities to empower students to succeed.
Aloysia Outreach Program provides food, pastoral care, and tutoring to individuals living in the Kicheko slums in Nairobi.
Our Lady of the Visitation girls boarding school in Timau, Kenya serves the nomadic Samburu tribe. For many girls, Our Lady of the Visitation provides their only opportunity for an education.
House of Studies in Karen: This property houses sisters who are studying in various colleges in the Nairobi area. A greenhouse and livestock project provides food for 1600 people living in the surrounding neighborhood.
Today, African Sisters of Notre Dame lead these ministries with strength and vision. The Global Missions Fund, through your generosity, empowers local leadership and the education of African Sisters of Notre Dame.