The Catholic Center has been supporting the Little Sisters of Gulu, Uganda, for over a decade with a monthly second collection that sums up to about $25,000 a year to assist them in the operations and building projects for the orphanage that they serve.  Each year in September, a representative from their congregation visits the Catholic Center to update us on the wonderful progress that is being made.

Northern Uganda is recovering from a civil war which took 20+ years.  Besides the relative peace, the situation left the people in desperate conditions.  This has led to the rapid spread of poverty, illiteracy and mortality among the rural populace.  The major cause of such desperate circumstances is the civil war led by the Lord Resistant Army (LRA).  These rebels abducted young children, ages 7 - 15 and made them their soldiers and concubines.  Most children, in fear of capture, fled their homes and took to the streets where drugs, alcohol and prostitution are rampant, resulting in many unwanted pregnancies and very early, irresponsible marriages.

Seventy-four percent of the people who live in the diocese live below the poverty line.  A good number of school-aged children do not get a chance to continue school and are forced to leave during their primary education due to lack of educational funds.  Some of these children spend three to four days without food.

There is a high rate of illiteracy among the people, especially among the women.  Historically, women have not attended school and therefore have not believed in passing on the importance of an education.  Univeral Primary Education (UPE), established approximately 10 years ago to provide a basic education for the populace, has not truly advanced the purpose of its design.  Children are crowded into rooms together in groups of 180-200 students per classroom!

The health situation is terrible: high infant mortality rate, death of young mothers at childbirth, lack of pre- and post-natal care, few maternal health services, and few awareness programs.  Seasonal outbreaks of epidemics such as cholera, plague, and meningitis are additional threaths, due to poor sanitation.  Meansles and polio continue to threaten many children in North Uganda.  Malaria, which claims hundreds, has become a tolerated enemy due to lack of drugs and facilities.

The Congregation of the Litle Sisters of Mary Immaculate of Gulu (LSMIG) is based in Northern Uganda and was founded in 1939 by Bishop Angelo Negri, a Comboni Missionary.  The first group of Sisters professed in 1945; the Congregation is among the poorest in Uganda, and the Northern region where it is based in the most neglected and economically, war-ravaged area in the country.

Members of the Congregation work cultivating the land, teaching in schools, working as nurses, and providing pastoral care.  Moved by the burning love of Jesus Christ, the Sisters carry out dedicated missionary services to the underprivileged, the neglected, and the vulnerable; among them are the blind, orphans, HIV/AIDS victims, youth, women, and physically impaired children.

The Little Sisters of Mary Immaculate of Gulu have campaigned for the last 60 years, bringing a big change about today in the attitude towards women.  Most of the elderly Sisters fled their homes and exiled themselves as young girls in order to to become Sisters.  Years later, after they professed as Sisters, they come to be accepted by their families.

Today, there are over 486 professed Sisters, 21 novices and 19 postulants.  The war has greatly affected vocations and our numbers have dropped considerably.  Many young women who feel the call do not possess even the basic education needed to qualify for continued vocational studies, as a result of UPE (Universal Primary Education).

We continue to register our heartfelt gratitude to all who have made it possible for us to progress with the construction of the Multipurpose Center and to carry out some services as well.  With your generous contribution we have been able to

• Secure land title for the multipurpose center totaling $2,300;
• Bring the ground floor to near-completion, and it's already in use to this level at a cost of $124,314;
• Facilitate the counseling of HIV/AIDS infected and affected people, now in the building and not under the trees any more;
• Open a health science therapy called Ceragem to massage the people of all ages, with four machines;
• Manage to find some foster family homes for some children;
• Buy furniture such as chairs, bed and tables for the Center;
• Buy five sewing machines for vocational training of young girls and boys unable to continue with studies;
• Gain the ability to refer those who need medical aid to Catholic Missionary Hospitals at Lacor, Nyapea and Angal, which are distances away;
• Build open shelters for preparing and feeding some of the many homeless children during lunch only for lack of resources for more meals.

Our goal is to bring the light and love of Jesus Christ to the unfortunate victims of the civil war and other vulnerable people by attending to the spiritual, physical, social and moral needs of the captive, abused, neglected and abandoned youth of Northern Uganda.  Through your continued monthly and annual support, we appeal to all generous individuals, families, groups and association to partner with us, the Little Sisters of Mary Immaculate of Gulu to

• Continue to contruct the Multipurpose Center to become a home school, rehabilitative and medial refuge to 300 young people ($50,000);
• Purchase eight more Ceragem Thermal Massage machines and beds ($1,300 each);
• Purchase and install a solar system to cater for the power in the Center ($6,722);
• Develop a fully equipped Health Unit within the facility to screen and administer life-saving treatments to the victims of HIV/AIDS, including the now available Anti-Ritro Virus drug (ARV) and other drugs to the permanent resident youth;
• Educate and rehabilitate the war traumatized, returnees and street children ($250 per year, per person);
• Subscribe for literature used in educating and forming the resident youth, children and young mothers ($150 per year, per subscription).

P.O. Box 26269
Kampala - Uganda
Tel: 011- (256)7792-8833


US Representative
Deacon John Alvarez
St. Paul's Catholic Church
12708 N. Dale Mabry Hwy.
Tampa, FL 33618
Tel: (813) 961-3023
E-mail:  jalvarez@stpaulchurch.com

Little Sisters Website
http://lsmig.org/