Overseas Mission

Although not a 'missionary congregation' in the narrow sense of having a particular charism for overseas mission, our vow of Service of the Poor means we are open to making ourselves 'extensively useful'. But it was not until the Australian congregation was well into its second century that we discerned the time and circumstances were inviting us to reach out in our turn to the peoples of third world countries.

Fiji

The first overseas mission of the Australian Sisters of Charity was to Cawaci, Fiji in 1957. Three sisters took over the education of the indigenous congregation of the Sisters of Nazareth, both at secondary level and in training as nurses and teachers. By 1965, they had helped the community to a stage of being self-sufficient in training their own. In some cases, further education both in nursing and teaching was made possible by the Sisters coming to Australia. Supported by the hospitality of the Sisters of Charity, they were able to widen and deepen their earlier training within our congregational apostolates in Australia.

Papua New Guinea / Bougainville

In 1963, a secondary missionary endeavour saw five Sisters of Charity travel to Papua New Guinea where, in the village of Bundi they opened and ran a boarding school for children of the highlands area. This PNG ministry was later broadened to include inspection of primary schools, secondary education at Madang, tertiary education at the Teachers' College at Rabaul, and involvement in the Melanesian Institute for Pastoral and Socio-economic Services.

In 1989 during the time when the nursing sisters were working in Bougainville, another Sister of Charity joined the staff of St Mary's High School in Asitivi, a Catholic secondary boarding school. Even at this early stage, rebel Bougainvillians were intent on sabotaging the huge copper mine at Paguna. During her time there her roles ranged from teacher and infirmarian to motor mechanic. After she left in 1989 the members of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army ransacked many schools and religious houses and the religious teachers were forced to escape.

In 1990 the work of one of our Sisters in the health centre at Tunuru, Bougainville, was cut short when nine expatriate Sisters were forced to evacuate to Australia. The Sisters saw this as a tragedy for the people. They had been trying to steer a middle course between the militants and the members of the occupying military, giving both factions health care as far as they could. The clinic was left in the care of indigenous health workers - wonderful people who nevertheless were very frightened and who knew their resources of money and medical supplies would soon be exhausted.

From 1990 to 1992, three Sisters worked in the Diocese of Vanimo. Their work comprised Religious Education in the schools, Justice and Peace sessions, retreats for teachers and mission personnel, setting up medical centres, instructing the villagers in hygiene, nutrition and ways of repelling the dreaded mosquitoes. They were also involved in office work as Diocesan Secretary and project coordinators of various health and education initiatives.

Solomon Islands

The presence of the Sisters in the Solomon Islands goes back to 1986 when a Sister began working in Tangarare. This assignment was completed in 1987 and further work in high school teaching was undertaken in Tenaru in 1988. A short-term mission venture was a three-month assignment for a Sister of Charity who was to set up a Catechetics programme for primary schools in the villages of the Solomon Islands and to familiarise catechists with the programme. Resources were limited and of poor quality so it was a difficult task. The unfailing kindness and hospitality shown to the Sisters is something they will remember perhaps more than the hazards of travelling. They admit to feeling humbled by the simple beauty and generosity of the Solomon Island people.

Western Samoa

Beginning in 1991 and, in one case, through to 1995, two Australian Sisters worked in Western Samoa in a girls' secondary school managed by Samoan Sisters of the SMSM Order. Learning to live in a culture diametrically opposed to any they were accustomed to, the Sisters' adaptability led them into all sorts of situations, many dangerous, some very funny. Cyclonic conditions and an earthquake formed part of their mission experience in this territory. Lasting friendships were formed with the other religious co-workers and with the hospitable and delightfully welcoming Samoan people.

American Samoa

One of the Sisters who had worked in Western Samoa later undertook the role of principal of St Theresa's Primary School, Leone, in American Samoa. Here, in 1997, she found that the school was better resourced, in theory, than the schools had been in Western Samoa, but there were problems with finance. As in many missionary countries, the Sisters saw part of their role as pointing out instances of social injustice - never an easy role.

El Salvador

In late 1994 our first venture into mission in El Salvador took place when one Sister, having immersed herself in the Spanish language for many months, took the brave step of going there. Initially she lived with a family who proved extremely hospitable and caring as she commenced her work in the parish. Parish activities included working with children in catechetics programmes and travelling to the cantons for Mass. These cantons which numbered forty had Mass once a month, and the physical effort of travelling to them was considerable. In the health field Sister worked with a team of American doctors running an eye project in the Pueblo.

Africa

While Sisters are no longer involved in Fiji and Papua New Guinea, the past twenty years has seen a burgeoning of responses in other third world countries, including the very significant step of ministering side by side with Sisters of the Irish congregation in Africa.

Zambia

In response to a request from the Irish Congregation of Sisters of Charity two Australian Sisters joined them in January 1984. Both worked initially in secondary schools and as others joined them in the nineties, their ministry diversified until they found themselves working in health care, in primary schools and in a Refugee camp in the North Western region close to the Angolan and Zaire borders. Some of these Sisters who volunteered for Zambia went with vast missionary experience in Fiji, Bougainville, Thailand, Papua New Guinea and Western Samoa. All of this experience was invaluable in places such as the United Nations Refugee Settlement where the people came initially from Angola and Zaire, with smaller groups from Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia and the Sudan. The Sisters' skills in teaching, administration, formation of Church Leaders and social work with the women and girls were highly valued by the people and by those trying to ensure for them a better quality of life and, ultimately, repatriation.

One Sister worked with Irish, Zambian and Nigerian Sisters of Charity nursing in a rural hospital in Chikuni in the south of the country. Desperately short of drugs to treat diseases, they also found many people chronically short of food, clothing and money for education. Following very serious drought conditions most areas lacked a clean water supply so that the dreaded cholera broke out in 1992, firstly in the Kitwe area in the North, but sporadically in other areas also, and this was a terrifying addition to the malaria, tuberculosis, meningitis and AIDS-related illnesses always present. Life-threatening experiences for the Sisters came from virulent diseases, from the presence of bandits, from poor roads and vehicles which led to fatal accidents. The Sisters mourned the deaths of many expatriate missioners and friends, some of whom succumbed to the ever-present malaria and other diseases.

Nigeria

From 1995 two Australian Sisters worked in education with the Irish Sisters of Charity in Nigeria. In the extremely large Primary School the Sisters used their vast experience of writing Sacramental programmes for Australian children, adapting them for their Nigerian counterparts. The roles of Bursar in the schools, parish ministry and supportive roles in the formation of young Nigerian Sisters of Charity also became part of the work of one of the Sisters. Language is always a difficulty for our Sisters working in overseas mission and nowhere more than in African countries.

Rwanda-Zaire

In 1994, two Sisters j oined a CARE Australia team working as volunteer nurses in Nshoda Camp in Goma Zaire where their special focus was children 0-2 years old who formed a section of the three thousand 'unaccompanied' children. Their hope was to re-unite some of these children with their families, but unfortunately because of malnutrition and diseases, including AIDS, more than half the babies in their care died in Goma. Conditions were appalling, but the Sisters wrote with humour and infinite compassion about their young charges. They were jubilant when some of the children began to respond to their singing and were ecstatic on the rare occasions when parents were re-united with their lost children. This was 'healing the broken-hearted' in the true sense. Because of the high value placed on their work, both Sisters were asked to return to Rwanda for a second period. Once again their task was coordinating the work with unaccompanied children. It was heart-rending to try to help babies who, in developed countries, would have been placed in Intensive Care Neo-natal Units; many of the babies were so tiny and fragile that they died.

Macedonia

During the conflict in Kosova thousands of people were displaced into the neighbouring country of Macedonia. As a response to this crisis a Sister was sent with CARE Australia to assist in providing the refugees with safety, food, shelter and basic services including medical services. The Sister responsibilities were to provide Mother and Child Health Centres in the Cegrane Camp. CARE Mother and Child Centres functioned as a distribution hub and health education and referral point. Mothers were provided with the necessary items to care for their children. Referrals were made to the medical services in the camp. Cegrane Camp serviced by the Norwegian Red Cross Field Hospital and Medecin San Frontiers (MSF). The Sister was in Macedonia from June to September 1999.

East Timor

In the lead-up to the vote on the issue of autonomy for East Timor in 1999, an Australian Sister of Charity went there with a team from Caritas Australia. She was a first hand witness to the oppression, manipulation and straight out fear tactics imposed by the Indonesian military on a people who had suffered since the invasion of their country in 1975. Returning to work there in early 2000, she contributed significantly to the setting up of local health clinics in the mountain areas outside Dili. Treatments, dressings, staff training for development and for basic nursing skills were part of her work in a country still far from stable and tragically under-resourced.

Sadly, in 2003, the Sisters of Charity the sister involved was forced to return to Australia with a serious illness. Her subsequent untimely death meant the closure of much of this wonderful ministry but her memory lingers on in the hearts and minds of the East Timorese people.