31 Jan 2023
The Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (OLSH) are a vital part of our Sacred Heart Family,
working in partnership with MSCs all over the world under our shared motto:
“May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved.”
OLSH ministry in Brazil
The Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart are active in their ministry in several areas across Brazil, from educating young children to caring for the elderly, and everything in between. This year, they’re appealing for our help in funding a number of different projects that will continue to change lives for the better in regions of real and pressing need.
In Alfenas, OLSH Sisters run a second-hand clothing shop, where the money raised from sales is used to buy food supplies for poor families in the area. Currently, the outreach programme provides food for 65 local families each month. Our 2022 World Projects Appeal helped the Sisters to raise money for essential renovations to the shop, and washing materials to launder the clothes for resale. This year, the Sisters are appealing for our help once again, as they do not always receive enough monthly donations to provide enough food to the families that depend it.
€1,000 will help the OLSH community in Alfenas to continue their outreach work
in providing food to families in real need.
The Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart began ministering in the small city of Eldorado in February 2022, working to help people in the local parish. Sr Ivone, one of the Sisters there, has founded two groups of the Lay of the Chevalier Family to help reach local families in need. Sr Ivone provides spiritual support to these lay groups in their shared mission.
€1,000 will purchase a multimedia projector to assist Sr Ivone
in sharing the Sacred Heart spirituality and mission.
Last year, our mission friends helped OLSH Sisters in Maranhão to buy essential liturgical items for Mass in remote locations. This parish is responsible for 18 small chapels, with approximately 250 catechists working with 2,000 young children who participate with the catechesis across their mission stations. This year, the Sisters need help to provide catechism books for the children attending the chapels across the parish. “It is a joy for us to serve the people,” write the Sisters in their appeal.
€1,000 will buy catechism books to help 2,000 children in their ongoing education.
OLSH Sisters in SĂŁo Paulo run an outreach programme in an aged-care centre, where workshops are offered to elderly people who wish to take courses in topics including English, smartphones and computers, yoga, handcrafts, and more. Before the COVID pandemic struck, the centre catered to over 110 elderly people, and the demand is now rising once again. The majority of the people who attend the centre come not only to learn new skills, but to share their days with others and avoid loneliness.
€1,000 will provide materials for the Sisters’ workshops for the elderly,
such as equipment for embroidery and knitting classes.
In Campinas, OLSH Sisters run a kindergarten that currently welcomes 210 children from vulnerable backgrounds, providing them with a safe space to learn and grow. The Sisters are working to raise funds for two current projects: the purchase of fans to make their kitchen a safer and more comfortable work space when cooking meals for the children, and the renovation of an eco-friendly playground area, where children can play and grow in harmony with nature.
€2,000 will contribute greatly to the ongoing care of young children in the kindergarten.
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR OLSH SISTERS IN THEIR GLOBAL OUTREACH
OLSH outreach across Africa
With ongoing mission projects in education, childcare, agriculture, and healthcare, OLSH ministry is touching and transforming lives across Africa.
Burkina Faso, located in West Africa, is one of the poorest countries in the world. In its capital city, Ouagadougou, OLSH Sisters began working to nurture and educate disadvantaged children in 2007. Unfortunately, many children in the region are unable to attend school due to poverty, or travel distance. The Sisters in Ouagadougou make every effort to accommodate as many children as possible, which has led to issues with overcrowding in the available spaces.
The Sisters are currently working to raise a total of €9,170 to facilitate
the division of a large hall into separate classrooms,
in response to the ever-increasing demand for school places.
The Holy Family Care Centre is a residential care facility for children located in Ofcolaco. Currently home to 75 abandoned and chronically ill children, Holy Family provides a loving, nurturing environment for children with critical medical needs, who have nowhere else to turn.
Sr Sally Duigan FDNSC, leader of the Holy Family community, is appealing for support for ongoing necessities in the centre, including medications and baby formulas, educational supplies, weekly groceries, everyday clothing, and petrol to transport the children to and from school and hospital appointments.
€10,000 will provide immeasurable help to the Holy Family community as they continue their work in providing loving, caring childhoods to children in real and urgent need.
The Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Senegal have set up a small farm on their novitiate programme, in order to produce food for their daily needs, and to make their community more self-sufficient. Since the initial establishment of the farm, they have added poultry, rabbits, and pigs. The current global financial crisis has raised the cost of feed significantly, and the Sisters are appealing for funds to help them to purchase enough maize for the coming year.
€1,000 will contribute to maize supplies for the novitiate farm for one year.
In Toutouli, Cameroon, the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart have three hectares of land, including an orchard and a large area used for growing food crops. The produce grown supports the dietary requirements of the OLSH community, while they also sell food to local families. Encouraging self-sufficiency for the OLSH Sisters, this project also creates employment opportunities as they hire local workers to help on the farm.
€10,000 will purchase essential new equipment,
such as hoes, machetes, motor pumps, sickle blades, and juice extractors.
Lyonda, a village in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is an area of great poverty in a country that faces ongoing battles with diseases such as malaria, leprosy, and monkeypox. OLSH Sisters run a health care clinic for the local population, and are currently fundraising to be able to install equipment, including solar panels, batteries, and lamps, to give the community at the clinic access to solar energy and improved treatment facilities.
€10,000 will make a huge difference to the Sisters’ ability
to provide efficient health care to local families.
“Our sincere thanks to your wonderful benefactors in the Irish Province for the assistance you give to us. It is very much appreciated! We remember you in prayer, with deep gratitude.”
~ Sr Jenny Christie FDNSC, International Development Officer for the OLSH