Visit from Uganda Hero, Sr. Rosemary

Sr. Rosemary Nyirumbe of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus based in Juba, South Sudan, spent two days visiting with students and faculty at the WaTER Center. She presented her work to the Sooners Without Borders evening meeting, and met privately with WaTER Center staff and interested students over the course of her visit. The next morning she toured the Fears Lab where she showed much delight at the projects involving ecolatrines, brick-manufacturing, and Field Methods training. 

Students and staff of the WaTER Center meet for dinner in Norman
at the beginning of Sr. Rosemary's visit.

For the last 30 years, Sister Rosemary has answered the call to serve the least among us from the epicenter of a bloody and violent civil wars that decimated northern Uganda and South Sudan. Armed with only a sewing machine, Sister Rosemary openly defied Joseph Kony and the rebel soldiers and commanders of the Lord’s Resistance Army in their 20-year reign of terror. Since 2002, Sister Rosemary has enrolled more than 2,000 girls who had been previously abducted by the LRA or abandoned by their families. Anyone who steps foot on the grounds of the Saint Monica campus in Gulu, Uganda, will instantly recognize there are few other places on earth where a community of women learn to become self-reliant and change agents for peace and prosperity. Sister Rosemary has taught these brave girls to make their own clothes, grow their own food, learn a valuable trade, and show mercy to others that are less fortunate.

Rachel Whitten and Sr. Rosemary at the launch of the new Sisters United
line of pop-tab purses, made by the hands of Saint Monica students.

Sisters United, LLC is a for profit business designed to promote a fun and trendy global brand of fashion, while at the same time, supporting certain non-profit causes, like Pros for Africa  and St. Monica’s Girls Tailoring School in Gulu, Uganda. Pros for Africa is an Oklahoma-based nonprofit foundation whose mission is to "connect professionals of all fields with the children of Africa". They have graciously provided assistance for two students, active with Sooners Without Borders, to travel to Uganda this summer to work with Sr. Rosemary and her marvelous school and orphanage.

For more information, go to:

www.sistersunited.com

www.prosforafrica.com