All for Nun, Nun for All!
Donation protected
Update 2 months later***********
Sister Lucy arrived back in Uganda June 1st. We ended up raising over 12K through private donations and through Gofundme. She stayed awhile in Kampala because there was an African Martyr celebration that she wanted to attend. With the money from our parish, she was able to purchase some necessities for the convent which was a refrigerator and oven. They are so excited! We are still saving this money through gofundme for the things mentioned below. My mother and three of her friends are going over in December to solidify a more concrete plan on how to put these funds in the right hands. They will also be doing some service work in the area when they are there. She was recently hospitalized for malaria. She came down with a high fever and vomiting. She has been recently discharged. Please continue to pray for her and her community! God bless you all!
Hilary
**********************
Amoti! (Hello!) (Alur-Lucy’s native language)
The fundraising needs are at the bottom (in asterisks****), but if you want to read her story, continue on :)
My name is Hilary, thank you for visiting this fundraiser’s page! I met Sister Lucy Arombo (in the photo) in 2013 on a medical mission trip to Gulu, Uganda as a nursing student with Research College of Nursing in Kansas City, Mo. Her convent (the place where nuns reside) was on the hospital grounds at the time, and we became great friends during the short amount of time our group spent there! The reason I met her was because she invited our medical team to dinner with her and her fellow Nuns (p.s. they had to take out a loan to feed us).
I never thought I would see her again being eight thousand miles away. We have been emailing back and forth for the last five years and my family thought it would be fitting to bring her in for my wedding on March 16! We decided to bring her in for a month.
When she got off the plane (March 9th) and was coming down the terminal I was holding a sign that said "Welcome to the USA!" but she couldn't see me waving until she was at least 5 feet from me. That is when we realized how poor her vision was.
My mom had an eye appointment the next day at LasikPlus in Creve Coeur for herself, and the office staff heard us talking about Lucy's vision and gave Lucy a free eye exam! They said her vision was 20/725 with severe bilateral cataracts. Dr. Neil said she needed surgery, but did have a pair of glasses to give her and said it may help temporarily; when she put them on she began to cry because it was the first time she could see in nearly ten years!!!!!
The acts of kindness that happened next are beyond comprehension. We began networking right away, and with the help of family and friends, we found a surgeon who was willing to do her surgery FOR FREE!!!!
Dr. Geoffrey Hill along with his amazing staff at Hill Vision Services performed Cataract Surgery on her Right eye April 3rd and her Left eye April 9th! With follow up appointments we have extended her stay until the end of May. :)
She can now see well enough to follow the hockey puck when the St. Louis Blues are playing and she prays that they will keep winning! She is so grateful for all who have a hand in letting her see again! She had doctors in Africa that told her she just needed glasses and she knew she would die a blind woman, but not anymore!!
*******START READING HERE!!!*******
Lucy has an infectious personality and everyone she meets just loves being around her!
What we also didn't realize is how her community in Gulu lacks so many things we take for granted. Lucy has positively impacted my own life and the lives of those she has met since being in the USA and I (WE) CAN NO LONGER SIT BACK AND FEEL SORRY
****SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!!****
Since I left in 2013 she has moved to another area of Gulu, Uganda. She is now the superior of the Motherhouse in Gulu. She leads 100 sisters which includes professed sisters, postulants and aspirants. The sisters perform numerous jobs, with many of them working as teachers, nurses, communications, catechists and social workers in their local communities.
Context of the area: From 1985-2013 Uganda experienced a civil war that displaced the population of northern Uganda into internally displaced people’s camps. A great number of children were orphaned, and women were widowed. Child-headed families are common. Many children were abducted and conscripted into the army as child soldiers without their consent. Many young girls were forced into marriage with rebel leaders and raped. The children have since returned and are in need of re-integration into the community.
The 28 years of war equally affected the Little Sisters of Mary Immaculate (her order of nuns). The situation of the war became worse with the influx of refugees from Southern Sudan. There are over 800,000 refugees from South Sudan living in settlements in northern Uganda.
Women, children and the youth are the most affected and vulnerable part of the population in northern Uganda.
In addition to the high number of orphans and widows, the abortion rate in Gulu is extremely high. There is an estimated abortion ratio of 8, 346 per 100,000 live births. Young adolescent women who get pregnant are forced out of school, abandoned by their family and even rejected from society. Furthermore, the risk of maternal death following the procedure is high.
****SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!!****
In 2014, Lucy started an income generating project with the goal of bringing the most vulnerable groups of women and children onto their grounds. In her community they can work, grow and learn the skills necessary to (re)start their lives.
**************Fish Pond**************
The first project she attempted was the construction of five fish ponds that would provide them with fresh fish to sell at market. The challenges of severe drought, thieves and lack of food for the fingerling fish has made it very difficult to keep these ponds viable.
These fish ponds need to generate enough fish to sell at market. The profits from the sales help the women and youth in their community. Before she can increase their fish output and sales, they need to make improvements to the ponds. The most important projects include: building fences around the fish ponds to protect them from wild animals and thieves, digging a new well to keep the ponds safe from the unavoidable drought and purchasing additional materials to prevent the pond from eroding.
“Improving the quality of our fish ponds will allow us to employ and feed the neediest among us”
Her long-term goals are more ambitious. If the fish ponds are profitable enough, she would like to purchase a feeder machine to bag fish food to sell in the market. It would be the only machine of its kind in her community and people would come from near and far to purchase fish food from them.
***********Education Center*************
Finally, her ultimate goal is to create a safe environment for the young women in the community who are pregnant.
“We would like to start a school for these women so they can still get an education while they are pregnant.”
We believe that if she is successful in improving her fish ponds, selling more fish and selling fish food at the market she and her sisters can achieve this goal.
****Even if this money takes 5 years to be raised, it is time well spent helping her and her community in need!
Please consider donating, or offer your prayers! Check back to get updates of this fundraiser, as I will be updating it! It seems like a big goal but we are hopeful.
As a thank you, Sister Lucy would like to pray for you! Please send me your photo and intention and she will bring them back to Africa to pray at the Convent. Her prayers are powerful.
God Bless,
Friends of Sister Lucy
Sister Lucy arrived back in Uganda June 1st. We ended up raising over 12K through private donations and through Gofundme. She stayed awhile in Kampala because there was an African Martyr celebration that she wanted to attend. With the money from our parish, she was able to purchase some necessities for the convent which was a refrigerator and oven. They are so excited! We are still saving this money through gofundme for the things mentioned below. My mother and three of her friends are going over in December to solidify a more concrete plan on how to put these funds in the right hands. They will also be doing some service work in the area when they are there. She was recently hospitalized for malaria. She came down with a high fever and vomiting. She has been recently discharged. Please continue to pray for her and her community! God bless you all!
Hilary
**********************
Amoti! (Hello!) (Alur-Lucy’s native language)
The fundraising needs are at the bottom (in asterisks****), but if you want to read her story, continue on :)
My name is Hilary, thank you for visiting this fundraiser’s page! I met Sister Lucy Arombo (in the photo) in 2013 on a medical mission trip to Gulu, Uganda as a nursing student with Research College of Nursing in Kansas City, Mo. Her convent (the place where nuns reside) was on the hospital grounds at the time, and we became great friends during the short amount of time our group spent there! The reason I met her was because she invited our medical team to dinner with her and her fellow Nuns (p.s. they had to take out a loan to feed us).
I never thought I would see her again being eight thousand miles away. We have been emailing back and forth for the last five years and my family thought it would be fitting to bring her in for my wedding on March 16! We decided to bring her in for a month.
When she got off the plane (March 9th) and was coming down the terminal I was holding a sign that said "Welcome to the USA!" but she couldn't see me waving until she was at least 5 feet from me. That is when we realized how poor her vision was.
My mom had an eye appointment the next day at LasikPlus in Creve Coeur for herself, and the office staff heard us talking about Lucy's vision and gave Lucy a free eye exam! They said her vision was 20/725 with severe bilateral cataracts. Dr. Neil said she needed surgery, but did have a pair of glasses to give her and said it may help temporarily; when she put them on she began to cry because it was the first time she could see in nearly ten years!!!!!
The acts of kindness that happened next are beyond comprehension. We began networking right away, and with the help of family and friends, we found a surgeon who was willing to do her surgery FOR FREE!!!!
Dr. Geoffrey Hill along with his amazing staff at Hill Vision Services performed Cataract Surgery on her Right eye April 3rd and her Left eye April 9th! With follow up appointments we have extended her stay until the end of May. :)
She can now see well enough to follow the hockey puck when the St. Louis Blues are playing and she prays that they will keep winning! She is so grateful for all who have a hand in letting her see again! She had doctors in Africa that told her she just needed glasses and she knew she would die a blind woman, but not anymore!!
*******START READING HERE!!!*******
Lucy has an infectious personality and everyone she meets just loves being around her!
What we also didn't realize is how her community in Gulu lacks so many things we take for granted. Lucy has positively impacted my own life and the lives of those she has met since being in the USA and I (WE) CAN NO LONGER SIT BACK AND FEEL SORRY
****SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!!****
Since I left in 2013 she has moved to another area of Gulu, Uganda. She is now the superior of the Motherhouse in Gulu. She leads 100 sisters which includes professed sisters, postulants and aspirants. The sisters perform numerous jobs, with many of them working as teachers, nurses, communications, catechists and social workers in their local communities.
Context of the area: From 1985-2013 Uganda experienced a civil war that displaced the population of northern Uganda into internally displaced people’s camps. A great number of children were orphaned, and women were widowed. Child-headed families are common. Many children were abducted and conscripted into the army as child soldiers without their consent. Many young girls were forced into marriage with rebel leaders and raped. The children have since returned and are in need of re-integration into the community.
The 28 years of war equally affected the Little Sisters of Mary Immaculate (her order of nuns). The situation of the war became worse with the influx of refugees from Southern Sudan. There are over 800,000 refugees from South Sudan living in settlements in northern Uganda.
Women, children and the youth are the most affected and vulnerable part of the population in northern Uganda.
In addition to the high number of orphans and widows, the abortion rate in Gulu is extremely high. There is an estimated abortion ratio of 8, 346 per 100,000 live births. Young adolescent women who get pregnant are forced out of school, abandoned by their family and even rejected from society. Furthermore, the risk of maternal death following the procedure is high.
****SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!!****
In 2014, Lucy started an income generating project with the goal of bringing the most vulnerable groups of women and children onto their grounds. In her community they can work, grow and learn the skills necessary to (re)start their lives.
**************Fish Pond**************
The first project she attempted was the construction of five fish ponds that would provide them with fresh fish to sell at market. The challenges of severe drought, thieves and lack of food for the fingerling fish has made it very difficult to keep these ponds viable.
These fish ponds need to generate enough fish to sell at market. The profits from the sales help the women and youth in their community. Before she can increase their fish output and sales, they need to make improvements to the ponds. The most important projects include: building fences around the fish ponds to protect them from wild animals and thieves, digging a new well to keep the ponds safe from the unavoidable drought and purchasing additional materials to prevent the pond from eroding.
“Improving the quality of our fish ponds will allow us to employ and feed the neediest among us”
Her long-term goals are more ambitious. If the fish ponds are profitable enough, she would like to purchase a feeder machine to bag fish food to sell in the market. It would be the only machine of its kind in her community and people would come from near and far to purchase fish food from them.
***********Education Center*************
Finally, her ultimate goal is to create a safe environment for the young women in the community who are pregnant.
“We would like to start a school for these women so they can still get an education while they are pregnant.”
We believe that if she is successful in improving her fish ponds, selling more fish and selling fish food at the market she and her sisters can achieve this goal.
****Even if this money takes 5 years to be raised, it is time well spent helping her and her community in need!
Please consider donating, or offer your prayers! Check back to get updates of this fundraiser, as I will be updating it! It seems like a big goal but we are hopeful.
As a thank you, Sister Lucy would like to pray for you! Please send me your photo and intention and she will bring them back to Africa to pray at the Convent. Her prayers are powerful.
God Bless,
Friends of Sister Lucy
Organizer
Hilary Mackin
Organizer
Des Peres, MO
