Nuns in Swaziland Attend to People “who have lost their livelihood” amid COVID-19

By Mercy Maina

Manzini, 03 June, 2020 / 3:13 am (ACI Africa).

In an effort to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on families in Swaziland, members of the Missionary Sisters of Mary Help of Christians (MSMHC), a Religious Order of nuns based in the Southern Africa country, are reaching out to the needy with humanitarian relief, the nuns involved in the intervention in Manzini Diocese have reported.

“We, the Missionary Sisters of Mary Help of Christians, touched by the poverty and suffering people of Malkerns (Manzini Diocese), planned to reach out to the needy, by offering them food, sanitizers, soap and masks which are basic needs at this time,” the Sisters reported.

In the report published June 1 by the Catholic Diocese of Manzini, the Sisters indicate that “there are thousands of people who live from hand to mouth, on a daily basis. With the deprivation of jobs, there are many who have lost their livelihood.”

Since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in the two-diocese nation on March 14, the initiative spearheaded by three nuns in partnership with various benefactors has benefited 1,955 individuals in some 425 families across 31 villages.

The landlocked Southern African nation, which borders Mozambique and South Africa has recorded at least 293 COVID-19 cases, 194 recoveries and three related deaths.

The nuns have distributed about 350 masks to the vulnerable people of different faiths in the area.

They have solicited what they need to continue with their initiative by writing letters to companies and well-wishers requesting for partnerships and support; the nuns have also conducted surveys of the needy in communities including the elderly, the sick and the poor who are the main beneficiaries of their initiative.

“We conducted our first outreach program to the needy people of Ekufenyeni village, which is our ‘Focus village’ and a few families from Malkerns on 14^th March 2020, distributing food stuff for them as the part of our works of charity even before the lock down,” the nuns have reported.

Founded as the first indigenous Congregation in North East India in 1942 by the Salesian of Don Bosco Bishop of Shillong, Venerable Stephan Ferrando, MSMHC was established to respond to the missionary apostolate of proclaim the Good News of God’s love through their total commitment to missionary evangelization, which “demands self-giving without limits of energy or time.”

The members of MSMHC provide their services in other African countries including Mozambique, Lesotho, South Africa, Sudan and Ethiopia.