UGANDA: Medical Mission Sisters Celebrating 25 Years Of Presence At United Nations
As the 193 member states mark the 74th Anniversary of the United Nations, the Medical Mission Sisters Worldwide are also celebrating 25 Years of presence at the United Nations where they have participated and achieved special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Counsel (ECOSOC). Since 1994, the Medical Mission Sisters have been committed to promoting peace, justice, and sustainable development for all the People and the planet.
The MMS worldwide and especially in East Africa, are privileged to be part of this international and global community that work for the common good. The Sisters’ vision of mission is being “Rooted in God and the call to mission in the spirit of Jesus the Healer to the entire community of life”.
This year, as the Congregation marks 25 years of presence at the UN, MMS in Uganda have opened two missions in addition to the ones that exist already. These two missions are in response to the ‘Care of Mother Earth Our Home’ and the Mega Migrations.
As a response to the plight of mega migration of refugees, they have estalished Adjumani Community in, Arua Diocese. This area is in the Northern part of Uganda commonly referred to as ‘West Nile’ and there are approximately one million refugees from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo due to political Instabilities.
The other mission is being established in the Archdiocese of Tororo, Eastern Uganda where the Sisters are setting up a ‘wholistic eco-spirituality formation centre’ as a model permaculture site and center of sustainable agricultural practices and livelihoods using the permaculture approach which is a tool for community sustainable resilience, empowerment and ecosystems restoration.
For a region like East Africa, where resources are scarce and the problems of deforestation, soil erosion and lack of water are compounded by increasingly severe impacts of climate change, the MMS have, in all their communities, embraced Pope Francis’message on Care of Mother Earth Our Common Home to provide a framework for developing ‘climate resilient’ agricultural and land regeneration techniques that can help develop climate change resilience.
The Medical Mission Sisters, who are involved in all the 15 United Nations Sustainable Delvelopment Goals (SDGs) are looking forward to continuing their presence at the UN, but at the same time working at the grassroots especially in areas of social justice, economic justice, environmental justice, gender issues, human rights and victims of migration.
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By Sr. Immaculate Tusingwire, MMS
