MALAWI: Catholic Sisters urged to sustain mission, fundraise for mission sustainability

Prince Henderson, Contributor

Catholic Sisters drawn from United States of America (USA) and sub-Sahara African countries of Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi have been challenged to prioritize their mission by addressing the root causes of poverty through advocacy and pastoral care hence; the rest, including money shall follow them.

This was said during a five-day training workshop on mission sustainability for 36 Sisters in Lilongwe, Malawi.

All-Africa Conference: Sister to Sister (AAC: SS) organised the workshop which centered on Communications (Public Relations) and Fundraising (Development) for Mission Sustainability. It was aimed at empowering the Sisters with knowledge and skills on how best to serve their respective communities and Congregations.

In his key note address Kerry Robinson, Trustee of Raskob Foundation, an organization funding AAC: SS asked the Sisters to be worth of generosity, mission-driven and to have desire for excellence across the board, including temporal affairs.

“Why it matters that we honour donor intention and are transparent and accountable with finances, it’s why ethics matter. Be trustworthy. Be joyfully confident. It is not motivating to give when the person asking perceives fundraising as an obligation that she dreads. Letter sent out asking for money each year,” said Robinson.

Sister Eneles Chimbali, Senior Program Officer for AACC: SS said fundraising is at the service of philanthropy, so the desire to promote the welfare of others, the common good can be expressed by giving time, talent, and treasure.

She said people give money to organizations they know about and getting messages out to the public and prospective donors is crucial to fundraising.

“How you do that will depend on who you want to reach. Many tools are available: websites, newsletters, press releases, radio and TV, social media, personal communication. Personal communication is often the most effective. Volunteers, current donors, former students, Board members, patients, staff, and others who know the organization, share its values, and support its mission can be helpful in soliciting gifts, “she said.

Sister Chimbali said transparency and accountability are cornerstones for ethical fundraising as both enhance public trust, which is essential for the sustainability of the organization or ministry. Of particular interest, the participating Sisters who are from various professionals were challenged to pay much attention and provide support in dealing away with addiction and substance abuse, mental illness, HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 and domestic violence within their Parishes or institutions they save.

“Sister to Sister believes that education empowers women Religious to become change agents in their community and better advocate healers for the poor, especially women and youth. At the same time, we are helping women Religious build a mutual support network built on their deep faith and devotion on the Gospel,” said Sister Chimbali who belongs to the Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary congregation in Malawi.

Sister Patricia Nwafor, a Dominican Sister in Nigeria, said she feels blessed and privileged to have attended the workshop as it has enlightened her mission work and that she has now realized the power of collaboration. She said as religious, she feels they are called to be missionaries first and money follows.

“That implies for me that our lives as Religious is first and foremost the Gospel we preach: and then, we attract people even without using words. When they are attracted, they are also transformed by our way of living. When we want to involve them in our life and collaborate it becomes easy for them either to support our mission work because we first affected their life and they will now in turn affect our own life too. I think that is where the beauty of collaboration lies,” said Sister Nwafor who is also the Secretary for Nigerian Conference of Women Religious (NCWR).

Another participant, Sister Beatrice Chanshi of Franscan Missionary Sisters of Assisi who comes from Zambia but is on a mission at Likuni Hospital in Malawi said her Congregation runs various donor dependent initiatives and the training has helped her to gain more knowledge on how best to write project proposals, report writing, being accountable and keeping good rapport with donors.

“Most importantly, we have learnt to be patient with donors, attend to them and not only seeking for money from them at all times. I have also learnt a lot from colleagues from different countries through shared experiences which has strengthened our networking,” she said.

All-Africa Conference: Sister to Sister (AAC: SS) was founded in 2002 by the Sister leaders in Africa with Sister Margaret Farley and Sister Eileen Hogan during the meeting between a group of African and North American theologians at the Yale Divinity School. The African Sisters themselves suggested a conference of women Religious with an aim of addressing the ongoing HIV/AIDS pandemic challenges across sub Saharan Africa. With that the first AAC: SS conference took place in Nairobi – Kenya took place in 2002.