The community is engaged in the three ministries namely; Riara Ministry-Kibera, Vocation animation and study. There are five sisters in the community two are working in partnership with Mirror of Hope Community Based Organisation, three are studying and one sister is responsible for vocation promotion.
Riara Ministry: This is a new initiative and the first of its kind in the Congregation that MMMs are working in collaboration with one of the AMMMs, who runs a community based organisation called Mirror of Hope CBO in one of the urban slums in Kenya. There are two sisters working in this Project.
Mirror of Hope CBO office is located in Kibera. The organization is currently running the following programs for women and youth in the community namely:
Mirror of Hope CBO office is located in Kibera. The organization is currently running the following programs for women and youth in the community namely:
Vocation Animation: One of the sisters is responsible for vocation promotion in Kenya. She is supported by the sisters in the community and in the country. She is also in touch with other MMM sisters in the congregation who sometimes refer prospective candidates to her that contact them through the internet. There is a vibrant network of vocation animators in Kenya (Kenya Association of Vocation Animators) which she works in collaboration with for vocation promotion in schools, higher institutions and parishes.
Working with Mirror of Hope CBO which deals with young people is a good opportunity for her to attract vocation as well as impact meaningfully in the lives of the youth.
Study: There are three sisters on full time studies and one sister on part time study, doing an on-line course in counselling psychology in Riara Community. One sister is doing Nursing at Daystar University Nairobi, another in Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) studying Social works and lastly a sister studying Religious Formation at Tangaza, who is finishing her program this year. Their studies are going well in spite of the challenges of the pandemic.
MMM Mukuru Health Centre offers a wide range of services both at the facility level and at the Community. They are as follows below:
Maternal child health:
Antenatal clinic for pregnant mothers (ANC). All mothers are encouraged to do HIV tests and if any of the mothers is positive, they are immediately transferred to the PMTCT clinic to be managed properly to ensure that the baby is given birth to as HIV negative.
All the above are carried out by registered nurses and are supported by Community Health Volunteers (CHVs)
Outpatient Department(OPD):
We have consultation rooms where clients are being seen after which prescriptions are made according to the illness. These services are carried out by Clinical officers.
Labratory:
We have a routine laboratory with proper equipment where tests are carried out as required. We also run a TB lab where tuberculosis tests for clients who present with the symptoms are carried out. In doing this, we have a Biosafety machine to process sputum and this has made our work easy over the years. These are done by professional staff who are qualified as Laboratory Technicians.
TB/HIV Departments :
This is where clients who are infected with either TB or HIV are attended to and put on treatment.
We do the Direct Observation Therapy (DOT) for TB clients to ensure that drugs are well taken by the clients. We provide milk and food baskets for clients who are on intensive care, this will enable them take their drugs with ease and reduce the pill burden.
HIV clients are also on food baskets especially those who are needy and cannot afford a meal. Food helps them to take their medication without reactions. They also often suffer from the lack of a balanced diet. There is a daily adherence counselling session for all clients present so as to encourage them to live positively and not default in taking their medication.
Both HIV and TB clients undergo regular psychosocial support to help them accept their status and leave a positive life. We also have support groups in which they belong to and participate monthly with other members. In that forum, they are able to share their experiences and learn from each other regarding coping mechanisms amidst other things.
We have weekly workshops in households and schools on Counter Human Trafficking (CHT). The outcome of this is that when community members suspect any trafficked child, they refer them to our facility and then we do a follow up to rescue the child and where possible, reintegrate the victim back to his or her family.
HTS Centre:
We run a HIV Testing and Counselling (HTS) Centre where clients walk in and request voluntarily to be tested for HIV and if positive, they are counselled and put on care and treatment.
Pharmacy:
We have a Pharmacy dispensary where medication is dispensed according to prescription for clients. This is handled by a certified pharmacist.
We run a health record unit where we collect data daily for analysis which helps for managerial decisions for the growth of the facility. The data collected feeds into the agenda of interventions to be conducted in every department at the facility and health zones at the wider community.
Social office:
It is engaged in listening to all clients that present with psychosocial challenges which includes cases of HIV and GBV. Thereafter the clients are referred to the various departments or institutions that can help deal with their issues or further manage them. We also work with communities to empower them to make informed decisions about their lives in the footsteps of Paul Freire, where we encourage communities to come up with initiatives that will help them solve the challenges that they have as far as health and development is concerned. It will be good to note here that survivors of GBV and victims of human trafficking are given priority at our facility and when we rescue them, they are put in safe houses as we follow up on counselling sessions for them as well as legal interventions as the case may be.
Community engagement:
We engage the youth around our catchment area on sanitation and hygiene. One of the activities we carry out with them is monthly clean up inside the slum as well as garbage collection from household after which the youth in turn separate what needs to be disposed from what can be recycled and then it is sold out to buyers and income is gotten to do small businesses to fend for themselves. This is really thriving.
We also engage and work with community health volunteers and village elders in the different interventions at community level because they are the gatekeepers and we can always get valid information from them as to how to work better and breach gaps where needed. We do a lot of outreaches on HIV/TB/GBV/CHT interventions as well as, these are done in households.
We also go to schools for health programs and our talks are on different messages according to the trends. Through the school health program, we get connected with young girls who have dropped out of school due to pregnancy, and so we are able to help them with counselling sessions and safe spaces until they give birth.
We have a program called WE MEN CARE. This is to bring men on board to be champions of safe health care. We do this by encouraging the pregnant mothers to come with their spouses so that as the mothers are being attended to, we can engage the men by educating them on how to take care of their wives during and after pregnancy amidst other things. We also use that opportunity to carry out HIV testing for the couples present.
Sr. Martine Makanga, MMM tells the story of her special ministry in Congo-Brazzaville.
It is three-fold:-
1) At the new Catholic University of Congo- Brazzaville.
The Catholic University opened in March 2024 situated at Liambou village 20km from the town of Pointe- Noire.
This year we had 187 students mainly women 90% distributed in 6 departments (Biology, Chemistry, Computer Sciences, Geology sciences, Physics, Mathematics).
For the moment we have the cycle of 3 years courses for each specialty.
Later we will increase the level of specialization such as Masters, and Doctorate for each specialty.
I am the Vice – Dean at the Faculty of Sciences and Technology give also lectures in Biology and act as a medical doctor for the sick students.
Our team at the administration is small as we have a small number of students and trying to face some challenges.
However, we are glad to see the students happy to study near their home and are grateful for the training they are getting.
2) Delivering free pediatric surgery service to disadvantaged children as I am a chief consultant pediatric surgeon, professor in Pediatric surgery.
Sometimes, twice a week I do free outpatient clinic to some pediatric surgery disadvantaged children through Caritas center whose parents cannot afford to pay the Hospital fees.
I am grateful to some benefactors who sometimes pay the hospital, anesthetic fee, the medications for them, I do free surgery for them.
I am grateful to the team of nurses and anesthetists who help me during those surgeries and the parents are happy and grateful to see their children healed after being operated and will be able to go to school.
We have a list of more than one hundred children waiting for surgery, but we don’t have sponsors for them in order to perform the surgeries.
We hope in the Lord’s providence.
3. Working as a pastoral minister at the Archdiocese of Pointe-Noire as a health coordinator of diocesan priests, religious men and women of the Archdiocese of Pointe- Noire. Coordinating the health emergency services with a team of volunteer nurses and doctors during local pilgrimages and religious celebrations. The bishop asked me to do it for free. I agreed to do so.
Since October 2025 last year, the Archbishop of Pointe- Noire Mgr. Abel Liluala asked me if I could be a health coordinator and health advisor of the priests, religious men and women of the Archdiocese of Pointe- Noire as sometimes they face challenges when they are sick.
I find this service important an MMM, it is part of our MMM healing charism “Be with those who suffer in compassion…. We are called to an extraordinary adventure…. Be rooted and founded in Love.”
I am happy as an MMM and have the privilege to serve God’s people with people of good will
– through the education of the youth at the New Catholic University of Congo-Brazzaville at Liambou Pointe- Noire so that the students may be able in the future to participate to the development of the society and the country Congo.
– Through the surgeries procedures in underprivileged children and relief care and compassion to their parents
– Through the health services and advice to the priests, religious men and women of the Archdiocese of Pointe- Noire.
Kasina
Kasina Health Centre (KHC) started providing health services in 1946 under the administration of the Missionary Sisters of Africa. In 2005 the administration and day-to-day management of KHC with its PHC/Outreach programme was entrusted to the Congregation of the Medical Missionaries of Mary. MMM added the Outreach Development Programme to their services in 2008. In 2007 KHC built and opened an HIV Testing and Counselling Centre. PMTCT services commenced in 2008.
In the ministry, we are all engaged in health care with specific services:
The Medical Missionaries of Mary Healing Centre (MMM HC) is a clinic which takes care of minor illnesses as well as preventive care, especially health education. It is an expanded program on immunization, antenatal care to pregnant women, social and sustainable development and the administration of the facility.
The MMM HC is located at a place called Eastern Bank some three kilometers away from Wau town across the Jur River. This area has a population of over twenty-five thousand people (25,000) who are mostly returnees from some war torn states within South Sudan. The MMM HC operates five times a week while field work under the social department is done twice a week and this takes care of some elderly people in the catchment, malnourished and sick children and demonstrates gardening to improve nutrition.
Nangwa
We collaborate with the Good Samaritans and a volunteer from local Government Council 1, by giving health/ life skills talks to youth in parish and schools as well as visiting the elderly. We take the elderly and children with disabilities to hospitals for medical care and rehabilitation centers respectively. Michael’s House is supporting us to bring hope to the destitute elderly by paying for their medical care, providing food supplements and starting Income Generating Activities. We had initiated literacy classes to disadvantaged young women but covid-19 made us stop them for now.
If an elderly has a specific problem, for example with eyes or fracture, a special trip is fixed by both the Good Samaritan representative and MMM and we take her to a health facility where she can get such care.