“A real extrovert” is how her friends call her!

Sr. Francisca Maduike comes from Anambra State, Nigeria, and grew up in a polygamous family with two wives. Of the ten surviving children, seven boys and three girls, Francisca is the fifth child. Perhaps this explains her comfort in being around people and making friends easily.

Francisca was attracted to religious life early, and this was encouraged in the missionary-run school she attended. But she encountered MMM through a Church magazine given to her by her stepbrother who was already a missionary priest.

Before joining MMM, Francisca worked as a community nurse in a hospital and later trained in public health. Her early years in MMM were spent in clinics in Lagos and in Abuja, but she was also assigned to be the contact person for other young women wishing to join MMM. She had a wide area to cover – the whole of West Africa!

In 2015, MMM started a new mission in the swampy Niger Delta area called Bomadi, and Francisca was called to be one of its founding members! There was no better woman to rise to the challenge of this new venture in an area where, in the early years, roads were few and canoeing was one of the main ways of transport.

Francisca’s hobbies are singing, dancing gardening and being around people.

“I just enjoy being around people, offering to help, chatting with people, visiting people. This gives me life and energy. I find it very easy to make and keep friends.”

Currently Francisca is in Benin City, back in community and public health work. Her current challenges are around the insecurity the country is facing. Sometimes this makes it difficult for people to access health care and for the health workers to be out among the people. They try to go in teams.

Her philosophy of life? “Life is nothing and vague when lived alone without sharing or connecting with others, especially those on the margins of life.”