Correspondent: Sr Nora McNamara

I was born in Lisselton Co. Kerry in the mid 1940s into a farming family and conditions not to far removed from what I found in Nigeria when I arrived here in 1970. Perhaps the greatest similarity here was the dependency on subsistence farming without any form of light or heavy industry. The country was recovering from the aftermath of the civil war and Idah diocese bordered on the war affected areas. In this way it compared to places I knew. The holdings were much smaller than in Ireland and there was almost complete absence of the most basic amenities especially water. Here the situation differed greatly from Ireland. Electricity was an unknown quantity. Educational standards were low.

However, the Church was young and dynamic and under the leadership of a French speaking Canadian Vicar Apostolic Mgr.L Grimard CSSp. The prefecture was new and poor but there was determination to succeed coupled with concern to change from the situation from poverty to something more dignified befitting each human being directly or indirectly involved with the Church.

The driving force was the post conciliar documents, which challenged the Catholic Church to include in its remit the need to look for the root causes of hunger, disease, poverty and famine. The status quo had to be examined. Why was the situation as it was and what could be done?

Sr Nora hosts a project review delegation