ANNUAL LETTER NO.31 YEAR 2015
04/02/2016
Dear Friends and Partners,
“Give thanks to the Lord, call on his Name, and make known among nations what he has done.” Psalm 105:1
We greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We chose these words of Psalm 105 verse 1 to thank our Lord and call upon his mighty name and make known among nations what he has done to CMM this year.
We thank God this year as we have been doing well. We continue to serve our Lord and the society around us through education, health and material things.
We would like to thank you all, our friends and partners; The CSP Sisters, The Board of Trustees of African Sisters Support Group, the CMM friends in England, The Friends of Masasi & Newala, The Rev. Fr. Nixon, Missionaries of St. Andrew Australia; Partner sein in Switzerland, Dr. Max-Beat Fluckiger and the Old Catholic Church in Germany (just to mention a few) for your great support to CMM convents. Were it not for your moral, financial and material support, some of our developmental plans would have been not materialised. Your great support has enabled us to help the most vulnerable people including Orphans, Widows and many other needy communities. Not only that, but we have been able to boost our agricultural activities and pay education costs and health expenses for the CMM Sisters.
EDUCATION:
We would, specifically, like to thank The Friends of Masasi and Newala and the Board of Trustees of the African Sisters Support Group very much for their great help in the education of the Sisters. There are three Sisters who are studying at Rondo Junior Seminary; one is in Form III and the other two are in Form II. There are also two Sisters who are currently studying at St. John’s University where one Sister is taking a science diploma in “Agriculture and Livestock” and the other one is taking a Diploma in “Community Development Studies” and they are both in their second year. It is good to point out that Sr. Violet has just completed Form VI and has also been selected to join the University of Dodoma this year and she is going to take Public Administration and Human Resources and Management Studies.
NURSERY SCHOOL:
Our nursery school in Njombe is still doing well; the classrooms for the primary school have now been extended up to STD VII this year. We would like to thank very much our friends in Canada for their great support that has contributed very much to facilitating construction of the classrooms to reach that stage.
The nursery school in Newala is also doing well. Although there was a problem in obtaining enough land for building a primary school as we planned, it has now been settled as we have already bought an area of two Acres and as soon as we get sufficient funds, the construction activities will start.
HEALTH:
Our dispensary at Sayuni is doing very well and plans are on the way to upgrade it into a Heath Center. We would like to thank so much Dr. Max and Partner sein in Switzerland for their great support in expanding this dispensary and improving the education of the Sisters. Through Dr. Max’s initiatives, the Sisters have been able to attend various trainings and acquire knowledge in Bee keeping and Herbal medicine. The knowledge and skills that the sisters received from these trainings is a great help to all CMM convents. We are also very happy to learn that through Dr. Max, the Swiss donors have agreed to continue supporting the dispensary next year. We are very thankful for this and have planned to start a Nursing School at Sayuni when we get more support.
AGRICULTURE:
Most of our Houses depend on agriculture. However, last year there was a shortage of rain and, as a result, the harvests were very poor. We are praying this year for good rains. Apart from growing food crops, we are also keeping animals such as milking cows, goats, pigs and chicken and, indeed, through these activities we earn our living.
GIRLS’ HOSTEL:
Through financial and material support from the CMM friends in England, we have managed to build a Girls’ Hostel in Masasi; which was officially opened on 8th September, 2015 by Dr. James Almasi, Bishop of Masasi Diocese who laid an inauguration stone. At the same time, Bishop Patrick Mwachiko (retired) and Mr. Dirk Juttner participated in the opening ceremony of the Girls’ hostel where Bishop Patrick was involved in blessing the building and Mr. Juttner in cutting the ribbon at the front main door of the building as a sign that the hostel was officially open for use. The aim of the hostel is to help the girls who are studying in Day Secondary schools who live far from schools to have a secure place to stay under the supervision of the Sisters. Such a situation will help to avoid problems that may lead to discontinuity from their studies due to temptations and other attractions that could cause unexpected pregnancies when they rent private houses.
EVANGELISM:
We thank God that Sr. Anna Mariamu has completed her two year Bible Course at Milo Bible School and we hope that she will be of great help in this field.
We are still making wafers (Altar bread), candles and Church Vestments.
At our last chapter meeting held at Masasi in June 2015, we decided to have one Noviciate under one roof and one Novice Mistress rather than the two we had; one Masasi and one in Sayuni. We have agreed to build the Noviciate in Songea and we are asking for your prayers and help so that we fulfil our plans. We have managed to get 10.8 acres and we have already obtained a title deed for that piece of land.
CONCLUSION:
Once again, we would like to thank all our friends and partners for your great support to CMM. We very much appreciate your financial, material and spiritual help.
God Bless you all!!
CMM SISTERS