East of the Rift Valley Region
The East of the Rift Valley Region is one of two Regions in Kenya. It comprises of all the Convents of the Little Sisters of St. Francis found in Nairobi Archdiocese, Nakuru, Meru, Embu, Kitui and Machakos Dioceses.
The Administrative House / Regional House is situated in Kasarani in the outskirts of Nairobi city, 3km off Nairobi – Thika Super Highway and approximately 15 km from the Nairobi city center. There are 184 Sisters living in 27 Communities and serving in 7 Dioceses. We have one Novitiate in Kenya namely: Bahati Novitiate in Nakuru Diocese.
The administrative office began during the reign of the first African Superior General Sr. Mary Bernadine in 1972. Due to the mounting political instability and tension between Kenya and Uganda, the dream of Bahati Novitiate in Kenya was actualized. This is how the East of the Rift Valley Region grew with the following administration: Between 1972 – 1975 Sr. Mary Dolorosa became the Area Superior. From 1975 to 1979 the second superior was Sr. Redempta Mbaire. From 1979 to 1991 Sr. Venantius Munee took over as the Area Superior. It was during the General Chapter in 1986 that the East and West of Rift Valley were implemented as regions and since then the region has been administered by different Regional Superiors. Sr. Delphine Njeri took over as the Regional Superior from 1992 to 1998 assisted by sisters Aquillina Mwithi, Sr. Stellamaris Mwelu and Sr. Nancy Kamau. From 1999 to 2003 Sr. Irimina Nungari was the regional Superior, from 2003 to 2007 Sr. Aquillina became the regional superior followed by Sr. Anne Kilonzo between 2007 and 2010, Sr. Scholastica Wanjiru took over from 2010 – 2013. Between 2014 and 2016 Sr. Cecilia Njeri took over and later Sr. Alice Wanjiru from 2017 to 2019. The current Regional Superior is Sr. Lucy Wanza from 8th March 2020 to date.
APOSTOLATES
Since our mission is to reach out with compassion to the marginalized, the Little Sisters of St. Francis East of the Rift Valley Region are involved in Health ministry, Education at different levels, Social/Pastoral ministry, Hospitality and Administration.
Apart from being involved with running the Institutions, the Little Sisters in East of the Rift Valley also work in Diocesan offices/ institutions/parishes as well as government institutions. The Sisters take pride in their newly constructed Lady Jacoba Rest House home for the aged, retired and sick members. We strongly believe that after active service of many years in the Institute, the Sisters deserve a descent place for rest and care. We express our heartfelt gratitude for all generosity accorded to us towards the completion of Lady Jacoba, a home that is on the Nakuru – Nairobi high way about 5 kilometers from Nakuru town. Though phase one is complete and in use, we still have great plans to increase on facilities to take care of growing number of Sisters to retire in the near future. Donations can be channeled through the Regional Office, P.O. Box 62676, Nairobi – Kenya.
Education: The Little Sisters operate nursery schools, junior and secondary schools and teacher training colleges. We direct the initial formation of young and junior sisters and teach in seminaries and universities.
Medical work: We serve in general nursing, midwifery, as RNs, medical doctors. We also train nurses and midwives, operate mobile clinics, dispensaries and hospitals, and provide specialized care for people with leprosy.
Pastoral and Parish Ministry: The Little Sisters minister in parishes as catechists, counselors and provide general pastoral support.
Social work: We care for people with special needs, lepers, polio victims, orphans, the aged, the blind, hearing impaired individuals, street children and those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
ST. FRANCIS COMMUNITY HOSPITAL
St. Francis Level 5 Community Hospital (STFCH) was founded and established in November 2007 in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi in order to give special attention to the poor and needy by attending to their spiritual, economic, human and intellectual needs. The hospital was officially launched in January 2009 to respond to the increasing demand for quality health services to the rapidly growing underserved segment of the urban population in Nairobi.
Two decades later, the dispensary grew from a small collection of rooms attending to antenatal mothers and vaccinating babies, to a level five teaching and referral hospital. The population served has since expanded beyond Nairobi County, and clients now come from as far as Marsabit County. The hospital’s unique identifier code in the national master facility list (MFL) is 17943, and is situated along Kasarani – Mwiki Road, off Thika Superhighway in Nairobi County.
The hospital is a 150 bed capacity with modern diagnostic facilities, operating theatres, a critical care unit, a renal unit, in-patient facilities and an outpatient unit catering to hundreds of patients daily. It boasts a nursing school and is now proudly an internship training center for doctors.
MISYANI HELPAGE PROJECT
Misyani Help Age programme was started by the Little Sisters of St. Francis in 1985 with support of Help age Kenya and in collaboration with Help Age international, to meet the basic needs of vulnerable older persons in Kanzalu parish, (Machakos Diocese). Affiliated to it is Mama Kevina Skills Training Centre. It trains especially girls and young mothers in; Tailoring, Dressmaking, Knitting and Embroidery; Hairdressing and Beauty therapy. The programme has seven workers apart from the Sr in charge. Three teachers and four subordinate staff.
PURPOSE FOR THE POLYTECHNIC
- To help students develop marketable skills that turns their dreams to realities.
- To prepare students with new current challenges in the ranks of professional.
- Empower students reach new heights of personal and creative success.
- To give technical skills to students in order to build their capacity, engage in gainful employment.
- Train the students be self- reliant.
ST ANTHONY HEALTH CENTRE
St Anthony Health Centre was opened in 1999 as a small immunization centre and first Aid centre in the then St Anthony Nursery school. It was mainly offering first Aid to the nursery kids who hurt themselves during play/games time. It then started offering immunization against communicable diseases upon demand by the community. The Engashura community health care demands continued to increase day by day. The nearest health facility by then was Bahati Health Centre which was 10 miles from Nakuru town. The other was Nakuru Provincial General Hospital in Nakuru town. We therefore opened outpatient services for the public including antenatal clinic. We saw 5-10 patients in a day. This was very challenging as we were using a classroom rented from the Nursery school.
The Little Sisters therefore prompted by the health demand bought another piece of land and built the present health centre and increased service delivery points to dental care ,maternity, laboratory and inpatient services.
During the doctors’ strike that lasted 90 days in 2016 the Administrator then Sr.Victorina decided to open a makeshift theatre to save lives as many sick people especially those needing operations were dying in hospital.
The health centre has grown steadily answering the health demand of the community .the subcounty , Bahati North and beyond. Due to its robast dental care services it is very well known for its dental services and this serves as its ‘Trade Mark’ ‘ST. ANTHONY KWA MENO’.
REFUGEE PROGRAMME
The refugee’s programme was started in 1997 by the Little Sisters of St. Francis. Most of the refugees came from different countries such as Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Ethiopia and Eritrea to Nairobi – Kenya
Most of these people had problems of food, shelter, clothing, medical, language. They used to come to the compound of the Little Sisters of St. Francis – Kasarani looking for basic needs. Language was a major barrier to communication since most of the refugees come from French speaking countries.
In 2000 the Little Sisters started a formal training the refugees in language – English and Kiswahili with aim of helping them cope in Kenya by interacting with other people. This helped them to seek casual jobs such as washing clothes, cleaning houses, looking after people’s children and at the end of the day, they could get something small in return. After learning the language “English and Kiswahili” it was felt that there was a need for more training for the refugees in order to become more self – reliant while in Kenya. With this this in mind technical skills were started namely: – Garments making, Computer application/ ICT and Food and beverage production, sales and service.
This helped them to seek casual jobs and others joined skills training courses such as computer literacy garment making and housekeeping and Hospitality with an aim of searching jobs for sustainability so as to support themselves and their families.
In 2013, the training department was accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education as a Centre of the Kenya National Examination Council and Technical Vocational Education (TVET). We have embarked on small and interactive classes thus allowing students to have substantial one- on -one training with the teaching staff. In additional to attending theory classes students have significant opportunity to obtain practical sessions within the Centre and industry within maximum supervision of their teachers.
2.0. The programme Activities
- Technical skills training
- Production unit – Canteen and knitting
2.1. Technical skills training
In order to provide quality technical training skills the following are the course we are offering:-
1.1. Craft certificate in food and beverage production, sales and service
1.2. Artisan certificate in food and beverage production, sales and service
1.3. Garments making
1.4. Computer application
1.1.1 Craft certificate in food and Beverage production, sales and service, the course is divided into module 1 and 11 the first module takes 1year while module 11 take six months. After the first year the students go for three months industrial attachment. Admission qualification is D plain and above or a pass in Artisan Certificate.
1.1.2 Artisan Certificate in food and beverage production, sales and service, the course is for 1 year and qualification is D minus and below (Class 8 who have certificate).
1.1.3 Garments making is for 2 years but the students have an option to do it in 1 year and for the 2 years or one the grade is 111. Those who have certificate either class eight or form IV certificate sit for National Industrial Training Authority examination (NITA).
1.1.4 Computer applications we are training students for computer packages. Duration is 3 months and 2weeks or 6months.
After learning the language “English and Kiswahili” it was felt that there was a need for more training for the refugees in order to become more self–reliant while in Kenya. With this in mind technical skills were started namely: – Garments making, Computer application/ ICT and Food and beverage production, sales, and service.
This helped them to seek casual jobs and others joined skills training courses such as computer literacy garment making and housekeeping and Hospitality with an aim of searching jobs for sustainability so as to support themselves and their families.
In 2013, the training department was accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education as a Centre of the Kenya National Examination Council and Technical Vocational Education (TVET). We have embarked on small and interactive classes thus allowing students to have substantial one- on -one training with the teaching staff. In addition to attending theory classes, students have a significant opportunity to obtain practical sessions within the Centre and industry within the maximum supervision of their teachers.