Kindness begets kindness

December 20, 2022

Nazareth Sister Rose- hellen Karwirwa traveled nearly 8,000 miles from her home in Kenya to see her cousin, Father Lazarus Kirigia, be ordained a priest in Des Moines in 2007.

She promised she’d be back.

Indeed, six years later, she returned with Sister Joan Clare Njoroka, to begin a ministry of helping the needy through hospice and home care in Des Moines so that they could help the needy in their homeland.

Sisters Rosalia Njura and Joan Susan Mwende came and together since 2016, the four Nazareth Sisters of the Annunciation  have been working at MercyOne to provide both pastoral care and medical care to the sick as certified nursing assistants to patients. 

The sisters live in an austere manner, paying only for the necessities, so that they can send the rest of their paychecks to their religious community in Kenya to support the work of feeding and educating orphans, caring for the disabled and providing medical aid to the poorest of the poor.

The new year will bring changes to Sister Rosehellen’s mission. She will move to New York, where she’ll oversee young Kenyan sisters getting a theology degree so they can teach in the United States and send part of their income back to help the poor in Kenya. 

At the same time, she’ll be learning how to fundraise in New York to continue to send money to her religious community to help their ministry there.

The sisters are gaining support for their effort from the local Catholic community in Des Moines.

The sisters attend St. Pius X Church in Urbandale, where fellow parishioner and Iowa Catholic Radio Show host Jon Leonetti learned of their mission. He brought together a group that created a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization called Nazareth Sisters of the Annunciation USA to fund specific projects for the sisters.

“They asked what they can help us with because we have many problems,” said Sister Rosehellen. “The mother superior sent a list of things which need to be done.”

The Des Moines area supporters saw pictures of a medical clinic that the sisters operate in Tunyai, a rural community in Kenya. 

“They saw pictures of sisters evaluating patients and administering medications outside. There’s no roof and nowhere to store medications and supplies,” Sister Rosehellen said. Clinic services can be rained out when patients are waiting to be seen.

The local group made the Tunyai Health Center its first project. The group has raised $48,000 toward a $62,000 goal and hopes to finish raising the funds in 2023 so construction on a medical clinic building can begin in 2024.

“They came to the Diocese to raise as much money as they could to send back to support the work of the sisters,” said Steven Craig, a board member and supporter of the sisters.

Their effort to look to central Iowa for help, has been beneficial both to the mission of the sisters and Iowans.

“Having these sisters, who are so reliable and such good workers and so positive, I think has been a blessing for Mercy,” Craig said. 

To support the building project, gifts can be made through the Catholic Foundation of Southwest Iowa.