When Elijah was born, he didn’t cry. His mother, Resty, was told he would be fine, but as the months passed, it became clear that something was wrong. Elijah struggled to eat, wasn’t meeting key milestones, and was eventually diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. For a family in Mukono District, Uganda the road ahead looked daunting.
Then a neighbour mentioned CHIN, the Children in Need programme run by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. A Sister came to visit, and everything changed.
Today, Elijah attends the CHIN centre for physical therapy and education. Resty has taken part in family support training, learning how to care for her son and advocate for his rights, and has received support through a livelihoods initiative giving her a start towards greater family stability. She now works as an assistant teacher at CHIN, helping other families navigate the journey she once walked alone.
“When children are given proper support, they tend to have independence, they tend to have resilience,” she says.
Elijah’s story is one of many. Across Africa, countless children with disabilities face stigma, isolation, and exclusion, often denied access to education, healthcare, and the chance to simply belong. Misean Cara and its missionary members are working to change that.
A programme built on experience, action and hope
Misean Cara supports the overseas development work of Irish missionary congregations and their partners. Its Children with Disabilities (CWD) Programme, launched in 2023 with support from GHR Foundation and Irish Aid, brings together five missionary congregations across Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and South Africa, with a shared aim: to transform the lives of children with disabilities through inclusion, empowerment and community-based support.
Nine disability projects are led by Irish missionary sisters, including the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the Daughters of Charity, the Missionary Sisters of the Assumption, the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of St Joseph, and the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood.
These Sister-led organisations bring decades of community presence and trust to their work, with an approach that is holistic: therapeutic care alongside education, family support, livelihoods, and advocacy for children’s rights.
Changing lives, one family at a time
CHIN currently supports 108 children through special needs education and provides therapeutic care to 200 children with disabilities and their families, just one example of the committed work being carried out by missionary-led projects across the continent.
As Richard Kawemba, CHIN’s Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, puts it: “The mother is happy, the family is happy.”
That happiness, rooted in restored hope, is what drives this work.
You Can Be Part of This Story
To learn more about Misean Cara’s Children with Disabilities Programme, visit: www.miseancara.ie/what-we-do/childrenwithdisabilities
To find out how a gift in your Will to Misean Cara can help children like Elijah long into the future, visit: www.miseancara.ie/legacy
