Delivering food, shelter, and hope to the poorest of the poor
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Michele Sagarino
- May 3, 2023
Providing Health Care in Rural Zambian Villages
Villages in rural Zambia are celebrating thanks to the generous support the Daughters of the Redeemer health programs have received from U.S. Catholic donors. It’s a noisy affair, but not in the way you might expect. In this case, the joyful sounds filling the air are not the work of musicians and singers — but the sawing and clanking of builders and craftsmen.
This construction work is “music to the ears” of the poor — and a clear indication that the life-transforming projects the Church has undertaken are nearing completion. What these outreaches promise to provide are the only health care, educational and nutritional support most of the area’s needy families can count on.
Through Cross Catholic Outreach, compassionate donors from the U.S. have empowered the sisters to:
- Build a new surgical suite at Mangango Mission Hospital.
- Construct new staff housing for doctors and nurses at this rural hospital.
- Protect community health with a new mortuary and medical-waste incinerator at St. Thomas Rural Health Centre.
- Nourish families with fortified meals and nutrition education.
- Strengthen ministries with compassionate staff members.
Construction of a New Surgical Suite Is Underway
The walls of the new surgical suite expansion at the Mangango Mission Hospital are now complete.
Once crews cleared and leveled the land, they started construction work on the concrete-block structures that will provide the foundation for the ministry’s health care outreaches. The quality of their work ensures this expansion will remain strong and in service for many years to come. Because the construction site is located next to the hospital, the new surgical area can be integrated into overall hospital operations.
Once it is completed, the larger and more modern surgical suite will greatly enhance the health of the community. It will have two operating rooms instead of just one, which will accommodate more patients. Two operating rooms will ensure that patients in life-and-death emergencies will no longer need to be transferred to another facility.
The current surgery area will be renovated into an inpatient ward for pediatric patients. The existing children’s ward will then become the maternity ward, providing quick access to the surgical suite in the event that a Caesarean section becomes necessary. Upgrades such as this will ensure that the sisters’ medical outreach remains a place of healing for decades to come.
New Housing for Staff Members
The additional doctors and nurses needed to staff Mangango Mission Hospital have arrived and are ready to move into the on-site housing under construction. The sisters recently reported the new homes are 90% complete and should be finished soon.
This is wonderful news for the hospital as well as for the medical staff and their families. The government recently deployed 25 medical personnel to the hospital, but 10 of them could not be housed at the hospital’s location. These 10 doctors, nurses and other personnel are being housed in rented homes in local villages.
Donate to Make a Difference
Feeding the Hungry
Support from U.S. donors also enabled the sisters to hire a staff member and purchase a vehicle that was needed to deliver meals to families suffering from hunger and malnutrition.
This support will enable the Daughters of the Redeemer to provide approximately 200,000 Vitafood meals. The sisters’ team makes regular deliveries of these meals to 125 destitute families, including Faustina Nkausu’s family.
Faustina was one of the people who benefited from these meals. She is grateful for a simple blessing — she can provide her two children with at least one nourishing meal each day. If it wasn’t for friends like you, her family would go hungry.
These meals keep Faustina’s children strong and healthy, especially during the dry seasons in Zambia. During these six months, she often is unable to grow the corn and other vegetables that her family relies on for meals. Without financial support from her husband, Faustina is only able to generate income from temporary jobs she finds, and few of those offer a decent wage.
In addition to delivering meals to families, the ministry team provides nutrition education and cooking demonstrations, so recipients understand their options for preparing the Vitafood meals. Gifts from compassionate Catholics allow the sisters to reach 625 men, women and children each month with nourishing food, education and the goodness of God.
Prayers Answered by Faithful Catholic Friends
As simple servants of Jesus in a poor land, the Daughters of the Redeemer have always been a spiritual light in the community, but they could never have created the ambitious missions detailed in this update without faithful Catholic supporters. Though they knew they had few resources of their own, the sisters stepped out in faith and asked the Lord to help them bless suffering people. And he has answered that prayer!
Through God’s grace, these medical and nutrition outreaches bring healing and hope to thousands of impoverished people in great need. Supporters like you are helping the sisters as they live out the charism of their order: “to share intimately and wholeheartedly in the redemptive work of Christ.” The Lord is working through the sisters — and Cross Catholic Outreach supporters — to bless and transform lives!
Michele Sagarino
Proceeds from this campaign will be used to cover any expenditures incurred through June 30, 2024, the close of our ministry’s fiscal year. In the event that more funds are raised than needed to fully fund the project, the excess funds, if any, will be used to meet the most urgent needs of the ministry.