Wicklow nun speaks of her work educating women in war-torn South Sudan
She is the director of the Loreto Rumbek Mission, which includes a secondary school attended by 385 girls, a primary school attended by over 1,200 boys and a primary healthcare centre. More than 500 girls have graduated from the boarding school since 2008.
The secondary school started in 2008 with 35 girls, and the first secondary school graduation took place in 2011. The primary school started under a tree with 120 students in 2014. The primary care centre opened in 2019, followed by the Loretto Education Centre in 2024.
In 2022, five graduates of Loreto Rumbek, now working mothers in the north of south Sudan, returned to the Loreto School in Rumbek with an exciting proposition. They invited the sisters to open a new school compound with a primary day school for boys and girls and a secondary boarding school for girls in their hometown called Aweil, about a 10-hour drive from Rumbek.
In South Sudan, 2.8 million children are out of school, and the majority of them are girls.
Sr Orla spoke at all masses held in the Holy Redeemer Church in Bray on Saturday, June 7, and Sunday, June 8, where she shared news on the planned project to build a new school for girls and young women in Aweil, and the profound difference it can make to the lives of hundreds of South Sudanese girls and women.
Sr Orla stated: 'When donors have the chance to invest in these young women, they're investing in giving a life, giving an education. That has an impact on a whole community.'
She added: 'It's a desire to have the young women of South Sudan to continue to be educated and continue to be leaders. These five young women were in school with us for four to five years and we kept saying to them 'you have to give back to your community and you have to contribute', and now here they are, married, working, mothers - let's continue to build this country together.'
Donations towards the project can be made at loretorumbek.ie.
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