Mwingi nun comes to the rescue of abandoned patients

A Catholic nun is providing a home to patients abandoned in hospitals by relatives.

Sister Mary Musembi has constructed a home at Kaonyweni in Kithyoko, Machakos, to cater for those neglected by society due to birth deformities and victims of road accidents.

Musembi attended her formation studies in Spain as a Close Heart Nun. She came back after serving as a sister for 17 years and started the Mercy Servants of the Poor Foundation.

"I started the foundation by engaging in an outreach programme, where I attended to the needy in their homes. I was then assisted by well-wishers to buy land and put up a few structures to house the most needy cases," she said.

So far, her facility houses about 20 persons with mental illness whose relatives couldn’t be traced.

The oldest is 95 years while the youngest is three.

Most of the people housed in the facility are bedridden and are in need of close care. They can’t remember their names or take themselves to attend to the calls of nature.

Redempter Mutinda, a volunteer clinical officer in the facility who works at a Matuu Level 4 Hospital, says most of the people suffer from cerebral palsy and multiple congenital malformations.

Some adults, she said, suffer from permanent head injuries due to accidents.

"I do this out of the urge to help. I ask well-wishers to come out and extend a helping hand as these patients need diapers and food," she said.

A group belonging to the St Vincent de Paul from St Veronica Parish Syokimau, Nairobi, visited the facility on Saturday.

They offered donations ranging from mattresses, blankets, bedsheets, laundry materials and foodstuffs.

Millicent Awuor, who is the chairperson of the St Vincent De Paul, equated Sr Musembi’s efforts to those of Mother Teresa, due to her love for the needy in society.

Awuor said philanthropists should come to the aid of the nun and supplement her efforts.

(Edited by Bilha Makokha)