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June 17, 2021“Rosemary Nyirumbe: sewing hope in Uganda” by Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda is a biography of Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe, a Sister of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Uganda.
Sister Rosemary was born in northern Uganda in 1956. She is one of nine children. Scaperlanda tells the story of the early life of Sister Rosemary growing up in northern Uganda, which has been the region of violent upheaval throughout the recent decades. To tell the story of Sister Rosemary's life is to tell the story of northern Uganda and how she and her religious community have lived and ministered in that region.
Sister Rosemary entered the Comboni Sisters at age 15. She was a bit too young canonically to have done that, but the superiors did not notice her age. The Comboni Sisters were an Italian community. They wanted to create an African community, which occurred in 1976 with the creation of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The new community had houses in South Sudan with Juba the capital as the site of their motherhouse; in Kenya and in Uganda. Sister Rosemary and the sisters set up missions and schools to help girls and young women get an education and to learn a trade, especially sewing.
Uganda has gone through a lot of troubles starting with the dictatorship of Idi Amin who was overthrown in 1978 but was followed by John Kony and his Lord's Salvation Army later named the Lord's Resistance Army.
Kony's followers would abduct children and turn them into soldiers who were forced to kill their parents and other family members. Some of the children also were raped. Sister Rosemary and others said that Kony and his followers were/are evil. Many of the children escaped and would seek help from Sister Rosemary and others. She helped them to learn a vocation and helped with the trauma they endured. What was done to these children was horrendous and will scar them forever. Sister Rosemary has been involved in helping them get through the trauma. This book shows these efforts.
Sister Rosemary has had enough time between her ministries to get an education that has been of benefit to her ministry. She has won many awards that have benefited her work like the CNN Heroes, Time's 100 most influential people and others. She has been called the Mother Teresa of Africa.
Several Oklahomans have been involved in helping her. This book has an introduction, six chapters, endnotes, a bibliography and an index. There are no maps, which could have helped to know exactly where places were that were mentioned in the book. This book is part of Liturgical Press's People of God series. This book is very highly recommended to those interested in Sister Rosemary and the troubles in Uganda.
Br. Benet Exton, O.S.B., St. Gregory's Abbey, Shawnee, is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.
