25.01.2023
Glendalough Parish’s Kenya connection honoured
Calary Parish’s connection with a project supporting street boys in Nairobi is to be recognised in the naming of a new dining hall.
Calary in Glendalough has a long–standing relationship in supporting Sr Mary Killeen, who has worked in the Mukuru Slum in Nairobi, Kenya, for many years.
This vast slum consists of approximately 30 villages and is home to over 700,000 people. Most of these people have left their rural homes because of poverty and came to the city in the hope of finding work. Some are successful but the majority, being unskilled and uneducated, remain jobless.
Sr Mary runs the Mukuru Promotion Centre providing a home, education and vocational training in skills for street boys between 8 and 16 years.
Calary Parishioners and the wider community support the MPC through ongoing charitable giving. Each year the parish hosts a supper concert and raffle. Funds raised in Ireland go a long way in Nairobi providing food, clothes and an education to the children who would otherwise live on the streets.
This year, Calary fundraising donations went towards building a new dining hall for the children to eat in and socialise with each other. The dining hall will be called the Calary Dining Hall in recognition of fundraising and support over the past 20 years by parishioners and the many people who attend concerts in Calary Church.
Sr Mary visits Calary from time to time when she is in Ireland to give an update on the work being carried out. This year Sister Mary and her colleague, Sr Patricia, will celebrate 47 years working for the good of people of Kenya.
