Mater Nairobi celebrating 50 years of Health Care (The Congregation/Kenya Province)

Fifty years ago four Sisters of Mercy set out from Dublin, Ireland, to establish a foundation in Nairobi, Kenya. Archbishop JJ McCarthy had invited them to Nairobi.

They arrived in Mombasa by boat on Holy Thursday, 29 April 1956.
They went on from Mombasa to Nairobi by train arriving on Holy Saturday, May 1st 1956.

In the founding group two Sisters were nurses, Sr Dolorosa Waldron, and Sr Gerard Stack and two were teaching sisters Sr Consolata O’Keeffe and Sr Therese Noel Gallagher.

They were to build and run a multi-racial Catholic hospital in Nairobi and work in and run a school for African girls in Sharui Moyo, Eastlands.

The Foundation stone for the Hospital was laid on March 19,1961 and the Mater Misericordiae Hospital (Mater) opened on May 5, 1962.

Over the years the hospital has grown to become a general tertiary institution that offers a wide variety of health care services. The Sisters of Mercy remain the Trustees of the hospital.

Celebrations are being held on Saturday, 22 September.

We wish to thank all who have contributed so much to bringing the hospital to what it is today.

Messages to: Liz Fletcher rsm - Provincial Superior of the Sisters of Mercy, Kenya