Deep in the middle of the Gatina slum in Nairobi, Kenya, a Maltese nun is struggling to build a shelter for homeless orphans, as her community will soon be evicted from the day centre which she helped set up 20 years ago.

She managed to buy a plot of land, thanks to a single Maltese benefactor

Sr Michelina Micallef has seen the St Francis of Assisi day centre grow from a tiny wooden shanty and a small office in a metal container, into a two-storey building to school 250 destitute children and a church to serve the community.

However, the local diocese, which owns the land the day centre is on, wants it back so it can house a priest there and the outstation can become a parish. The nuns have been asked to move out by the end of this year.

“They are counting the days,” Sr Micallef, the head administrator of the centre, told The Sunday Times.

But the 71-year-old nun has taken up the challenge to build another centre from scratch, driven by her love for the children and fortified by a strong faith that God will provide.

She managed to buy a plot of land, thanks to a single Maltese benefactor who donated the full €100,000 to cover the purchase.

The nuns have already paid the equivalent of €119,000, but need an additional €91,000 to complete the project, planned to include six classrooms, an office and waiting room, six toilets, a kitchen and a multi-purpose room to be used as a dining room and play area when it rains.

If she manages to build the new shelter, the centre’s 180 children will continue their primary school education.

At the centre they are also given breakfast and lunch – their only hot meal of the day. This keeps them off the streets where they are at risk of drinking contaminated water from open sewers.

One of the nuns is always on the road in search of food and thanks to generous donors, the children have never missed a meal since the centre started running.

At the shelter, physically and mentally disabled children are encouraged to integrate with others, while older kids are taught handcraft and sewing. The centre also provides counselling to 40 HIV victims.

In a country raging with Aids and land clashes, many of children are HIV positive, displaced, orphaned or live with grandparents who are too old, too poor or too ill to provide the proper care.

The general health of the children is meagre and most suffer from skin and typhoid problems because of poor hygiene and malnutrition, Sr Micallef, of the Franciscan Sisters of The Heart of Jesus, told The Sunday Times.

Originally from Qormi, the nun was sent to Ethiopia when she finished her novitiate. She spent 29 years there, before being posted to Kenya where she has been for the past 18 years.

If anyone wishes to donate funds to the project, they may do so using the following bank details:

Account Name: Franciscan Sisters of the Heart of Jesus Kenya Project
HSBC: 071088066051
APS: 20001071821
BOV: 40020054669

Citibank, NA., London, Swift: CITIGB2L, Account: 10610208-GIRO Commercial Bank Nairobi Limited (Kenya), Swift: GIROKENX. For further credit to: Franciscan Sisters of the Heart of Jesus Account: 3004867/SB/1.

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