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Missionary nun celebrates Centenary
It has been something of an adventure for Sister Sarah Jordan who experienced some of the toughest conditions while working in South Africa.
Sarah spent a life of giving to others but the 60 sisters in the Franciscan Order in Ballinasloe rallied round to give her a very special 100th birthday.
Sister Sarah spent 44 years of her life in some of the most deprived parts of Africa and still has compassion for those who are awaiting a death sentence. She still prays for those on death row.
It is an incredible story of a woman who decided to take a boat to Africa in the 1940s, took a train, car and lorry before walking for two days across marsh to get to her destination.
The community in Ballinasloe rallied around to help her celebrate a milestone. She has the distinction of being the first Franciscan nun to reach the century. And still has compassion for those on death row.
Local councillor Michael Finnerty described Sister Sarah as an inspiration. He said that she came from a family of three nuns and her presence in Ballinasloe was inspirational for a lot of people.
“She went to work in Africa at one of the most difficult times. She worked with the poorest of the poor but enjoyed every minute of it. Her story is something that every young person should hear”, Cllr. Finnerty added.
Sarah Jordan entered Portiuncula Convent in Ballinasloe in 1945. She is a native of Belfast but around 40 family members were in attendance for her 100th birthday.
Five years later her desire was to bring the word of Christ to people in Africa and to work in a leper colony. She ended up in Northern Rhodesia in a mission that was run by the Franciscan sisters.
Sarah’s journey began by boat to South Africa and from there it was an epic journey by train, car and lorry to Nsombo which is a port in the lake of Banguewelo.
According to Brid O’Sullivan, Sarah then met Sr. Carmel who was the community leader at the time. Carmel had waited three weeks for Sarah’s arrival. They crossed swamps to get to the mission.
When Sarah arrived at the leprosy settlement she was enthusiastic about the work ahead of her. Food was in short supply and there was a high incidence of malaria at the time.
She and other nuns prepared children for baptism as their accommodation consisted of them sleeping on mats or occasionally on camp beds. The baptism celebration on Easter Sunday in the mission church in Kasaba was a huge celebration.
Sarah was transferred to the Mangango Mission in 1957 which was run at the time by the Irish Franciscan Capuchin Fathers. The sisters looked after a busy general hospital where they catered for a lot of patients with leprosy.
Brid O’Donnell in her tribute to Sarah Jordan said that she had cared for the sisters and welcomed numerous visitors who were on missionary duty in the area at the time.
Some described her as a mother to all she cared for including the medics who flew into the airport in Kasaba where Sarah returned to in 1977. It was a much different place to where she was first appointed.
Brid said that Sarah supervised the kitchens and bought in all the food locally which she described as a mammoth task. The nuns described Sarah as “a Godsend” who gathered the parents of starving children to say the rosary.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
