The Franciscan Sisters of Joseph (Asumbi) is the only local indegenous Religious Congregation of the Diocesan Right under the Catholic Diocese of Homa Bay, Kenya. The Congregation was founded in 1932 by Rev. Father Philip Scheffer, a Mill Hill Missionary priest at Asumbi village. His vision was to promote the dignity of women, children, youth and the less fortunate people of God - both female and male, children and adults alike. From a simple and a humble beginning, the Congregation has grown and developed. We now number 445 members with 11 aspirants, 21 postulants and 25 novices. We have at present 76 communities spread out in various dioceses in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, The Sudan and USA. We serve in 15 dioceses in Kenya, 3 Dioceses in Tanzania, 1 Diocese in Uganda, 2 dioceses in the Sudan and 1 diocese in USA.
The main areas of our ministry are provision of Health Care services in the Health Centers, dispensaries and hospitals where we offer both preventive and curative services. We take care of orphans left behind by HIV/AIDS, women and men groups affected and infected. We offer Voluntary Counselling and Treatment (VCT). We are educators at all levels and we work in pastoral work and social work among children, youth and adults. We teach and take care of those with disabilities: the blind boys and girls and people with physical challenges/disabilities. Administration, institutional management and on-going formation for the FSJ and people we work among are our primary priorities. We want to produce enough food in order to improve our nuitrition for the Congregation and now we have a farm in Mivumoni, South Coast.
For our Mivumoni farm, we plan to work with people in development. First we would like to construct a convent for our sisters to move in from the present structure in which they stay. The present structure will for ever remind us of our history and genesis in Mivumoni. We will never destroy it. Instead, we first would like to look for money and put up a convent. Then we will use the present house for training women in adult literacy, handicraft and self-help projects where women can develop their projects and earn a living, thus be self-reliant. Since there are secondary and primary schools next to our farm, we intend to provide a place where students and pupils from the school can have tuition in the evenings and over the weekends. We would like to provide a ciber café for the community to reach out into the internet network and the world outside Mivumoni. Finally we hope to develop a technical center where young people will have vocational training for those who are unable to get into colleges and universities.
The Franciscan community at Mivumoni is quite new. Having lived in a house at the Sisters of St Joseph from 2007, they moved into this newly-built house during 2009.
The house is on their shamba, where they grow crops both for themselves and for market. Crops include passion fruit.
One of the sisters and two of the men who work the shamba show off a prize crop of papaya.
The sisters grow fine pineapples too.
The sisters in their truck, about to head back to the shamba.
Sister Prisca keeps in touch with the outside world: sadly the Orange network in Mivumoni is rather weak, so the internet is only accessible from the garden outside their house.
