Connecting with Africa
About 20 years ago, Sister Kathy Schmittgens, SSND, spent five years in Sierra Leone, West Africa. After she returned to the States, she served for nine years in the Office for the Missions in San Diego. She was then elected to leadership in the former St. Louis Province for eight years.
She wanted to continue to serve Africa and the SSND Province there. Being development director for the Province of Africa gave her the perfect combination! She recently traveled to Ghana to attend meetings and tour the SSND ministries there.
In her Province of Africa blog, Sister Kathy talks about her trip and some of the ministries in Ghana:
a primary school in Cape Coast, where students range in age from nursery (3 years old) to junior secondary (14-15 years old)- the SSND Novitiate for Africa and Notre Dame Girls Secondary School with 800 girls, most of them boarding, in Sunyani
- the Orthopedic Training Center in Nsawam, where adults and children are helped with braces and artificial limbs along with therapy
- Notre Dame Clinic in Nsawam, where they provide treatment for wound care and other medical problems, immunizations and maternity care (prenatal, delivery and postnatal).
The Provincial House (the offices for the province) is located in Accra. Currently two rented apartments are being used. The plan is to build of a new Provincial House, 
which means the real “planting” of SSND on African soil.
The School Sisters of Notre Dame of the Province of Africa minister in five countries on the continent of Africa. They are in The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya. Find out more and follow the Province of Africa:
Blog http://ssndafrica.wordpress.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SSNDAfrica
Top photo: Sister Kathy Schmittgens, SSND
Middle photo: Sister Cecelia (left) at Nsawam Notre Dame Clinic
Bottom photo: Sister Liz (left) at Nsawam Orthopedic Training Center
Photo credits: Sister Kathy Schmittgens, SSND