Convent PHJC and children’s house
Mgbele, Oguta II, Imo State
Postal address:  P.O.Box 6525 Owerri, Aladinma
e-mail: conventpjhcoguta@yahoo.com

Our first project in Nigeria, the street children project, had several stages. Some children which we found on the streets, had families which were too poor to care for them. With some help and counselling, several children could return to their families which we often supported for quite a while. Other children wanted to go back to the streets joining their parents who were also beggars. Some families moved away to other areas and took their children along. One boy found a family who took him in like a son.

Ngozi was our first child.

There are 16 children who presently live with us. Some do not know their origins, others cannot live at home because of poverty. Five of them are handicapped in someway, mentally or physically or both. They live with our Sisters, go to school if that is possible, learn to care for one another and to get as independent as they can. Each summer all of them visit Garam to have some kind of holiday. They all look forward to their next vacations.

Elizebeth

You will find more information about the development of our children in the Angel Guardian Home in our brochure.

It was found that the convent building was too small with 6 bedrooms for 13 or even more sisters who worked in Mgbele. So an extension has been planned. The extension of the convent building in Mgbele is partly finished, some rooms are already occupied.

We also saw that the handicapped children would have to be cared for for life. So a bungalow has been built with space for up to 6 handicapped adults and somebody caring for them. The adults can work in the farm space or in the houses and so have the dignity and security they need.

Sisters started a mobile clinic in the villages around Mgbele.
With the help of Irish Aid, a clinic could be built which was officially opened in 2012. Women can now be admitted for deliveries as the sisters also are midwives, and children and others can be admitted in emergency cases. There is no physician yet.

With the help of a foundation in Switzerland, a school has been built in Mgbele which has also reached the 6th class, having pre-school and primary school. A bus brings children from other villages. The school keeps growing. 

In 2014, we could inaugurate a teachers’ lodge to make it easier finding well-trained teachers in this place far in the bush. The school has been registered by the government.

In 2017 we also started a widows project in Mgbele, supporting the poor women who need help to have a chance to survive after the death of their husbands.