The congregation known as" Suore di Santa Maria di Loreto" (Sisters of Saint Mary of Loreto) has been on the African continent for 23 years, at Isiolo, the last town before you reach the savannah in the north-eastern part of Kenya, 800 kms. from the border with Ethiopia and Somalia.
The landscape is characterised by endless volcanic hills which surround the immense savannah plain.
Lush spontaneous vegetation during the rainy period is replaced by arid, drought-stricken areas during the windy season, which blows for five months, causing food shortages and livestock loss, violently worsened by raids carried out by the various clans, driven by the need to survive and by longlasting rivalry.

The people who live on the plains raise livestock: men and children tend the herds in the grazing grounds. In favourable seasons, livestock trading guarantees acceptable living standards
The women in the community carry out family chores and must supply the daily foodstuffs; when they can, they trade what they manage to grow and harvest, scraping up a meagre income with which to buy tea and rice.

Where people can irrigate the land with water from streams and wells, maize and beans are grown and are currently the staple diet, supplemented with goats' milk.

The dwellings are very poor in structure and in equipment. Wattle and mud huts are being replaced by somewhat more secure wooden shacks with tin roofs.
Isiolo is currently inhabited by 35,000 people and is divided into zones housing different tribespeople.
Meru, Turkana, Samburu, Borana, Somali, Kikuiu and other minorities from as far away as India have been living here peacefully for many years. The city spreads along the road to Nairobi for about 4 kms. The road then goes on, past the military checkpoint, towards Ethiopia to the north and Somalia to the east.
The houses are mainly brick and there are some some public buildings: a bank, a post office a hospital and several more or less efficient state schools.

The main activity is trading : livestock, food and farm produce from Meru and clothing. Trade is in the hands of Indians, who are gradually replacing local traders.

Religious belief is represented by muslims, catholics , numerous other sects and by small groups of animists living mainly in the bush.
In 1977 our congregation sent three Sisters to flank the resident priest, thus enhancing the missionary aspect of our life of consacration.
The "fidei donum" priest from the Archdiocese of Vercelli had been present since 1964, when Isiolo was a very small community closely bonded to its clan, living and growing in safety, supported by traditions that were their life-long cultural heritage.

In those years the community experienced the positive and negative effects of British colonialism. In this situation the first three Sisters offered their missionary services according to our Charisma, through an active and discreet presence, as did Mary in the House of Nazareth.
On arrival, the Sisters decided, with the agreement and approval of the Missionary Father Lugi Locati, to devote themselves to promoting health and education.
These two apostolical sectors enabled them to come into contact with the elderly, women, a great number of children and the ill: thus the Sisters' presence enhanced the evangelical task undertaken initially by the Missionary Father.
From the very beginning Father Locati had understood the importance of improving the people's living condition : starting off from the isolation in which they lived, he gradually convinced the elderly and the familiues to accept the chance of their children receiving an education, and built a Catholic School. This first step was not very easy, but it was gradually accepted and eventually requested so much that , with the Sisters' arrival, new schools were planned, with the help of volunteers and the Congregation, to host children from the poorer and remoter areas.
A nursery school was opened, then a primary boarding school for boys and girls.
These schools offered the chance for human and spiritual growth and adequate food: a minimum contribution was asked of the families and the rest of the expenses was covered by friends in Italy.

The Sisters' arrival also helped establish a dispensary, where the poorer people could finally receive treatment which was otherwise too expensive. This health service was designed to guarantee daily assistance at the Mission station and over the surrounding territory.
A Sister and a Nurse did the rounds at remote villages to treat the ill and to fight infant mortality through health education plans.

Another activity the Sisters engaged in was afternoon sewing, so as to come into contact with young women and village girls. In the meantime, the Sisters, who shared their lodgings and food with the Missionary Fathers, planned further pastoral activities in the area: in the eighties they opened a vocational centre for young men willing to learn a trade, and a professional dress-making school.

The Congregation then increased the local community by sending other Sisters as far as Merti, a semi-desert location some 250 kms. from Isiolo, to the north, a mission serving principally the Borana tribe, still closely tied to nomadic ways of life.
This area, 350 m. above sea level, has a very hot and windy climate, further exasperated by dry spells: the food produce is usually insufficient for the people's needs.
The three Sisters sent by the Mother House to Merti, worked according to our joyous style, enduring much hardship, running the dispensary, the nursery school and Catechism groups, and by sharing the people's simple way of life tried to improve their overall living conditions.

After many years at Isiolo the Congregation decided to offer the numerous young women who requested an opportunity to embark in a life of religion a more suitable place in which to follow their calling: a training centre was therefore built , at great expense and hardship, in a very poor area, and a nursery school was added. This school is attended by over 200 children, many of whom live in desperate conditions due to their being orphans of one or both their parents, or their parents being unemployed or, generally because of not being able to afford schooling.
During the week the religious community hosts nursery school children, especially the poorest; during the holidays, depending on availability of volunteers and classroom space, school children and young people in general can follow remedial work and recreational activities and get a decent meal.

At the moment, the building, called "The Youth Centre" operates year round and is closely tied to the Parish of St. Antioch, a few kilometres away.
The local elders, after having seen the Sisters at work and having appreciated the pre-school education of their children, surprised us by donating a large allotment of land on which a primary school is to be built, thus continuing the improvement of living conditions.

After some paper-work we have managed to build a well for the people's water supply: we still have to start on building the school, which will cater mainly for children from poor families.
Our ambition is to offer basic education through primary school so as to get the children off the streets. Street children are quite common in Isiolo, due to a rise in parental deaths caused by AIDS, and to other causes as poligamy, prostitution, drugs and geral violence, which is increasing steadily.
This crude situation urges us even greatly to offer a concrete answer by building schools that guarantee education and protection.

Just as children do, we simply thank the Lord for what we receive through the tangibile help of our brothers: they willingly share because we act through love.