In 1869, a French Catholic father, Cardinal Charles Lavigerie, founded the Sisters of Our Lady Africa mission in Algiers, the capital of Algeria. His vision was to have female missionaries working closely with women in Algerian communities because women were vital to the transformation of society.
Nuns were brought into the mission and within a short period of time, they were given the informal name, ‘The White Sisters’, from the colour of their uniform.
Undoubtedly, the mission expanded and some of the French nuns were sent to other parts of Africa.
In 1907, six of them arrived in Mombasa with an assignment; they were to set up a mission station in East Africa. The Sisters made their way to Mang’u, a small settlement in Thika town, where they purchased land on which they shortly after established their first mission station in the country.
The ladies did their best to acclimatize to their new environment. For starters, they learned Kikuyu, the most common dialect of Mang’u region, and they familiarized themselves with the customs of the Kikuyu people. This was crucial to the success of their mission because unlike other missionaries, the White Sisters did not specialize in teaching or nursing, rather, they evangelized through home visits and religious instruction. Additionally, they planted coffee, pineapples, apples, and mangoes, all that are known to do well in Mang’u. Thereafter, the fruits and coffee were sold and the money obtained was used to sustain their upkeep and finance their projects.
The Sisters’ hard work didn’t go unrewarded, though in their case, the reward came in the form of amenities at the mission station. A maternity ward, a dispensary, a children’s orphanage, and a school were set up. The school still stands, albeit under a different name – Madaraka Primary School.
The number of European settlers and Asian labourers was growing consistently in East Africa due to the opportunities available within the colony, as well as the availability of vast acres of land. Even though the hierarchy that existed in the social structure was enforced by race, interracial relationships emerged. While there were no formal laws that forbade such relationships, the existence of such was frowned upon greatly by society. These relationships, as well as a number of other factors such as rape and prostitution, resulted in a new generation of interracial children in society. And just like the forbidden relationships, there was no empathy for the children born from them.
In this period, schools were segregated and education was provided separately to different races at different standards. For this reason, the interracial children had no sense of belonging in either European or African schools because they were distinctly different. It came to the Sisters’ attention that the interracial children were not treated kindly and they took it upon themselves to fulfill one of the aspects of their missionary work which was serving the community.
In 1933, the White Sisters established another school in Thika town to cater to the excluded minority. The school was set up on a hill, and with respect to Mary, the mother of Christ, the school was named Maryhill. Maryhill Girls’ High School became a boarding school that took in mixed-race girls from all over East Africa and gave them a safe space to get an education.
Post-independence, segregation in Kenya’s earliest schools was phased out, and interracial children were enrolled at any learning institution they wished. Having served its initial purpose, Maryhill Girls’ High School went through its own transition and began admitting African students.
Through the years, the White Sisters have continued to carry out the mandate of helping women and children in the community. Their compassion towards children whose existence was frowned upon gave rise to Maryhill Girls’ High School, a school that is celebrated countrywide for its high standards of discipline and strict adherence to the Catholic code of conduct.
