Sumon Corraya

In 1978, Good Shepherd Sr. Louise Horgan founded the Fatima Self-Help Centre in Bangkok, dedicated to helping women and girls break the cycle of poverty through skills training, enabling them to secure livelihoods.

"I serve the lost, the last and the least," Sr. Mabal Rozario. "Our mission is to empower them to live with dignity as Christians."

Salesian Sr. Baptista Rema is in charge of treating an average of one to two snakebite cases daily — around 400 patients annually at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Baromari, Sherpur, Bangladesh. 

The Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, Bangladesh, and the local Catholic Church are making a difference by addressing the persistent challenge of access to safe drinking water.

Murmu, a member of the Salesian Missionaries of Mary Immaculate, serves children, the elderly and migrants in Roveredo in Piano, Pordenone, where she is the house superior.

For the last 20 years, Sr. Nirmola Maria Goretti Cruze, a member of the Holy Cross Sisters, has been working with children with disabilities in Tejgaon, Dhaka. She runs the Hope Center, which serves 40 children.

The principal and vice principal of one school, both sisters, were forced to resign under pressure from students and guardians. 

For nearly two decades, the "Korean sisters" of Bangladesh, as they're affectionately known, have set up medical camps in remote areas, and provided a homestay for girls in need.

Locals took refuge in sister-run schools after severe storms in May and April destroyed their homes, with sisters offering food and support in the aftermath.

Former students admire Sr. Miriam Francis Perlewitz of the Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic for her remarkable contribution to the formation of priests in Bangladesh.

 Hundreds of impoverished women have become self-sufficient through a sister-run handicraft program.

Sr. Mary Rose of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration in Mymensingh, Bangladesh, popularly known as the "monastery sisters," is actively working to increase the number of members of their congregation. 

In 1973, Sister Mary Lillian of the Associates of Mary Queen of the Apostles co-founded CORR-The Jute Works, which trains women artisans, ensuring trade justice, market access and improved living standards.

Kkottongnae Sisters of Jesus take in orphans in Bangladesh who live neglected and without families; they also care for people with disabilities. Sr. Andree Lee spoke to GSR about the sisters' ministry.

Sr. Sandra Joseph, a member of Sisters of Charity of Sts. Bartolomea Capitanio and Vincenza Gerosa, has been serving in Bangladesh for 42 years. Joseph, 74, is a nurse who works with couples struggling with infertility. 

"We live in a country where people of different faiths live. This training helped us to understand the importance of harmony and we could boost it at our workplace," a Bangladeshi Salesian Sister told GSR.

Sr. Mary Rina Magdeline Cruze of the Associates of Mary Queen of the Apostles is principal of the Hindu-founded Kumudini Nursing College, where she educates nurses for Bangladesh and spreads the values of Jesus Christ.

Dora D'Rozario, a 63-year-old consecrated virgin in Bangladesh, helped create a prayer house and residence at Padrikanda in Golla Parish in Dhaka so consecrated virgins in the country can spend time together.

Sr. Shikha Laetitia Gomes' dream for Bangladesh's Holy Cross College is for the students to "be the bearers of touch and remove the darkness of the world, opening a new horizon and establishing peace."

A number of African women were recognized at the Pan-African Catholic Congress on Theology, Society and Pastoral Life for their contribution to the continent's development.