SR ANCILLA DORAN attended Loughinisland Primary School and then attended High School at Assumption Convent, Ballynahinch. In January 1955 she joined the Missionary Sisters of the Assumption in Ballynahinch as a postulant. Six months later she sailed for South Africa. She took vows in 1957 and then trained as a nurse, going on to include training in maternity and intensive care.

Sr Ancilla’s first assignment was to open a clinic in the new township of Joza in Grahamstown. Conditions were very poor. Most people were unemployed. There was a lot of sickness, TB etc and the clinic was always crowded. Most mothers gave birth at home and often did not even have clothes for the poor new baby. Ancilla always had her own supply at hand. She gave great time and attention to teaching the mothers hygiene and how to care for the baby and visited them daily for two weeks after the birth. This was mostly on foot, for although she had a little car, the roads were un-tarred and sometimes did not even exist.

After a few years in the clinic she was transferred to a new hospital in Nigeria, where she was when the Baifran War broke out. There were only two religious sisters running the hospital with lay staff. The second sister, Sr Mel, got very ill and had to be flown to Ireland. Ancilla was the only sister at the hospital when it was taken over by the military. It became overcrowded – four patients to a bed: two in bed and two under. They had eight theatres at the hospital and sometimes after a bombing raid on a nearby market, the theatres would be going day and night. Eventually all the missionaries had to leave this area. After a short stay in Ireland, Ancilla returned to South Africa for another year of training.

In the early seventies a convent and hospital were opened in Zambia and Ancilla went there to help set up. She then took up a post in Malawi where a convent and clinic had to be built. She saw this project through and was matron there for twelve years. When she came back to South Africa again, she took a post as matron of a Catholic hospital in Johannesburg. She was at this stage a member of the general council of the congregation.

After a few more years of clinic work, she moved out of nursing and pioneered AIDS prevention education in the North Eastern Transvaal for eight years. She brought in a team from Kenya to train people in “Education for Life”, a programme begun in Uganda where it helped cut the infection rate from 1 in 33 to 1 in 3.

She then came to Port Elizabeth to care for her frail and dying sisters. She was wonderful at this work. After five years, she finally left nursing and is now involved in prison ministry and pastoral hospital ministry with a focus on oncology patients. Ancilla is now 75 years old.

SR ALACOQUE DORAN was educated at Loughinisland Primary School and attended High School at Assumption Convent Ballynahinch. In January 1954 she joined the Missionary Sisters of the Assumption as a postulant and six months later sailed for South Africa. After taking vows, she trained as a teacher.

Her first post was at St Augustine’s Boys’ School in Port Elizabeth. This was a government school but the majority were Catholic. At this stage, South Africa was bringing in people from all over Europe and even South America for skilled and even unskilled labor, (even though there were millions in the country who could have been trained to do this work). Consequently, St Augustine’s was always crowded with the sons of the immigrants. At times, Sr Alacoque had up to fifteen different nationalities in the class, many could not speak a word of English.

After ten years in St Augustine’s. Sr Alacoque moved to Somerset East, a town about two hundred miles inland from Port Elizabeth. Here she was principal of St Teresa’s. When training as a teacher, Sr Alacoque learned Afrikaans and taught it as a second language in Port Elizabeth. In Somerset East everything was in Afrikaans. St Teresa’s was also a government-aided Catholic school. The greater majority of the pupils were very poor. Many parents were unemployed as there was no industry in the town. For the most needy, the school provided soup and bread every day. At seven in the morning, Sr Alacoque would put two massive pots on paraffin stoves. By eleven o’clock hot soup was ready.

The school premises were too small with only ten classrooms therefore, an afternoon shift was necessary. At 12.30 a whole consignment of pupils and teachers began their day’s work and school ended at 5.00 p.m. For twenty years Sr Alacoque was at school every day from 7.30 a.m. to 5.00p.m. Then a miracle happened and permission was given for the school to take back its property that had been expropriated for housing and at last a new school could be built. The lovely school was built on donations from all over the world and the hard work of parents and teachers. When the new school was opened in 1990 an English medium stream was introduced and this became very popular with the Xhosa-speaking pupils as well as the black pupils. The standard of work had always been very high in the school, and pupils succeeded as a result of this strong foundation.

In June 2001 Sr Alacoque retired from teaching at age 65. She is now fully dedicated to AIDS prevention education. The infection rate in the Eastern Cape is as high as 1 in 3 or 4.