Sr Mary Killeen
Sr Mary Killeen was born Mary Brigid Killeen in the Rotunda Hospital, the fourth child in a family of eight and the first girl. She and her seven siblings were raised in Phibsborough by their parents, and she attended St Peter’s, Phibsborough for primary school and Mount Carmel, Kings Inns Street for secondary.
Joining the Sisters of Mercy
After training as a primary school teacher, Sr Mary joined the Sisters of Mercy. She says, “After novitiate, I taught in Carysfort National School and in the National School in Goldenbridge. These nine years of teaching in Ireland were great experiences for me. They developed me, and helped me a lot with the future work in Mukuru slums. When I was 30, I was posted to be headmistress in a big Primary School in Nairobi, called Our Lady of Mercy.”
Concern for the children
An attempted coup in Kenya in 1982 brought unrest, violence, and poverty to the area in its aftermath. Sr Mary had been a headmistress at Our Lady of Mercy for over a decade by that stage, and was concerned about the children living in the slums that had developed in the area.
She says, “Huge slums grew up next to where I lived and worked. I raised concern with the Sister of Mercy Superior during her visit in 1984. She requested me to get some land within the Mukuru slums and have a school built. I did that, and an informal school was set up in May 1985. I directed this school and hired teachers to teach there as I was still headmistress of Our Lady of Mercy. I was transferred to Mukuru full time in 1990.”
After almost ten years, Sr Mary was transferred to other work. She had helped to set up six informal schools, educating thousands of children. In February 2013, she was requested to return to Mukuru. She says, “The project was run down and at risk of closure. Almost all of the buildings were temporary or semi-permanent, mostly built from iron sheets, with a wooden structure and cement floors.”
Sr Mary spent the next five years having permanent structures built. Between 2013 and 2018, permanent structures for 3 schools were built.
Donors and Support
The donors who support Sr Mary and the work she does are often Irish. She says she has had huge help from many sections of the Irish community, from large Irish companies to the Irish Embassy in Kenya, to her own siblings. She says, “The people who support me are mostly people who have visited Kenya and seen the work. They are not usually big organisations, but groups of ordinary people who have come together to support us.”
Presidential Distinguished Services Award
Sr Mary says she wasn’t expecting the Presidential Distinguished Services Award at all. She feels it is an award she accepts on behalf of all the people who have put in hard work over the years to educate and take care of children in Nairobi.
She says, “I felt the award was an acknowledgement of all those who contribute, and of the huge poverty of residents in certain sectors of Nairobi. It gave us some publicity and raised awareness of our work. The Award gave recognition to all those who have helped over the years.”