Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe of Uganda, named as one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” and the 2007 CNN Hero of the Year, visited Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga on May 1.
Local author Nancy Henderson wrote the book Sewing Hope, which tells the story of how Sister Rosemary restored hope and dignity to girls who had been violently abducted as children by Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Through St. Monica’s Vocational School, Sister Rosemary has provided an education, training in design and tailoring, and emotional nurturing to these young women and their children who had escaped from the LRA after several years of abuse.
Sister Rosemary, who is with the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, attended Mass with Notre Dame students and staff. Afterward she interacted with the student body through discussion and question-and-answer.
The students presented Sister Rosemary with a collection of more than 1 million pop tabs, collected over several weeks, that will be used by the girls at St. Monica’s School to create hand-crafted purses. The students also presented her with an original work of art. Several classes read the book and created projects that were on display for her visit to the school. Sister Rosemary ate lunch with the students and signed copies of Sewing Hope.
