Dear Peadar and all in the surrounding areas. Greetings from Rumbek, South Sudan. I am told it is wet and cold in Ireland these days, I do wish I could say the same here. It is unbearable hot, and we keep hoping that it will soon rain to cool things down as it is most difficult to work in. I have not written in a long time. The days and weeks seem to just pass away so quickly. My main work here is working with the people of the leper’s colony about 7 miles outside Rumbek. There are approximately 500 hundred families living with the condition there. Many of those there have lost their hands, feet, fingers or legs. They have lived an incredibly hard life and still do. They live in a very forest type area and when I arrived they were living in dreadfully bad conditions. Thanks to my Donors, I was able to build 18 small houses for them, but these are made from local bricks made from the soil and then roofed with grass. Nothing at all what we would call a house, but it’s their home and they are very grateful for it. In their area, there are many hyenas which can attack them, so these new homes provide security for them also. Because of their illness, most cannot work or do basic things for themselves, in fact some of their children have to feed their parents due to lack of fingers. Because of this, they cannot grow food and so food is also a huge issue. Thankfully I am able to provide them with food on a weekly basis of Maize, Beans, salt, oil, sugar, tea and soap. We are currently renovating a very old clinic there also, and have built a new Maternity wing and waiting room. It is not quite complete but will be finished in a few weeks. We will then be able to provide them with medicine and assistance to give birth In the new maternity wing. I also do some small work with a street children program. These children live on the streets and some are as young as 5 years old, their parents have either passed away or they have been traumatized and ran away. They are many but 52 of them now engage in a program where they come every day for a hot meal and shower and wash their clothes. These 52 children are all back in school now and we are hoping to eventually get a piece of land to build a place for them to sleep. I also have a group of 20 families that I supply weekly food supplies to who live in an old school near to Fr Johns Parish. They are elderly, disabled and very young children mainly being cared for by their grandmothers as their parents have passed away. All of this work is only possible by the kindness and generosity of donors. I have been very blessed to be able to continue my work here because of them. I work alongside 2 boys that I have employed, one of whom, I took from Uganda and who had worked with me all of the time I spent there. Samuel is only 21 but a great support and photographer. I myself live in a lorry container converted into a bedroom and bathroom but am hoping to get better living conditions soon. There are not a lot of houses here, mainly huts, and there is no Electricity so you need to be able to get solar. I work closely with all of Fr Johns Congregation. They are all a great asset to my work, they advise me how to do things the best possible way and they treat me very much like their sister. I am very fond of the Spiritan Congregation, and I have a great opportunity to attend Mass with them every day in English. There is no saying that it is an easy life here, but compared to how those live here and always have done, I am very quickly reminded how lucky I am and always have been, to have a roof over my head, shoes on my feet and food to eat. There is one thing for sure, Africa has changed my life and how I view things. I will never view the world the same as I always did, or take for granted my upbringing which I was so blessed. I pray that I will be able to continue my work for many many years and I ask you all for your prayers also. God Bless Noeleen Editor: What a wonderful girl is Noeleen and it is difficult for us to even imagine the conditions in which she does so much good and the amount of relief she has brought to those people in her care. When the time comes, many years hence hopefully, as she arrives at the Golden Gates, they will be thrown open and what a reception she will get for giving her life so that others would live. In the meantime any help that she can get would assist her in her work and so many more will experience her kindness and love.