These nuns spent a lifetime helping others. In their last years, who will help them?

A significant story is unfolding on the international scene. These nuns spent a lifetime helping others. In their last years, who will help them? June 20, 20266:45 AM ET By Sophie Neiman Sister Mary Consolata Nakawooja assists an elderly nun as she takes tea at the Little Sisters of St.

Francis premises in Nkokonjeru, Uganda. Stuart Tibaweswa for NPR hide caption toggle caption Stuart Tibaweswa for NPR Nkokonjeru, Central Uganda — Sister Jane Frances Nakafeero walks purposefully between rows of white crosses adorned with pink and yellow flowers in a cemetery at the Little Sisters of St. Francis convent in Nkokonjeru, Uganda.

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She pauses, pointing at one of the simple graves. "This one was a nurse," says Nakafeero. "This one was a teacher.

This one was a social worker. This one was a doctor. " A breeze blows softly between the headstones.

Aspiring nuns begin their training in this convent, and novices take their vows before being sent out to serve the community. Eventually, the same sisters are laid to rest here. "The motherhouse," Nakafeero says, referring to her order's founding headquarters, "is where we begin and where we end.

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" Sponsor Message The convent also hosts retired nuns, and Nakafeero is increasingly worried about their fate. Sister Jane Francis Nakafeero, superior general of the Little Sisters of St. Francis, walks with another nun at the cemetery in Nkokonjeru, Uganda, where members of the order are laid to rest.

Stuart Tibaweswa for NPR hide caption toggle caption Stuart Tibaweswa for NPR Palliative care, which provides medical and emotional support to patients at the end of their lives, is a relatively new concept, arising only in the 1960s. There is little funding for, or knowledge about it, especially in the Church, she explains. The problem of caring for elderly nuns is particularly dire in African orders, which already are underfunded in comparison to American and European ones.

At the convent in Nkoknojeru, young nuns look after retired ones, taking them to and from bed and serving their meals, but the old women do not have the resources they need: adult diapers, wheelchairs, hearing aids – even warm blankets. At a meeting of the African Palliative Care Association in 2023, Nakafeero laid out these concerns one by one. She caught the attention of Jean Callahan, former chair of the Irish Hospice Foundation and an advisory board member of the association.

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.