On Tuesday night, members from Granaghan Outreach seized the opportunity to meet with Sr Ronnie Rafferty during her brief visit home from Argentina. In January 2010, Granaghan Outreach made a contribution to the Dominican Sisters in South America.

Sr Veronica (Ronnie) Rafferty is from Craigavole, Swatragh and has been living among the poor of the barrios of Buenos Aires for 40 years. In Latin America, the Dominican Sisters have opted to live among the people in simple houses, situated in areas that are economically and socially deprived, to be a caring presence there, detecting needs and raising the dignity of the people.

She and the other sisters have been improving the lives of these poor people in many ways. There are many different projects that they support on an on-going basis and there is always a greater need than supply of funding. They have decided to spend part of the Granaghan Outreach funds provided on finishing an extension for a medical centre in Victoria. There are thousands of patients at this clinic as there are no hospitals in the area. The poor have no NHS system or access to health care and are dependent on the Dominican sisters for funding for health services, dental services and provision of milk powder for the babies. There are always large queues of people waiting to be seen at this centre and the funds provided have allowed the sisters to finish the extension and put a roof on the structure you see below.

All of the sisters developments are small as they get piecemeal funding and can only carry out the works that are most urgent. They rely on local volunteers to provide the labour and then they use donations to pay for the materials.

This is the inside of the building now in early 2010 – nearing completion – Sr Matilde (in grey cardigan) is in the picture along with the other volunteers.
The remainder of the donation will be used for medical instruments and dressings and medicines for the health centres in Moreno. Moreno is the barrio in which Sr Ronnie lives. The Dominican Sisters have been able to raise funding for 6 health centres in this barrio which serve a population of 60,000. Without these funds the local communities would have no access to health care.

Sr Ronnie and Granaghan Outreach thank you for the wonderful support. You are making a difference to the lives of the poor and deprived of Argentina.