The life and work of Patricia Brenninkmeyer.
EPISODE 3.1: AND SO TO AFRICA!
On a cold morning in 1964, at 25 years of age with a passport in hand and such high hopes, Patricia embarked on her journey 4000 miles south of London to a country that straddled the equator, Uganda. All came into place following the usual Sunday evening dinner meetings while the family conversed with Dr. Magdalena Oberhofer a friend of Fr. De Reeper, who had been working with the grail and had recently returned from Uganda. In 1953, The Grail (a community of religious lay women from Holland, England and Germany) had established themselves in Uganda at the center of the Catholicism administration head quarters at the Rubaga Hill. It was through this society that Patricia was able to travel to Uganda even though she had not joined them as a member.
Upon her arrival in Uganda, Patricia noted with disappointment that life at the grail was pretty much the same as that in Europe with a lush view of Kampala and hot water running from the taps, just like in Europe. She expected to live a life totally different from what she was accustomed to back in Europe. It was at this hill that Patricia met Elizabeth Namaganda, a woman in her early 20’s that just like Patricia had devoted her life to social work. She wore a stern faced that carried authority but her smile would always put those around her at ease. Elizabeth and Patricia would soon become good friends and enjoyed their experiences working with each other
At the time of Patricia’s arrival, Uganda had gained her independence two years prior and agriculture was a booming sector where 75 per cent of cultivated land was devoted to subsistence agriculture and the remainder to cash crops. A revenue of £118 million was being collected from the peasant farmers into the development of the country. However, a lot was lacking in the health sector of the country, high maternal mortality rates and infections were the norm at that time putting the lives of the nursing mothers at great risk.
While still in Britain, Patricia had secured a job with child welfare and adoption society (C.W.A.S), a catholic organization aimed at catering for the vulnerable children in Uganda. Patricia narrated to her family that working with C.W.A.S was her absolute calling . Due to the high maternal mortality rates, often times, the fathers of the children would get stuck with the babies most times abandoning them at the hospital. Therefore Patricia had to work closely with the law in a bid to reunite these children with their families and that is how she crossed paths with Ms.Matilda Sengooba, a then magistrate at the Kampala Juvenile Court. Matilda was full of praises for Patricia as it seemed like she knew all the children personally.
Patricia placed advertisements and announcements in the national newspapers such as the Munno in English and the different local languages, she solely funded this. She would go as far as Gulu and regions north of the Nile to areas as far as Tororo near the Kenyan border and as far as the terrains in the South where Uganda met Rwanda and Congo. She eventually purchased a Volkswagen beetle car to ease her trips.
- A few of the sisters from The Grail pose for a photo moment. ↩︎
- The late, Sister Elizabeth Namaganda ↩︎
- The Volkswagen Beetle Patricia used on her trips packed at The Grail ↩︎
Written by Karungi Mary Providence