Dear friend,
I am Mother Rita Christine Nakitende, Superior General of the Little Sisters of St. Francis. After the NPR story aired in June 2026, many of you wrote with thoughts, prayers, and a wish to help. We received that kindness with deep gratitude. It reminded our Sisters that they have not been forgotten, and that many, both near and far, do care. What was once a hope and a prayer is now an organized effort for friends to walk with us.
For more than a century our Sisters taught, nursed, and walked with the poor. Many of those same women now live at our motherhouse in Nkokonjeru — and we intend that more elderly and infirm Sisters will join us from sister convents so we can care for them together. They gave their lives in service. In these quieter years they live with isolation, limited means, and little of the comfort or palliative care that is ordinary in so much of the world. What they need most is simple and costly at once: companionship, dignity, and adequate care.
We are not asking you to come and fix everything. If you cannot travel, a gift, a letter, or a partnership from where you are still helps.
Please reach out. We will be glad to hear from you.
With gratitude,
Mother Rita Christine Nakitende, LSOSF
Superior General