The Community of the Vincentian Sisters in Mbinga has its origin in the convent in Untermarchtal on the Danube. The “Barmherzigen Schwestern von Untermarchtal” live according to the rules of Vincenz von Paul who already supported the poor and the unprivileged together with Luise of Mariliac, 400 years ago.
In 1960 the first sisters moved from Untermachtal to the today’s Diocese of Mbinga to help the poor, invalids and children. They founded the religious order “Vincentian Sisters” who follow together with the African sisters the 400 years existing and still valid ideal. Today, in 2007, one cannot imagine the Diocese Mbinga and the Vincentian sisters without the 180 active Tanzanian sisters.
150 sisters and pupils live in the convent and the associated boarding school. The sisters work in the workshops, the schools and the hospitals. Under the instruction of the sisters Caritas and Kaya, the pupils of the boarding school get a solid education in their own domestic science school and pass a governmental exam as a cook or a tailor after 2 years of education.
The Workshops:
Creation and conservation of value
In the carpenter’s workshop, the locksmith’s shop, the garage and shoemaker’s shop, the sisters create items for their own use but also for others. Several schools and hospitals in the diocese have been provided with solid furniture. Sister Agnesia’s tables are of excellent quality and the window frames produced in her workshop are in perfect condition, even after years.
Gates, wheelbarrows and other metal items are produced in the locksmith’s shop, daily incurring repairs are carried out. This includes mending the water pipes and the toilets of the 18 exterior stations. Thanks to sister Maria Agnes and Benedictine brother Otmar, water of good quality is available as well as a well-maintained system of water pipes.
The locksmith’s shop works together with the mechanical workshop. Under the direction of sister Vincentia, they keep the little motor park with cars varying from 1960’s Mercedes Benz trucks to 1995’s Land Rovers, in good condition. There is also a bookbindery as well as a shoemaker’s workshop where Sister Franca professionally manufactures footwear for the sisters and pupils.