Colomb’s 100th birthday: Marking nun’s service to girl-child education

Today, Sr Colombiere Kelly of the Loreto Sisters, who was a principal of Loreto High School, Limuru, for 25 years, celebrates her 100th birthday. For a centenarian, she enjoys very good health, save for some pain in the legs.

Since her arrival in Kenya in 1948, she has served in various schools and convents, including Loreto Eldoret, Kiambu (Riara), Valley Road and Msongari, where she now resides. But she is best known for her association with Limuru.

ICONIC INSTITUTION

For a full generation since the late 1940s, Loreto Convent School, Limuru, was synonymous with Sr Colombiere, fondly referred to as Colomb by her colleagues and many friends.

Notable alumnae of the iconic institution include Nobel laureate Prof Wangari Maathai, Sr Edel Bahati of Edelvale Sisters, former Chief Nursing Officer Dr Eunice Kiereini and Ambassador Emma Murai, among others.

Born in County Kilkenny, Ireland, Sr Colomb entered Rathfarmhan Abbey in 1937 and made her First Profession as a nun three years later.

She took her Final Vows in the same religious congregation of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, popularly known as the Loreto Sisters in 1946.

Sr Colomb attended University College Dublin, Ireland, where she read English, mathematics and education, graduating with a bachelor’s degree (honours) in 1945.

LORETO CONVENT

Her first appointment in Kenya was at Loreto Convent Limuru, an institution that has the distinction of being the premier Catholic girls boarding school in Kenya, founded by the legendary Sr Teresa Joseph in 1936.

Some of the major challenges facing the institution that became a secondary school in 1947 included lack of adequate funding and the lukewarm attitude of the colonial authorities. An application for government assistance in 1948 was unsuccessful.

The nuns running the school appealed for help from other sources and ploughed back into the institution every penny they received. “We kept the school fees as low as we could to enable our students to study and stay at Loreto Limuru,” says Sr Colomb.

During her tenure as principal, Sr Colomb saw the school expand its infrastructure, grow the number of students and improve the quality of education. The first two candidates to sit for the Cambridge School Certificate in 1954 performed well.

A second stream was added in 1956. Two years later, the institution was declared a national school.

SIX STREAMS

Currently, Loreto High School Limuru has 1,300 students in six streams, according to Mrs Eunice Wangari Njenga, the Chief Principal. Last year, of the 261 KCSE candidates, 250 qualified for admission to university.

In the early days, most members of the teaching staff were nuns and volunteer teachers from the Emerald Isle.

Some of the first indigenous educationists that joined the staff were Mr Athanase Gichanga trained as a teacher at Kabaa in the 1930s, Mr Herman Muraya who had graduated from Makerere College and Sr (Dr) Marie Therese Gacambi, a Loreto alumna who later became Superior General of the Assumption Sisters of Nairobi.

What inspired Sr Colomb to champion the transformation of Loreto Limuru into an institution whose impact is felt in business, political, religious, academic and cultural life across Kenya and beyond?

The missionary efforts of the Loreto Sisters were driven by the charisma of their founder, Mary Ward, a lady who travelled from England to meet the Pope in Rome, seeking recognition of her new religious institute.

GREAT THINGS

Against a backdrop of women as the undervalued gender in society, her vision included the dream that “women in time to come will do great things”. For Mary Ward, education of girls constituted an effective medium to achieve her target.

Alumnae who studied under Sr Colomb speak of a kind woman of remarkable drive and dignity.

Mrs Catherine Kuria, Loreto Limuru Class of 1956 and retired civil servant, recalls a strong-willed nun with a signature smile who taught skills and nurtured character in her students. A host of Loreto past pupils have kept in touch with their teacher and principal.

CLARITY OF SPEECH

As I was interviewing Sr Colomb at Loreto Msongari last week, her phone rang. With a little help from Sr Caitriona Kelly, her colleague and friend, the centenarian received the call and communicated with admirable clarity of speech and sense of humour.

When I asked what has kept her going these last 100 years, Sr Colomb said without hesitation: “In the Cross, while I breathe, I trust”. And then, with her signature smile, she put it for me in Latin: “Cruci Dum Spiro Fido”.

A very happy centenary birthday, Sr Colomb!

Fr Njoroge is Catholic Chaplain at JKUAT where he teaches Development Studies and Ethics. [email protected]