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Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe’s 62 years of life provide a powerful testament to God’s presence, love, and hope amidst unimaginable violence. Throughout these many years, her native Uganda and southern Sudan (now South Sudan) have suffered the devastating effects of war and military clashes. Children, as the most vulnerable population, have suffered the most-being orphaned, kidnapped, forced to become child soldiers and sex-slaves. In Rosemary Nyirumbe: Sewing Hope in Uganda María Ruiz Scaperlanda brings to light Sister Rosemary’s vocation of loving presence to these youth in the midst of this cultural and societal obliteration.
As a Sister of the Sacred Heart of Jesus for over 45 years, Sister Rosemary, even at great risk to herself, continues to minister to children enduring the violence around them, teaching practical skills, while helping them to heal, forgive, and hope. Her work taking in girls escaping captivity by Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has earned her international recognition. She has been named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World,” is the subject of the book Sewing Hope, and an award-winning documentary by the same name narrated by Academy Award winning actor Forest Whitaker. She received the United Nations Women’s Impact Award and has been named a CNN Hero.
María Ruiz Scaperlanda is an award-winning journalist, author, and blogger whose work has been broadly published. In 2016, María received the St. Francis de Sales Award-the highest honor given by the Catholic Press Association to an individual, for her “outstanding contributions to Catholic journalism.” María is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA)-and has traveled on international assignments to the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, and now Africa. María and her husband of 37 years, Michael, reside in Norman, Oklahoma. They have four adult children, a Siberian Husky named Diego, and, so far, ten grandchildren.
“A riveting account of the woman described as Africa’s Mother Teresa, Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda’s biography of Sr. Rosemary Nyirumbe captures the hope she brought to war-torn northern Uganda with a tender, tough and tenacious love. Scaperlanda beautifully shows the connection between providence, prayer, and action in depicting Sr. Rosemary’s work with young women who suffered terrible harm at the hands of Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army. Sr. Rosemary shows us what faith does in the face of despair.”
– James Martin, SJ, Author of In All Seasons, For All Reasons: Praying Throughout the Year
