Blue Sisters: The highly-anticipated new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Cleopatra and Frankenstein

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There is a major stigma that falls over these mostly young women who are victims of the violence of war," said Sister Ester, local superior for the small community of the four "Blue Sisters" who help with the recovery of some 100 women in a facility in the town of Yambio, next to the diocesan chancery. Throughout the book, Borg remains faithful to his goal expressed in the foreword: “The aim of this book covers not only the legal aspects of the saga but also the factual and political side of things.”

By 1922, the Little Company of Mary congregation had grown large enough to establish provinces with regional provincials. The four provinces were Australasia, England, Ireland and Italy. [7] Modern day [ edit ] Cyril Sladden was a patient at Blue Sisters Hospital, Sliema, Malta, from mid August to mid September 1915 after being wounded at Gallipoli. Rachel McMillan began to lodge at the house, then in Kent, in 1895, while working for the county council. Margaret joined her in 1902, earning her living by lecturing for the Ethical Society and Workers’ Educational Association. She continued to write, and books such as Education through the Imagination (1904) brought her to international attention. In 2011, South Sudan became an independent country, but in in December 2013, President Salva Kiir Mayardit accused his former deputy Riek Macho of attempting a coup, unleashing a civil war that Pope Francis himself has tried to stop by inviting both leaders to a recent spiritual retreat at the Vatican. The conflict has generated more than 1.5 million displaced people. Ali said there are many schools in the vicinity, but he sent his son to this school up to grade three and later admitted him to an outside school. Around 150 children from the slums are now students at the school.They were founded three decades ago in southern Sudan, and named the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary. But in a region dramatically affected by the South Sudanese civil war, they are usually known by the bright colour of their habits. To most who know them, they are the “Blue Sisters.” The counsel for the government did not agree with such a strong direction from the court and insisted on continuing the case as originally filed. But the government filed a new action the following day along the lines suggested by the president of the court himself.

The Blue Sisters came to Bangladesh in 1978 and started working with health care in the slums. Bangladesh, which became independent only seven years earlier from Pakistan in 1971, was very poor, and many children did not have access to nutritious food. The Blue Sisters provided care for these children, but felt that the children also needed education. So in 1983, St. Mary's Infant School was started. A short review of this book can never attempt to go through the legal arguments, decisions, niceties and doctrines. I leave that to the reader, who, I have no doubt, will glide through this book with ease. The education that I got in our school is not in other schools, the care of the teachers is not in other schools. If we could not do something, the teachers would teach us again and again. My success has been possible because of studying in this school," Ali told GSR. They started their mission in 1911 when Emilia Zammit, wife of Henry Clapp, donated to the government of Malta a hospital that she had built at her own expense.It served initially as a Seamen’s Hospital but, when in 1915 it became apparent that more hospitals were required to cope with the increasing number of wounded men being sent to the island, the Mother Superior and Nursing Sisters offered their services. Being a fine, modern building, the offer was gratefully accepted. A small monetary grant was made and Blue Sisters’ Hospital opened on 6th May 1915 with 50 beds for officers. The hospital was described as a handsome building with spacious wards and corridors, private rooms, and operating and sterilizing rooms. Ranojeet Baroi, 28, has been teaching in this school for almost two years since graduating. He and his three siblings were all students at St. Mary's Infant School. Alas, the Court of Appeal failed to reach great heights. Unexpectedly, the president of the court himself suggested to the parties a section of the law on usufruct which allowed a usufruct in favour of a legal – as opposed to a physical person – to be applicable only for a maxi­mum period of 30 years. It was another way of saying that, in any case, the Blue Sisters no longer enjoyed title to the hospital. This had not been referred to by either party. The sisters help some women cope with AIDS, and others to raise their children, many of whom were conceived in rape. According to Sister Ester, “the connection with their children, surprisingly, is a significant part of the healing process, and not part of the trauma, as some tend to believe.”

In 1882, they went to Italy. Mary Potter had gone to gain approval for the constitutions of her new congregation, and while there she established Calvary Hospital on the Via Santo Stefano Rotondo, not far from St. John Lateran. [5] By 1927, the expanded nursery school accommodated 350 children and provided for large classes to be taught all year round in the open air under shelters, built around a garden. The Medical Officer of Health for the London County Council noted that year that the school’s records showed ‘conclusively the beneficial results of the regime there, associated as it is with good food, fresh air, cleanliness and medical treatment on diseased and debilitated babies’. It was a hot, boiling, erupting issue that required stamina by members of the judiciary to remain in line with the law and legal doctrine. It was, indeed, a ground-breaking judgement, valiant and audacious in the face of executive arbitrariness, a judgement which was met with even more arrogance by the government authorities.”The sisters help some women cope with AIDS, and others to raise their children, many of whom were conceived in rape. According to Sister Ester, "the connection with their children, surprisingly, is a significant part of the healing process, and not part of the trauma, as some tend to believe." Our goal is to gradually integrate these women into society with the adequate spiritual and mental stability, and with a clear plan for their future,” said Sister Ester.

According to Sister Ester, the women living at the shelter vary in age and with regard to their level of trauma. Mr Justice Joseph Herrera delivered a landmark decision favouring the Blue Sisters. The judgment discussed the concept of reasonableness and the claim by public authorities of unfettered discretion in great depth. I remember considering whether usufruct really applied to the issue as the president of the court had suggested. I was then of the firm opinion that it did not apply. I felt that the contract was a sui generis obligation, not a usufruct. Reading this book, I now find solace that several more enlightened minds were also of that belief.In 1980, the government introduced the need for a licence to run a hospital. Sur­prisingly, a condition was introduced in the Blue Sisters Hospital licence that at least one-half of the hospital beds were to be made available to the National Health Scheme. The sisters opposed it. Apart from the fact that it would have been impossible to resolve financially, this would have negatively affected their original contractual obligation to manage the entire hospital. Margaret published her first article in Christian Socialist magazine in 1889; she would soon join the Fabian Society and made her first speech on May Day 1892 in Hyde Park. After the sisters’ conversion to Christian Socialism, Rachel decided that she would support her sister’s budding political career. In 1893 they both went to work for the new Independent Labour Party (ILP) in Bradford, where Margaret would be elected to the School Board for the ILP. In the South Sudanese Diocese of Tombura Yambio, Bishop Edward Hiiboro Kussala has tasked them with providing permanent assistance to the many women, including young girls and teenagers, who have been raped, abused or abandoned amid the violent conflicts that have plagued the region for years.