Urged by the compassionate love of God and concern for the poor, the sick and the neglected, Seraphina Nyambura felt the urge to care for such needy and neglected people. She was joined by other Girls who had the same inspiration of dedicating themselves totally to God to serve him in the poor and neglected. They started living together in August 1974 at Sagana Murang’a, which is now referred to as Murang’a county.They were approved as “pious union” by the Bishop of Nyeri.Among the girls five of them desired to be elevated to a religious congregation, make public vows and live in a religious community. For this reason, they struggled hard to survive.His grace, The Late Archbishop John Njenga, the Archbishop of Mombasa had compassion on them, thus he received and assisted them. After a thorough investigation and consultation from the former diocese of Murang’a and through prayer, reflection and discernment, Archbishop John Njenga decided to found a new religious congregation for women in his Archdiocese of Mombasa on 5th September 1989.He then requested the sisters of Mary Immaculate to train and form the Sisters.

Relocating to Catholic Archdiocese of Mombasa

It was God who knew where the services of the congregation of the sisters of Mary Mother of God would be best required. None of its pioneer members had ever dreamt of working outside Nyeri or Murang’a dioceses. But all through, God had planned to have them work away from their local homes so that their apostolate would register greater impact.

In July 1989, the late Archbishop John Njenga invited Sister Seraphina to Mombasa so that she could familiarize herself with Bamba in Ganze. When sister Seraphina was going to Mombasa, she was accompanied by sister Lucy Wambui. When the two saw their future station, they informed the late Archbishop that they would be willing to work there. The Bishop then asked them to go back in Sagana to prepare to travel to Mombasa in September 1989.On Tuesday ,5th September 1989, the five pioneer sisters left Sagana to Mombasa. They arrived in Mombasa for final settlement on Wednesday 6th September 1989. Because the date of their arrival was very close to 8th September 1989, the birthday of the blessed virgin Mary,. Sister Seraphina suggested that the congregation adopt that date as its birthday. Bishop Njenga declared 1st January of each year as the congregation’s profession day.On 6th September 1989 (their first day in Mombasa) the sisters were accommodated at Bishops residence in Nyali but on the second day they relocated to Mr. Njenga’s house in Kiembeni where they stayed for 17 days during which they learned more Kiswahili. They reported to Bamba on Friday  22nd September 1989

New Novitiate at Manene, Mtwapa

Sister Seraphina felt the need of formation for her group, she approached the late Archbishop John Njenga and requested him to find some sisters to help in this noble work. Two Mary Immaculate sisters were sent to help in the religious formation. The two sisters were Sister Pauline Kabura in the postulancy and Sister Michael Wairimu in the Novitiate.The formatters felt the need to have the novitiate in a separate place and when they approached the late Archbishop Njenga, he gave three options to choose from, i.e. Tudor, Manene and star of the sea. They chose Manene (the present mother house in Mtwapa). The first Novitiate of the congregation of the sisters of Mary Mother of God in the Archdiocese of Mombasa was therefore opened at Manene. The first profession was done in 1993 and the congregation is growing gradually.The Novitiate at Manene was officially opened by the late Archbishop Njenga on Wednesday 1st January 1992, and about ten years it was relocated to Mtepeni and officially opened on 18th February 2012, by the late Archbishop Boniface Lele.

The charism of the sisters of Mary Mother of God is to live merciful love of God, our mission is to serve humanity with dedication and love in all nations (Kenya and beyond) thus glorifying God through selfless service to humanity.