Education within reach
Schooling for the children of the region, including those whose families could not afford a private school.
HomeOur missionGuinea
GuineaAn adventure of faith
The Complexe Sainte-Ursule in Sérédou, in the diocese of Guéckédou: education, farming and health care.
Arriving twice
In 1953, answering the call of Pius XII to religious congregations, the Ursulines went to Guinea. Trained locally by the White Fathers, they opened schools and dispensaries, and began to work for the advancement of African women. In 1967, their expulsion by President Sékou Touré put an end to their presence in the country.
“We all bear a pressing duty of solidarity towards peoples in need, for whom education is an urgent task.”
In 2012, the general chapter of the congregation decided on the return to Guinea. The sisters from Côte d’Ivoire were then welcomed by Bishop Raphaël Balla Guilavogui of N’Zérékoré, who offered them the parish of Sérédou — a young parish with no religious community yet. In the autumn of 2016, three sisters began an adventure of faith there.
In ten years, with the support of partners, the community has trained eighty vulnerable girls, from Coyah to Yomou, in income-generating activities. Some of them are still working in these activities today, notably making and selling soap. With a partner organisation, the sisters also lend cowpea and groundnut seed to women’s groups in the neighbouring villages, who return the same quantity after the harvest and keep the surplus. Some of these women say this income has allowed them to send their children to school.
The community in Sérédou welcomes everyone, whatever their religion: Muslims, Catholics, Protestants and followers of other traditions.
1953
First Ursulines in Guinea: schools and dispensaries.
1967
Expulsion. Their presence breaks off for forty-nine years.
2016
Return to Guinea, to Sérédou. Three sisters open the community.
2026
Ten years of presence in Sérédou, celebrated from 23 to 25 October.
The Complexe Sainte-Ursule
To educate, to train, to serve
The farming centre
The Mount Ziama centre teaches crop and livestock farming — a trade, and a living close to home. By October 2026, more than two hundred people had benefited from its training. The sisters also help to train community leaders in agroecology.
Health care
Care and support for the families of the parish and the surrounding villages.
Guinea
Projects
The Sainte-Ursule farming and training centre of Mount Ziama
The first farming and livestock activities were launched in Sérédou, then grew step by step around crop production, livestock and the processing of produce. The centre trains young people, women and producers.
Training in integrated farming, on the Songhaï model
On arriving in Sérédou in 2016, one of the sisters learns of a call from the Songhaï Centre in Benin, which trains young African leaders to reproduce its model in their own countries. She completes six months of intensive training in integrated farming. On her return, what she has learned is put into practice and the Complexe Sainte-Ursule takes shape little by little.
Savings for young people in training
In 2017, the Complexe Sainte-Ursule set up a savings programme with a partner insurer. The aim is to allow every young person in training, or working, at the farming and training centre to build up savings little by little, so as to have capital when starting their own activity, while also enjoying financial protection for themselves and their family.
Literacy classes in the communities
Sisters go out to the communities to teach reading and writing. The tenth-anniversary magazine places this in Sérédou in August 2018, under the heading “Promoting education for all women”.
The Sainte-Ursule health centre
The centre provides consultations, medical tests and care for the sisters, the staff, the trainees and the people living nearby.
The school of excellence
Conceived for many years as the culmination of the Complexe’s project, the school would offer a quality education, with a boarding house, a canteen, dormitories, school supplies and computer equipment. Every child, whatever their social background, could learn there in a healthy environment, be properly fed, receive proper health care and a complete education. The community would like it to be mixed, open to boys as well as girls, and hopes in particular to help girls go further in their studies. It is the great undertaking of the coming decade.
23 – 25 October 2026
The ten-year jubilee
Three days of celebration in Sérédou, with the community, the trainees and their families.
Support the Complexe