Congregation of the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus
The Congregation of the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus is an Institute of Consecrated Life of Pontifical Right, founded on 15th January 1931 by Mother Mary Charles Magdalen Walker, a Religious of the Sisters of Charity. She came to Nigeria under the invitation of Bishop Joseph Shanahan, then Prefect Apostolic of Southern Nigeria to help in the education and evangelization of women and children.
Their Charism is “All-embracing charity”. The members, following the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Handmaid of the Lord, carry out the following apostolates: Education, Health Care, Pastoral Ministry and Social Work. They have communities in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Togo, Sierra Leone, Kenya, England, Italy, Germany, the United States of America and Canada. In Cameroon, they have communities in the Dioceses of Buea and Kumbo.
The Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus arrived the Archdiocese of Bamenda in September 2010 and founded a community in St. Francis Xavier’s Parish, Bali where they have established and run a college of their own, namely, Ancilla Catholic Comprehensive College, Wosing –Bali. Their vision is to assist in the work of evangelization through education in the Archdiocese of Bamenda. Their community is made up of 4 Sisters, three finally professed and one temporarily professed.