Sr Deirdre Mullan from the Mercy Sisters (Ireland) has been Director of Mercy Global Concern and UN representative of the Worldwide Mercy Congregations at the UN for more than ten years.
Speaking about her new appointment to the local media in Derry she said, “I feel honoured at this appointment, particularly because I am passionate about education and I firmly believe it is a way out of poverty. That's the foundation of the work I've been doing to develop a network of schools around the globe to provide scholarships for children in the developing world. So far I've been involved in finding funds for the building and running of fourteen schools in different parts of the world.”
Although Sr Mullan is based in New York she still keeps in contact with her home city of Derry.
She said, “I'm delighted that my own home city has been very much part of this project. The very first of these schools was built in Cambodia with the help of Miss Marguerite Hamilton of Thornhill College and Mrs Pauline McDaid at St Cecilia's College, Derry. Later St Columb's College, St Mary's College and St Brigid's College, working with schools across the USA, provided much-needed resources, including bicycles, so that rural children come to school.”
She added, “The schools have been sustained with the help of many generous people in the Derry area, as well as the Derry-Donegal partnership, with the support of Sr Ann Doherty and Gerry McConnell and friends.”
A past pupil of Thornhill College and a former teacher at both Thornhill and Saint Mary's College Sr Deirdre holds a PHD in the Feminisation of Poverty.
She has worked for many years on how an education can make a difference in the lives of girls and all children born into and living in poverty.
In the course of her work she works closely with UN personnel and Sisters on the ground, monitoring progress and providing scholarships that support and enable change to take place.