Reverend Sister Ursula Ifeyinwa Anunobi was born in Ifite Dunu in Dunukofia Local Government Area of Anambra State. She attended her primary school at St. Mary’s Catholic School Lokoja, then proceeded to Queen of the Rosary College Nsukka, where she earned her WAEC. Still burning with the desire to equip herself with education in preparation for the work ahead, she proceeded to Ahmadu Bello University Zaria where in 1990 she earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree (Education) in political science.
Trained as a teacher, she served in her vocation for a short time. But the irresistible urge to do good coupled with the burgeoning helplessness of a callous society’s inability to look after its own, this accomplished daughter of Africa, political scientist, educationist, and an accomplished Reverend Sister abandoned her training as a teacher to answer a spiritual calling to help the needy, the beggars, the widows, the fatherless, the downtrodden; all that society revile as dregs of the earth.
Drawing inspiration from Mark 6:33-34: These are the homeless, sick, and needy, and John 12:8 which says the poor are always with us and that we should feed, clothe, and cure them. Sister Ursula threw herself completely into accomplishing that calling. She made her mission statement from those Gospel passages and embarked on this mission with single-minded determination.
As a lay apostolate, she started the apostolate work with beggars at the Holy Ghost Cathedral Enugu. This humane and ebullient woman of many talents, a political scientist, an educationist, and an accomplished Reverend Sister, begged for food and clothing. She begged so that she could feed the hungry, clothe the poor, and care for the sick.
It was then that she heard her calling to become a nun, and after a while, she joined the African Daughters of Mary Congregation in Abakaliki Diocese. Despite the congregation’s demise, she continued her apostolic work of providing succor to the harassed souls of the afflicted, feeding the hungry, providing homes for the homeless, and so on.
Reverend Sister Ursula Ifeyinwa Anunobi is a constant, reliable, reassuring, and indeed a recurring Northern Star at Ebonyi State Teaching Hospital, where this ebullient and indefatigable daughter of our Good Lord, is seen daily helping to cure the sick, bringing smiles to the faces of widows, abandoned children, the aged, and the dregs of our society.
Nobody, indeed, can comprehend the towering strength of Reverend Sister Anunobi and how she manages, especially in providing blood to the less privileged patients in EBSUTH and other hospitals. This service alone has meant the difference between life and death to so many men, women, and children in our time.
