The sisters help some women cope with AIDS, and others to raise their children, many of whom were conceived in rape. According to Sister Ester, "the connection with their children, surprisingly, is a significant part of the healing process, and not part of the trauma, as some tend to believe." The McMillan sisters set up the country’s first school clinic in Bow, East London, in 1908. This closed within two years, but paved the way for their clinics at 3 Deptford Road, Greenwich (1910), and at 353 Evelyn Road, Deptford (1911), which treated some 6,000 children a year. They started their mission in 1911 when Emilia Zammit, wife of Henry Clapp, donated to the government of Malta a hospital that she had built at her own expense.

In 2011, South Sudan became an independent country, but in in December 2013, President Salva Kiir Mayardit accused his former deputy Riek Macho of attempting a coup, unleashing a civil war that Pope Francis himself has tried to stop by inviting both leaders to a recent spiritual retreat at the Vatican. The conflict has generated more than 1.5 million displaced people. Margaret had long argued that it was impossible to educate a hungry child and her work contributed to the passing of the Education (Provision of School Meals) Act in 1906. Both sisters led a deputation to Parliament in 1907, leading to the compulsory medical inspection of school children. Ali said there are many schools in the vicinity, but he sent his son to this school up to grade three and later admitted him to an outside school. Around 150 children from the slums are now students at the school. In the South Sudanese Diocese of Tombura Yambio, Bishop Edward Hiiboro Kussala has tasked them with providing permanent assistance to the many women, including young girls and teenagers, who have been raped, abused or abandoned amid the violent conflicts that have plagued the region for years.Throughout the book, Borg remains faithful to his goal expressed in the foreword: “The aim of this book covers not only the legal aspects of the saga but also the factual and political side of things.” Mr Justice Joseph Herrera delivered a landmark decision favouring the Blue Sisters. The judgment discussed the concept of reasonableness and the claim by public authorities of unfettered discretion in great depth. Rachel and Margaret McMillan were born respectively in 1859 and 1860 in New York State to Scottish parents. They moved to Scotland on the death of their father in 1865 and were educated in Inverness. Rachel then taught at a ladies’ college in Coventry but left to nurse her grandmother. Margaret, meanwhile, completed her education in continental Europe and embarked on a career as a governess. Hell was let loose. The saga started. On June 17, 1980, the government filed a court action, claiming that the hospital was to revert to the government because the sisters had refused to acquire the required permit and were therefore unable to operate the hospital.

In 1893, three Little Company of Mary sisters arrived in Chicago to begin their ministry in the United States, providing home-based hospice care. In 1930 Little Company of Mary Hospital was founded in Evergreen Park, Illinois. [8] [9] As of 2019, there were sisters working in California, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Their healthcare ministries include hospitals, home care, hospice, extended care, and outreach programs. A short review of this book can never attempt to go through the legal arguments, decisions, niceties and doctrines. I leave that to the reader, who, I have no doubt, will glide through this book with ease. Margaret published her first article in Christian Socialist magazine in 1889; she would soon join the Fabian Society and made her first speech on May Day 1892 in Hyde Park. After the sisters’ conversion to Christian Socialism, Rachel decided that she would support her sister’s budding political career. In 1893 they both went to work for the new Independent Labour Party (ILP) in Bradford, where Margaret would be elected to the School Board for the ILP. In 1980, the government introduced the need for a licence to run a hospital. Sur­prisingly, a condition was introduced in the Blue Sisters Hospital licence that at least one-half of the hospital beds were to be made available to the National Health Scheme. The sisters opposed it. Apart from the fact that it would have been impossible to resolve financially, this would have negatively affected their original contractual obligation to manage the entire hospital.The sisters help some women cope with AIDS, and others to raise their children, many of whom were conceived in rape. According to Sister Ester, “the connection with their children, surprisingly, is a significant part of the healing process, and not part of the trauma, as some tend to believe.” The sisters then moved to Lewisham and eventually to Deptford, where Rachel worked full-time at their first nursery. After her death in 1917, this was named the Rachel McMillan Nursery School. There is a major stigma that falls over these mostly young women who are victims of the violence of war,” said Sister Ester (in the photo), local superior for the small community of the four “Blue Sisters” who help with the recovery of some 100 women in a facility in the town of Yambio, next to the diocesan chancery. The need for properly qualified teachers led to the establishment of a training college for nursery nurses and teachers, which Margaret started in 1918. A new Rachel McMillan Training College was opened in Deptford by Queen Mary in 1930. The Blue Sisters came to Bangladesh in 1978 and started working with health care in the slums. Bangladesh, which became independent only seven years earlier from Pakistan in 1971, was very poor, and many children did not have access to nutritious food. The Blue Sisters provided care for these children, but felt that the children also needed education. So in 1983, St. Mary's Infant School was started.

Alas, the Court of Appeal failed to reach great heights. Unexpectedly, the president of the court himself suggested to the parties a section of the law on usufruct which allowed a usufruct in favour of a legal – as opposed to a physical person – to be applicable only for a maxi­mum period of 30 years. It was another way of saying that, in any case, the Blue Sisters no longer enjoyed title to the hospital. This had not been referred to by either party. The author also had a small finger in the pie when, as a young lawyer, he was asked by Bonello to research a particular aspect of the test of reasonableness in English Common Law. He relates how he rushed to the university library to research the matter and recalls his excitement when he came across valid material that would help in the issue.

Early Careers

It was a hot, boiling, erupting issue that required stamina by members of the judiciary to remain in line with the law and legal doctrine. Borg glides through the law with ease, cutting through brambles and explaining without unnecessary verbal excursions. The story is a sad one. I remember it well, but reading the book made me recall and understand better what had happened. It served initially as a Seamen’s Hospital but, when in 1915 it became apparent that more hospitals were required to cope with the increasing number of wounded men being sent to the island, the Mother Superior and Nursing Sisters offered their services. Being a fine, modern building, the offer was gratefully accepted. A small monetary grant was made and Blue Sisters’ Hospital opened on 6th May 1915 with 50 beds for officers. The hospital was described as a handsome building with spacious wards and corridors, private rooms, and operating and sterilizing rooms.