Missionary nun; Born Jun4 4, 1939; Died May 21, 2008. Sister Rosalie Dunn, who has died aged 68 after a long battle with illness, was one of Scotland's unsung missionary workers. She spent the greatest part of her working life fighting the tide of Aids in the northern provinces of Zambia and providing succour to hundreds of children orphaned when their parents died of the disease.

Missionary nun;
Born Jun4 4, 1939;
Died May 21, 2008.

Sister Rosalie Dunn, who has died aged 68 after a long battle with illness, was one of Scotland's unsung missionary workers. She spent the greatest part of her working life fighting the tide of Aids in the northern provinces of Zambia and providing succour to hundreds of children orphaned when their parents died of the disease.

As a result of her contribution, the incidence of Aids in the areas where she worked was reduced and many children survived who otherwise might have died.

One of a large Glaswegian family of eight, Catherine (as she was christened) trained as a nurse and later a midwife at the Glasgow Western Infirmary.

She worked at the Western until she realised a long-held dream in 1963 by joining an order of nuns, the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, who had been founded to nurse and help the poor. She took the name Rosalie at her final profession in 1966 and worked in hospitals run by the order throughout the UK until the late 1970s, when she was sent to work as a midwife in Chilonga in Northern Province, Zambia.

As a midwife, Sister Rosalie learned much from her Zambian patients about the sexual practices that were part of the culture of the area, and which were contributing so much, along with poverty, to the high incidence of Aids. But what could a Glasgow nun do about the scourge of Aids in Zambia?

Sister Rosalie grasped immediately that if she was to influence the culture it was essential to work within it. She set about the task of learning Bemba, the main local language, earning the great respect of local people for so doing. Beginning in Chilonga and then in Mbala in northern Zambia she instigated the setting up of an overall HIV/Aids prevention and management programme. The programme combined four components: information and education, counselling, home-based care and support for vulnerable children.

As well as personally running classes for people from all walks of Zambian society, from local youths to high-ranking civil servants, Rosalie trained teams of traditional local birth attendants in the causes of Aids and then encouraged them to spread the message. She even managed to persuade local men to teach other male villagers about Aids in a way that was unprecedented. Over time she instigated the creation of 92 orphan support teams, chaired by local people, in rural villages.

Sister Rosalie combined a deep devotion to her faith with a hard-headed practical approach. When villagers killed and ate some of the oxen she had introduced to help with ploughing and transportation she replaced them with donkeys. The trick worked - especially as the donkeys multiplied.

She introduced castor oil as a cash crop when she realised it was not so likely to be stolen as beans. Expensive powdered milk was replaced by goats' milk and crop rotation was introduced as an alternative to expensive fertiliser.

Sister Rosalie badgered bishops, priests and senior government officials alike for support. She secured funding for her work from a range of individuals, schools, parishes and international donor agencies - famously impressing members of Larkhall Rotary Club in Lanarkshire so much that they made her the focus of their international aid programme throughout the 1980s and 1990s before finally awarding her a Paul Harris Fellowship, the highest honour that can be bestowed on a Rotarian.

Her life in Zambia was not without drama and danger. On one occasion she had to dispose of a deadly python that had taken up residence in the convent kitchen oven. And in a much more frightening episode she kept calm and persuaded a gang of armed thieves who broke into her convent to leave its members unharmed.

As a recurring tumour began to undermine her health, Sister Rosalie returned to the UK in 2004 though she continued her work in Aids education in local communities and schools until a few months before her death, typically disregarding her own suffering.

Her programmes are still running in Zambia because of her team approach and the people of the rural northern areas speak with great affection of Sister Rosarie, as they pronounce her name.

They remember the doughty little nun who did so much to educate and help them, but who could still find time to win the best dancer prize at a parish Christmas party in Mbala shortly before her return to the UK, courtesy of a sprightly Highland fling.

She was and remains an inspiration to all those who knew and loved and worked with her.