Mother Mary Charles Magdalen Walker, a Missionary Irish Sister of Charity, founded the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus (HHCJ). She came to Nigeria in 1923 at the invitation of Bishop Joseph Shanahan, CSSp. She came to help in the work of evangelization and most especially in the areas of women's empowerment and education. Mother Walker lived an exemplary life of being all things to all people as she engaged in various ministries through which she uplifted the standard of life of the people she served. Mother Walker was a professional educator, a health care provider, a social worker and an evangelist. She taught in St. Joseph's Convent School, Calabar, Nigeria, where her wish for an indigenous religious congregation was fulfilled. Four of the girls she taught expressed their desire to become like her, a Sister. Therefore, on January 15, 1931, she received these four girls as postulants. She gave the name "Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus" to her new group. Today, the congregation is growing in numbers and has over 730 vowed Sisters in missions to the people of God across Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Togo, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Germany, Italy, England, and the United States of America.
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Mother Mary Langley is the incumbent Superior General of the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus. She was elected into office in 1996 for her first six year term. She was relected for a second term in 2002. She is the Mother Superior who is responsible for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the more than 730 Sisters spread across the world who are ministering in the fields of education, health care, spiritual and social work primarily to women and children.
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