Orla Treacy is an Irish Loreto sister who runs a boarding school in war torn South Sudan and she works for Women's education and prevent child marriages. Born in 1973 in Bray, County Wicklow, she became an International Women of Courage Award recipient in 2019.
In 2017 she was awarded The Hugh O’Flaherty International Humanitarian Award by the Mayor of Killarney.Wicklow nun to receive the Hugh o flaherty Humanitarian award September, 2017, Wicklow News. In 2021, Sr. Treacy was awarded the Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad,Presidential award for Bray’s Sr Orla Treacy by Eimear Dodd, Bray People, 22 December 2021. by Michael D. Higgins, who is the President of Ireland.In a culture where cows are worth more than women, an Irish nun has dedicated herself to educating girls By Patsy McGarry, Irish Times, 27 December 2022.
Orla was educated in Presentation Convent Tralee, County Kerry, then Loretto Convent in Bray completing her Leaving Cert in 1991. She went to Mater Dei Institute of Education, Dublin, and completing her degree in 1995 she became a school teacher. She taught in Presentation College Cork, Loreto Letterkenny, St Muredach's Ballina and Loreto Crumlin. Treacy completed an MA in Chaplaincy and Pastoral care with Mater Dei awarded by Dublin City University in 2002.Sr. Orla Treacy Award for Societal Impact, Mater Dei Centre for Catholic Education, Dublin City University, www.dcu.ie, 19 June 2019. At the age of 24 Orla decided to join the Loretto Sisters, and was based in Rathfarnham, Dublin, she was professed in 2005.
In 2005 Sr Orla along with two other Irish nuns were invited by Bishop Cesare Mazzolari the Italian-born Bishop of Rumbek, to set up a school in Rumbeck, South Sudan.Sister Orla Treacy in Rumbek Loreto Sisters in Ireland. Today Orla, is the Principal and the director of the centre that provides Primary and Secondary Schooling to boys and girls, teacher training,Sr Orla Treacy - Directors Message Loreto Rumbek and also provides a health centre staffed by Kenyan nuns.
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