by Nadia Ramoutar MMM Communications Coordinator Ireland 23.05.2026
Looking at what is in the news and what is happening with world politics, it can have the effect of becoming almost “normal”. Oh, there were bombs, deaths, threats…and on and on. It is like a soundtrack playing constantly behind the activities of our everyday life. But if we don’t in some way mute the noise of tragedy, we cannot function with the tasks and responsibilities required of us. But, we also don’t want to become robots or machines who don’t care about peace or seeking it, and have resolved ourselves to tragedy.
What are we to do?
Many of us find that prayer, reflection, walks in nature and talking to a trusted person can all be helpful. But even still it is easy to feel helpless. We are faced with challenges that seem greater than any effort we can possibly give.
For me, part of my coping is to look at what I can actually do in the world and how I can make a difference. This has brought me fully committed to issues for global health for girls and women. In particular, I am working hard to promote and educate about the MMM Sisters work in maternal health and pushing an agenda that all women deserve to survive a healthy childbirth experience.
Sadly, in parts of the world, this is not the case. For those who do survive in Sub-Saharan Africa, too many are left with a severe wound in the vaginal area known as an obstetric fistula. We have created a coalition of other people and agencies who also care about this issue called Safe Birth 4 All. Since this is a wound experienced during prolonged labour it can be prevented and also treated. It used to be a major issue in our western world here but for the past 100 years or so it has not been here due to improvements in health care and other quality of life markers for women.
So this May we are hosting a half-day Safe Birth 4 All Conference in Dublin. People can attend online or can join us in person for no cost. Lunch is provided for those who attend in person. I invite you to get educated about this issue which not enough people know about or understand is a social justice and humanitarian issue along with a medical one. It is brutal to the girl and women’s mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health as they are subjected to neglect and abuse as they leak urine and faeces uncontrollably. What a horrible experience!
Our website www.safebirth4all.com has more information and if you email us at safebirth4all@gmail.com we will gladly you sign you up. If you can’t attend continue to please support us in prayer or with donations. This is a war we can win.
by Sr. Sheila Campbell, MMM Ireland 20.05.2026
The extracts below I found in early MMM Magazines. Yes, some of the language is a little dated, but the concept of dealing with shortages and “make do” is all too real as we face the consequences of modern warfare.
“Today I got a parcel I sent to myself from London – I’d forgotten what was in it” writes Sr. Margaret Garnett from Tanzania. “It was a nice surprise to get two writing pads. Paper is in very short supply out here. I have started to tidy up the old files”. Old reports etc. are being retrieved “so that where the back of the page is blank we can use for letters etc.” At a very practical level this is one of the daily dilemmas of a Medical Missionary of Mary.
From a neighbouring mission, also in Northern Tanzania, Sr. Nuala, while on home leave recently, described how the paper shortage affected her by asking us to use our imagination. “Can you imagine yourself before a class of intelligent, highly motivated students who do not even have copybooks in which to write their notes? This is the situation I face daily in the classroom of the School of Nursing in Dareda.”
“With enthusiasm and a sense of mission, Sisters of the international congregation of the Medical Missionaries of Mary set out to bring Christian hope and service filled with empathy. However limitations, shortages and cultural differences have to be faced. The English born, Doctor, Sister Margaret put it this way; “sometimes I really wonder if God called me to be an MMM in order to search for spare parts for land rovers and motor-bicycles in order that our village health work can continue. But I stay put because basically I am at peace, and I believe that God uses these situations of shortages and other difficulties to teach us that the work is His and not ours. The needs are enormous, and we only touch the surface, so despair could set in, and an attitude of ‘what’s the use’? Well, maybe materially it isn’t much use, but it is all in God’s plan and maybe our small contribution can be like the leaven which leavens the whole loaf eventually.”
There is a great surge of interest in genealogy in Ireland at the moment as the first census taken in 1926 after Ireland became a free state or independent republic has just been released. In the first 24 hours there was something like one million hits on the website such is the excitement it has generated! Millie, a cousin of mine on my mother’s side has been working on our own family tree for several years so the additional information from this census will add to her large body of existing knowledge no doubt.by Sr. Margaret Anne Meyer MMM USA 13.05.2026
A sign of new life in Tanzania was the opening of Ngaramtoni House just outside of Arusha town There was ample space for MMMs to be together for assemblies and retreats. Sr. Consolata Rhatigan, Regional Superior at the time, did an exceptionally excellent job, planting flowers around the house and providing a beautiful landscape. One could sit in the garden and have a good look at Mt. Meru in the distance. It seemed to be only a few miles away. I never saw such amazing birds. I especially liked a bird called the green bee-ant eater. The bird had glowing green and brown feathers with a reddish head and yellow throat and was delightful to behold.
We all loved going there.
A good chance for me to go there came in November 1985. Fourteen MMMS from various houses went there on retreat. It was a valuable experience for us all.
When I returned from the retreat to Makiungu we had a new lay doctor. Dr. Judith Galvin was very welcomed and joined in our medical and community life with great enthusiasm. She proved to be a valuable asset to our medical team. She lived in the original convent quarters in the house built for us by the Pallotine Fathers in the early fifties.
Further down the compound, Sr. Margaret O Connor had built staff houses in rows of a 2-unit complex which were wonderfully comfortable.
We also welcomed Joe and Nessa Breen, and their three lovely children, Rebecca, Stephen and Freida, aged six, four and two.
Joe had come to supervise the building of our new outpatient department. The present building was becoming too small for the increasing number of patients who travelled by bus from Singida each day and also coming from other distant towns in various modes of transport including wheelbarrows. The building had also suffered some structural damage during the earthquake which I previously mentioned.
We really enjoyed their family company at our festive celebrations and everyday life. The children were a delight. The next year, the oldest child, Rebecca, made her First Communion in our chapel. She looked radiantly happy and beautiful inn her white dress. She gave us immense joy with her faith in Jesus. Stephen was soon speaking Gaelic and Swahili with the local children. The youngest child was a bundle of joy. A new addition was added to the family before they left for Ireland. Mary Jo was delivered to our new Maternity Hospital on October 24, 1986.
Soon after, our beloved midwifery tutor, Sr. Mary Donato returned to USA and was replaced by Sr. Sheila Devane. She also did amazing work but that is another story.
by Jim Lynch USA 09.05.2026
Now, what’s to be done about language: Its limitations readily apparent and palpable? Yet, it is what we have – word and gesture. We approach meaning and truth obliquely, at odd angles, only indirectly – and with humility. Our approach is always asymptotic – never quite arriving.
Metaphor, through images, carries meaning: “understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another.” We live and we learn by metaphor. It is fundamental to language and understanding – both deeper and richer than systemic language, ad harder to define and contain. The Bible often speaks in metaphor. And Jesus commonly used parables, stories, metaphors and images to draw us into God’s mystery.
Richard Feynman, a physicist of great renown, explained how he approached difficult concepts. He said he had to visualize them in order to understand them. Only then did he proceed to mathematical proofs. And he stated that he had to be able to explain them in terms that a child could understand. It struck me that that is what Jesus is about. All the intricate and abstract treatises on Jesus can seem to make him less approachable. He is God’s word, not an abstraction, but in the way that he lved and spoke. Like Feynman, we can visualize Jesus, we can “visualize” God, in what he said and did. And again, like Feynman, Jesus’ ove can be understood, perhaps best, through the eyes and heart of a child – in fact, the child in each of us…
by Sr. Liana de Jesus, MMM Brazil/USA 06.05.2026
Nurturing relationships happen easily when we live close to our families and friends. We try our best to have a moment together, we plan some fun together, we remember the birthdays of each other, we give gifts or sometimes we only give a birthday card. Our friends don’t need to be our own age. But a person that we can cry, laugh, and share moments with.
When a member of our family leaves our home to study or to work in another country they remain part of our family. It is the same with our friends. The secret to maintaining a relationship with family and friends without losing the bond is to keep communicating. Send a card when it is possible, email, call or visit them when it is possible. Real relationships do not have boundaries; they are about being there for those we love and appreciating their presence.
Even physical distancing does not separate a true friendship. Do not let distance, business or new priorities push loved ones aside. You risk losing precious connections. Instead, hold them close, tell them you miss them, and reach out to them. A simple birthday message can mean the world. Sometimes we only realize someone’s value when they have gone. Take a moment to appreciate those who care for you and show them your love.
Relationships are like a garden of roses, everyone wants to take time to look and take pictures of the roses and their diversity of beauty and colors. The rose is beautiful, but it also has thorns to show its boundaries, sometimes you have to be careful.
It is the same with our family and friends; we need to respect boundaries and learn to understand their differences and limitations. If you pick a rose in the garden without proper care the thorn will harm your hands, but if you use proper gloves, you won’t feel the pain. This also applies to us when we do not use compassion and decide to keep silent for a long time. This can leave a pain at the heart of our friend or family member and we will lose them.
Colossians 3:13 – “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone.” I found this passage very profound when thinking about relating to one another. The world today is desperately in need of people who listen to our ups and down in life. No one lives alone, we definitely need each other to live and to become our best selves. ”
Colossians 3:12 “May I clothe myself in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. May I be patient with my friends, and may I forgive freely like you have forgiven me. May I shine your light in my friendships, giving glory to you through all that I do, say, and think. Thank you for my friends, Jesus. Thank you for the ways they build me up and remind me of your goodness and faithfulness. In your name I pray, Amen.”
by Sr. Sheila Campbell. MMM Ireland 02.05.2026
Most people, when they think of missionaries, think of Bible-thumping evangelicals who go around preaching the word of God. The reality, for most of us is very different!
The Medical Missionaries of Mary are missionaries in action rather than word. We show God’s love for people in practical ways as nurses, doctors and all the related fields that promote health and healing. What most people don’t realise is that we work along side and with people from many different faiths and traditions.
The other day I came across a report of a Remembrance Service that illustrates this point clearly. It happened in Tanzania, in our Faraja Hospice and Palliative Care Centre. The staff, mostly Muslim and Christian were invited. All the volunteers and to members from each deceased person’s family of various faith traditions were also invited.
And who led the ceremony? There was a Muslim religious leader, a Shehe, whose deceased wife had been a patient, a Pentecostal Minister whose mother had been cared for and a Catholic priest.
All came together to remember the deceased and, perhaps, speak about them and pray for them that healing of the personal loss of their beloved might be promoted.
Our MMM Sisters who work at the Faraja Centre felt that the Service had praised God and built bridges between the various religions and had provided a safe environment where sharing and further healing could take place.
by Sr. Berna Nakimuli, MMM Tanzania 29.04.2026
Sometimes, the people who have the least carry the biggest dreams. On our Anti-Human Trafficking program, we are supporting 15 girls for vocation studies. When we began to select the girls to enroll into the program, we went to those most in need. We met many girls, listened to their stories, and saw many homes. Each one with its own struggles. But somehow, my heart paused when I met Faraha (not her real name).
Faraha lives with her mother who fries and sells cassava. Their home is the kind of place where people pass through the sitting room just to go to their houses behind. As we sat in the sitting room, while her mum was seated on the jerrycan I felt some kind of discomfort in my heart. I wondered how a young girl so beautiful and gentle manages to grow up in such a place where privacy and safety are not guaranteed. That helplessness stayed with me because I cannot take away that risk or change her home.
As we spoke with her mother, something beautiful came out. She told us that Faraha had been saving some money so that she could start a small business of frying and selling sweet potatoes. I paused and I begged her pardon; it sounded as if I had not heard the Kiswahili she said, but I had heard correctly! In my mind I could see her counting the small money she had saved
Planning…. Hoping … Praying…
It is a small dream, but big for her. Faraha is quiet, humble and beautiful. There was a light in her eyes when we told them about the opportunity to go to VETA (Vocational Education and Training Authority) and learn hairdressing. She did not pretend, she was simply happy, a real kind of happiness from the heart. Her mother too could not hide her gratitude. She spoke with hope that her daughter would learn something decent, something that could support her, and even help the family. As I looked around, I thought of something we often forget. we sometimes look at hairdressing as “low standard”, as something for those who did not go far in school. But every day, people look after their hair. Women, men and children. And behind that is a person, a skill, a business, a livelihood. Hairdressing is not small. It feeds families, it builds futures. I see many women who started with nothing but with the skill and now are very rich and are living well.
I am glad that people like Faraha are happy to be given this opportunity, she is seeing a future through what she expressed.
And I … I found myself praying, “God, let this chance change her story.” Because sometimes, we cannot change everything. But sometimes, we can open one door full of blessings. And for Faraha and the rest of 14 girls I pray that this door may be the beginning of something bigger than we can see. We also remember those that support our ministries and such initiatives that God may richly bless them. Amen.
by Jo Wardhaugh Doyle Ireland 24.04.2026
In 1934 CS Forester authored a book called The African Queen. The book was eventually adapted into a film. With two unlikely characters, Katherine Hepburn, who played Rose, a lay missionary, and Humphrey Bogart who played Charlie a Canadian boat man who had a small launch. It was an adventure film made mostly on location in 1951 and was about German East Africa during colonial times in World War One.
There was a complex history to the making of the film and was loosely based on a true story where three thousand Germans and 11,000 Africans held off 300,000 Allied troops.
The fight was about keeping the food supply open on Lake Tanganika. That war was between Germany and Belgium. The Germans had decided to bring over a ship from Europe in eleven sections, and it was called the Goodson. They put the eleven sections together and ruled Lake Tanganika, to stop any chance of allied troops getting food. The Germans had two other smaller ships which were viable.
At that time, the fighting in Gallipoli was in full swing, so there was no added planning, finance or care given by the British given to the problem in East Africa. There was no money. So, the British commander in East Africa decided to bring two small speedboats, launches really. They were small and agile and carried guns and mortar fire.
The large German ship had one fixed gun pointing in one Direction, whilst the ship lumbered to turn itself around, the two speedy British launches could nimbly attack. And they did and blew the hull out. The two other large German ships suffered the same fate as the first. And with that, the British and Allied troops had control over the food supply through Lake Tanganika.
The author, CS Forester, authored the book based on that story.
The film was made in 1951 when Hollywood was:
1. Struggling to make independent films.
2. Struggling to find money to make independent films.
3. Struggling with McCarthyism and the fear of communism and lack of patriotism.
This film was showing that they were super patriots.
Humphrey Bogart and his wife at the time, Lauren Bacall, went to Washington, petitioning against McCarthyism. Katharine Hepburn was too big a name in Hollywood to be picked on. John Houston was the director of the film and suggested at that point that they should shoot the film on location for eight weeks!
They arrived in the Belgium Congo, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. They cleared some jungle and lived in the rapidly built bamboo huts. Boggart thought he was going to Nairobi and John Houston flew off to some game park to hunt the animals.
As they said later, gosh it was extremely hot there. It was obvious that they were not prepared. They all became sick. The water they used was from the lake where all the Crocs and hippos lived.
One after the other they were hit by amoebic dysentery, then malaria. The only two who never became ill where John Houston and Humphrey Bogart. They refused to drink the water and only drank whiskey for the whole 8 weeks, even to brush their teeth with. Bogart said that when the mosquitos bit him they fell dead immediately.
Not only did they get dysentery and malaria. But due to paddling in the water, they got jiggers and were infested with soldier ants in the makeshift compound. They cleared out of there quickly. Katherine Hepburn had wanted a private bathroom. So, one was built on one of the two boats that had been built for the movie. But as they moved along the lake, the low-lying trees hit it and the porta loo was left dangling in the air. Katherine Hepburn was told she would need to be like everyone else and go into the bush to spend a penny.
The film was made in Technicolour, and the cameras were heavy and enormous. For the first two weeks it rained every day. Lauren Bacall became cook, nurse, and letter writer for the crew. The locals, sensibly were the only ones allowed to remove the jiggers from the actor’s feet, they were the experts. Mostly all the men dealt well with the conditions of filming as they had all been in World War 2.
The crew also dealt with angry elephants, hippos trying to tip the boat over at the Murchison Falls in Uganda, and the ever-threatening position of getting stranded on a sandbank when there was an abundance of crocodiles all around them.
The actual story of the film was of Rose and Charlie. An unlikely pair stuck together for survival through some of the harshest of times. It was a romance story if you like, but the story of a small tugboat defeating the large German dominance. Mostly everyone thought that the film was an enormous waste of money and would flop at the box office. The stars of Hollywood looked rough in the film because they authentically felt rough in the film. However, the African Queen was an amazing success with Bogart winning an Oscar for it.
One small fact which has never been mentioned in documentaries was that during the rainy season of the filming, there were no flowers out on the trees or bushes. Houston, the director, wanted them in shots. He wanted hibiscus flowers, all pink and white. There was a convent of Irish sisters living just off Lake Victoria in Kampala. They were asked if they could make a couple of hundred paper hibiscus flowers for the film. Indeed, they could, and they happily obliged. Every single flower you see in that film was made by Sister May Murphy. Sister Steven. Sister Perpetu, and Sister Teckla Plunkett. who told me themselves about the flowers they made for that film. When I met them, they lived in Sandymount, Dublin and Mount Oliver, Dundalk. They were interviewed by Gay Byrne for the radio in the 1970s.
So now what became of the boats. Well, one of the original two boats still works in Uganda. Another was taken to the Florida Keys where it was transformed into a floating restaurant.
As I looked for information on the African Queen I wondered who the real African queen was.
There is another story. A story of a true African queen. A 60-year-old woman warrior who in 1663 defied slave traders and fought against colonisers. But this story would take centuries to write about. So, the African Queen I talk about today.
Is a story.
Of colonisers in East Africa.
It is a story of the love of Rose and Charlie.
It is a story of war.
A story of Hollywood.
But it is a story about paper flowers that were made by some wonderful nuns who no one really knew about.
by Sr. Sheila Campbell, MMM Ireland 22.04.2026
Cardinal Cushing (1985 – 1970) was a contemporary and great friend of Mother Mary Martin. The son of Irish immigrants he entered the priesthood in Boston MA and as a young priest expressed the desire to be a missionary. This was not the wish of the current Archbishop, so he accepted this. But his whole life was marked by his interest in mission and missionary societies. While he was Archbishop of Boston, he helped Mother Mary with the building of the International Missionary Training Hospital in Drogheda.
Below is a prayer he wrote, first published by MMM in 1965.
“Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.
Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time.
Give me, amid the confusion of the day, the calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tensions of my nerves and muscles with the soothing music of the singing streams that live in my memory.
Help me to know the magical, restoring power of sleep.
Teach me the art of taking minute vacations – of slowing down to look at a flower, to chat to a friend, to pat a dog, to read a few lines from a good book.
Remind me each day of the fable of the hare and the tortoise, that I may know that the race is not always to the swift, that there is more to life than increasing speed.
Let me look upward into the branches of the towering oak and know that it grew great and strong because it grew slowly and well.
Slow me down, Lord, and inspire me to send my roots deep into the soil of life’s enduring values that I may grow toward the stars of my greater destiny.”
