by Sr. Sheila Campbell MMM Ireland 16.07.2023
Earlier this year I was in Tanzania and going to an early morning Mass in St. Mathias Church in Arusha. It is a newly built church and there is a lot to admire. But this particular morning my attention was not drawn to the artwork, nor the colourful lights nor the stained-glass windows.
As soon as I sat down in my seat, I noticed the pew in front of me. The plank of wood that formed the back rest of the seat had a large hole in it. It looked so natural that I felt it must have happened to the tree when a bough broke off before the tree was cut down.
As I looked at the hole in the wood, the Mass in Kiswahili started. Of course, I didn’t understand a word that was being spoken but in a strange way I felt God was giving me the word of God that day by showing me that piece of wood.
How many times have I laid something aside because it was not perfect? If that piece of wood had been carved in Ireland, it would have been discarded as inferior. But this African craftsman had the wisdom to see that it would serve its purpose – it was a good back rest. We all have our “holes”. Not one of us is perfect. But God does not expect us to be. Do I serve the purpose for which I was created? Can I tell forth God’s love to the people around me? Can I sit in awe and wonder at God’s creation? Can I continually give thanks for how much has been given to me in my life? This is what matters, not my outward show or ego-building performances.
Thank you, God, for today’s scripture lesson through that piece of wood!
by Nadia Ramoutar MMM Communications Coordinator Ireland 14.07.2023
Sometimes no matter how faithful we are, life does not go our way.
Suffering can bring us to our knees because the unexpected takes our breath away. We find ourselves at a crossroads in a life we did not expect or want. We can find ourselves questioning everything. Recently in the news a large number of refugees drowned trying to flee their country for something safer or better. If we think of the refugee risking their life to abandon their home and everything they love, there was nothing they did to create a political situation that is dangerous or even deadly forcing for them to endure. In an attempt to evade suffering, they died.
Decent and kind humans are often shot down in the crossfire of unfair warfare. Justice is not always correlated with deserving. Those living in the most remote areas with the least resources available to them did nothing to warrant the hardship life hands them and their children.
This is where the MMMs often deliberately bring their mission work because no one else will go there to help the destitute.
Hopelessness is an understandable response to the bleak path that we sometimes face for what seems like no good reason. MMM Missions often bring hope and healing resources to forgotten corners of the world.
Recently, I was speaking with someone facing a difficult disease diagnosis and no way of changing it. No medicine or therapy will reverse it. She is sitting and waiting for the illness to take her life as she knows it from her.
How do we sit with such news? What prayer do we offer to cope?
People come from different walks of life and have different ways of expressing faith in the face of conflict or challenge. While we serve one God we all have our own paths. Our MMM Sisters are no exception. They achieve almost saint or angel like accomplishments. Even after a life of selfless service to God and the most vulnerable people in the world in the most remote areas, there is no guarantee the way the story will play out. We do not do good deeds to bargain with our destiny. It is a calling to serve with no strings or promises attached.
Perhaps Ralph Waldo Emerson offers us some guidance in his quote “Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience.” If we can realise that we as humans are part of nature. Grounding ourselves like a tree with deep roots in the ground we may find the comfort we seek. The wind and the rain may come but when we have deep roots, we can remain safe in the storm. When we let go of what we expect, like a leaf we can gently fall from the tree drifting down when are ready. In the presence of grief we can use our faith to let go with grace and wait with dignity.
by Sr. Sheila Campbell MMM Ireland 12.07.2023
Every now and again I get drawn back into my ancestral roots, and today is one of these days. We are celebrating the Twelfth of July, the “Glorious Twelfth” as some call it.
For those of you who are not from Ireland, the Twelfth is an Ulster Protestant celebration held each year on 12 July. It began in the late 18th century in Ulster. It celebrates the Glorious Revolution and victory of Protestant King William of Orange over Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne, which ensured a Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. Over the years it has become a flash point of division between the two communities in Ulster – the largely Protestant group who want to remain part of the United Kingdom and the other side, mostly Catholic, who want to join with the rest of Ireland to form one country.
As a child my parent avoided being in Belfast on the Twelfth by having the annual summer holiday at that time. There was also a celebration in the small seaside town, but we children loved the marching bands, the parade, the crowd and just being part of it. As adults, we began to reflect on the meaning of the day and perhaps we were less enthusiastic.
As a more cynical adult now I ask myself – does Britain really want to be burdened with Northern Ireland? And does the Republic of Ireland really want that “sack of squalling cats” as a gift?
My dream, as Martin Luther King would say, is of a future when all the children could enjoy a ‘fun’ day. I dream of the time when sectarian placards are no more, when history becomes colourful, but past. I dream of a time when the ministry of peace and reconciliation is not needed anymore because the reality of peaceful co-existence has been achieved.
I think God encourages us to dream to urge us towards a better, more inclusive future. Certainly, God is not a great fan of division as the interconnectedness of nature shows us.
This year we are living through a war in Europe, natural disasters such as earthquakes and typhoons, climate change effects such as wildfires and drought. Is there not enough for us to be coping with without arguing with our neighbour?
God, give us the vision to look outwards, not inwards, to the future, not the past.
by Sr. Margaret Anne Meyer MMM U.S.A. 10.07.2023
It was the driest summer on record. Water was sold in Donegal for two shillings and six pence a bucket. Coming from the United States, I had never experienced such a pleasant summer and enjoyed swimming in the Atlantic Ocean in Killybegs. Bishop Mc Ginley kindly gave us the use of his home, Bruac-na Mara which was less than a mile’s walk to the Ocean. The water was a little on the chilly side but a group of us went there for two weeks and enjoyed every minute of the fun we had. Sr. Perpetua Kelly told us we were the best crowd ever at our departure. She certainly was good to us and made us feel so welcomed.
Soon it was time to return to our house of studies, Rosemount, in Dublin. We began to take out the SKELETAL bones from the cupboard to prepare for our Anatomy classes in the Fall. There was a retreat to make, housework to do, visitors to entertain and an occasional swim in Killiney to enjoy. We were kept happy and occupied.
To prepare for my renewal of vows on September 8th, Mother Mary said I could go to Drogheda a few days earlier to attend some retreat conferences. I was delighted and to top it off I could stay in Bettystown. Some of the Sisters who were for Final Profession that year were also in Bettystown and taught me how to play the card game, Rummy. Somehow, I won, and my prize was sweet smelling bath salts which I enjoyed tremendously. There were about thirty Sisters renewing their vows and after attending the early convent Mass those who were not on duty sang in the choir for the Final Profession ceremonies. The Magnificat was sung in three parts, and I believe Sr. Cecilia Azuzu can still render the high notes and sing it beautifully.
Before we knew it, our classes of Anatomy, Practical Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry and Ethics began. As I said before, we lost thirty members of our previous pre-med class but were delighted to find ten Americans who had done Pre-Med in the States and for some reason had delayed going to Medical School and had now joined us. It was good to have them with us and we got to know them quite well.
Sr. Helen O’Brien and Sr Ian started Premed and it was good to be back with the Sisters in the years ahead of us. We now moved to St. Annes to sleep, and we could study in the main house until 11pm. Miss Ethyl Martin was on the ground floor and often greeted us as we passed by. She was always busy with the apostolic work of making vestments and linens for the missions.
Anatomy lectures were quite fascinating. Every little indentation on the bone had a name and a corresponding muscle attached or inserted. One of our lecturers was Dr. William O Connell who was given the nick name, Billy Bones. He is remembered by the eloquent way he described the radial- ulna joint as having an ellipsoidal- condyloid surface. I found this easy to memorize but hard to picture. Professor Coakley had a very polished Dublin accent, and I loved listening to him speak. He taught us Anatomy very well. All went well until we reached the Anatomy Dissection Room and then we realized the importance of really knowing our Anatomy for the rest of our lives. A cadaver was presented to groups of us for dissection. Ours was approached with reverence and thanksgiving for the gift of knowledge she was giving us. I often think and pray for her. May she rest in peace.
Physiology was extremely interesting, and we went from one organ to the next to fathom the intricate workings of each one. God did a marvelous job to get it all going together so smoothly. Biochemistry was intriguing. So much could be learned about the chemistry of living things. A priest taught us Ethics and we were led to the truth that good medicine is good ethics. We were to take an oath not to do harm to anyone.
The lectures continued followed by intense study and reading of the various textbooks until our Christmas vacation came and that is another story.
by Sr. Ifeoma R. Ifedi MMM Nigeria 08.07.2023
Every new child comes with the newness of the divine. Baby A, one of our recent newborns, is a gift to us although she did come with many challenges. She awoke in each one of us our zeal in caring for the newborn. Her little life began poorly. She had a low APGAR score. What is an APGAR score? The Apgar score is a scoring system doctors and nurses use to assess newborns one minute and five minutes after they’re born. APGAR stands for Activity, Pulse, Grimace, Appearance and Respiration. If you are born with a low score, it is concerning. Baby A was like this.
Resuscitation was initiated immediately, and it seemed like a long time while we worked for healing and a healthy life for this baby. As each one tired of providing (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), somebody else took over. But our instinct to protect life was palpable. Soon the peripheral pulse was present, and the cardiac monitor picked up respiration. Where before we had almost given up hope, now came a sigh of relief.
Each day we share life and death experiences in the hospital, at home, on the street, and everywhere. It demands of us some measure of competency. We need to know when to call for help. To be more competent and assist in healing and health delivery, we urgently need ongoing training and retraining. We need to continually learn, communicate, and listen. It is necessary to have simple first aid skills, to have acute and critical care equipment and the personnel to use them.
The journey of every MMM is to never lose hope in our caring. We are who we are in God for the service of the common good. God is always at work with us and in us. The experience of Baby A shows us how grace met us in God’s own time and God made all things possible. As the prophet Isaiah would say, ‘God knit me together in my mother’s womb……’
Mother Mary Martin would add: ‘If God wants the work, he will show the way’.
If you would like to make a donation to MMM, please click on this link: Donate – Medical Missionaries of Mary (mmmworldwide.org)
by Sr. Radegunda Shayo MMM Tanzania 06.07.2023
Editor’s Note: Sr. Radegunda told this story while she was working as a missionary in the Republic of Benin.
Astelle had never been to school. Her younger brothers were sent to school, but Astelle was expected to stay at home to help her mother with farming and other daily chores. A Good Samaritan met her last month and because of her good character offered her a job as a house-girl so that she could earn some money. This person was even ready to go as far as starting Astelle in some kind of apprenticeship to better her future. She was quite excited and was looking forward to seeing a little bit of her country beyond the village where she has lived for the past twenty years. Astelle’s parents were consulted so that they could give their consent. The mother was seen first as she happened to be in the house while her husband had gone to farm. Her response was simple and direct – ‘Astelle is going to get married to a young man called Idosu who is her age mate’.
Apparently, when Astelle was a baby, Idosu’s grandmother saw her and said that she would be her grandson’s wife. Since the old woman is now dead, her wishes must be respected! The Good Samaritan asked to see her father but her mother insisted that nothing would change, even if the father were there. Astelle was very disappointed. Trying to sympathize with her, I asked whether she really loved this young man who is a secondary school student now. She broke into tears, which grew into a painful cry.
When she was calm she explained how she does not like the man and that even the wine his parents brought to her parents was not yet taken. In this culture, when a young man wants to propose to a girl, his people bring a bottle of wine to the girl’s family. Her parents then ask her whether they should drink the wine. If she says ‘yes’ it means she accepts the boy, otherwise the wine is returned to the boy’s family. Astelle told me she gave no response to her parents when she was asked, so the wine was kept somewhere in her father’s house. I could not understand why she did not respond with a plain ‘no’. It was then I discovered that a girl cannot say no to her parents, so she used silence to say it all. But no one knows what is going to happen next – especially when the wine is still there. Astelle is only one among many girls in similar situations. Some of them have come to believe that as young women the only thing to look forward to is getting married and having babies, whether happy or not. They end up suffering a lot because they have nothing to hold onto. They totally depend on their partners for everything.
Is there a direct solution to this problem? Your contribution to this question will be appreciated and it will be highly valued. It could be an important thread in the weaving of our strands in the male dominated society.
by Sr. Nuala Horgan MMM Ireland 04.07.2023
The word “coffee” comes from a place called Kaffa, which is just two hours’ drive down the road from a hospital once run by MMM in Wolisso, Ethiopia. There is a legend around there which says that the coffee bean first came to light when a young goatherd called Kaldi noticed that the goats he was herding performed an amazing ritual.
He set about investigating the origin of this strange phenomenon. He watched the goats as they grazed and noticed that they were partial to some berries hither to unnoticed. It was these berries which gave the sudden spurts of energy that caused the goats to jump and dance. Kaldi decided to experiment with the berries himself. To his great delight, he found that he, too, was energized by these magic beans.
When word reached the nearby monastery, one of the monks came to see for himself. Like Kaldi, he experimented with the berries, finding the same result. It was not long until the whole monastery was taking these berries as part of the diet. One of the most beneficial results was that the monks could stay awake for prayer during the night! For centuries, coffee was taken as a food to eat, not a drink. Berries were taken whole or crushed and mixed with ghee – butter which has been clarified. In the Ethiopian provinces of Sidamo and Kaffa, this custom is still observed.
In time, people got the idea of using coffee as an ingredient in winemaking. However, it was not until the thirteenth century that the practice of brewing coffee became the established way of taking the beverage. From then on, the love of coffee spread worldwide.
In Ethiopia, to this day, the coffee-making ceremonial is a most sacred ritual. The woman who is performing the ceremony dresses in traditional Ethiopian costume. In order to capture the atmosphere of the outside environment she spreads some freshly cut grass and sprinkles it over the floor. She seats herself on a low stool in the area of the cut grass beside a charcoal brazier, places the beans on a special concave pan to roast the beans, turning them gently.
Meanwhile, guests are given something to nibble – like small biscuits. When the beans have been sufficiently roasted, the hostess carries the pan around in front of each guest to smell the fragrance of the roasted beans. She then retires to pound them with pestle and mortar. When ready she puts water and the beans in a traditional clay coffeepot (called Jebena in Amharic). It is round and wide at the base with a special spout for pouring. She brings it to the boil and when brewed, pours this into tiny cups without handles. Sugar and rue are added. It is considered a very special treat to be invited to this ceremony, which is often performed as mark of honour for visitors.
First published by MMM in 2005
Between 2001 and 2021 I lived in Honduras and for some time, I lived with two other MMMs in Marcala, a mountainous region, home to the Lenca Indigenous people. I was involved in health education and preventive health in the schools in these remote communities. Now that I am back in Ireland I look back at a typical day:by Sr. Sheila Campbell MMM Ireland 30.06.2023
Recently someone gave me a copy of a poem which our late Sr. Immaculata Nichols (2017 – 2002) loved and used as a “party piece”. I thought I would share it here as it is a gentle reminder not to take ourselves too seriously and look at the humorous side of life.
I’m on a Committee
(Phong Ngo)
Oh, give me a pity, I’m on a committee
Which means that from morning to night
We attend and amend and contend and defend
Without a conclusion in sight.
We confer and concur, we defer and demur
And re-iterate all of our thoughts
We revise the agenda with frequent addenda
And consider a load of reports.
We compose and propose, we suppose and oppose
And the points of procedure are fun!
But though various notions are brought up as motion
There’s terribly little gets done.
We resolve and absolve, but never dissolve
Since it’s out of the question for us.
What a shattering pity to end our committee
Where else could we make such a fuss?
by Nadia Ramoutar MMM Communictions Coordinator 28.06.2023
There is a wise African Proverb that says “If you want to go fast go alone but if you want to go far go together.”
We often quote this proverb in our Communication Department because collaboration is such an important part of what we do. While visiting the MMM project in Tanzania we saw how well the MMM Sisters extend their impact in the community through not only MMM Staff but also through the help of community workers. MMM Sisters tend to work in very remote areas and with vulnerable people who would otherwise not have any services. Our MMM Mission projects are often the only service option for people and without the MMMs the people would have no way of getting services due to a lack of transportation or funds – it’s not easy for a very sick or terminally ill patient to get to cities that have medical options.
Recently I got to see how very remote many of the MMM Services actually are, and how hard the roads can be on the journey. We were fortunate to meet some of the community workers who extend the reach of the MMM in small rural communities which are often very remote from other services. One of the community workers I was witnessing at work with a small child who had spina bifida oversaw 20 families in his area. He checks in on the families and patients to see how they are doing and to make sure they have the resources they need for the patient.
He said that the families he saw had terminal or chronic conditions including stroke, HIV, Cardiac issues, retinoblastoma and chronic skin diseases. If he sees that the patient is in need of services he then will refer them. He serves as a conduit between the family and the MMMs. He also plays an important role in that the families know him and they feel they are being cared about even when times are very difficult. He keeps a log of the days and times he was visiting each person and how they were.
One of the challenges the community health workers face is keeping in contact with people, especially children, who may be moved around and not stay in one place for long. A lack of resources is one issue dying or chronically ill people face but another is loneliness. We met a lot of orphans living with grandparents and also widows left alone to cope. The Community worker is an important part of the MMM family who can extend the healing charism further to people struggling. Paid a small stipend for their time and commitment, the Community Worker brings tremendous value to the MMMs and the many patients they serve. Collaboration is key to allowing us to go far, not to just go fast.
If you would like to make a donation to MMM, please click on this link: Donate – Medical Missionaries of Mary (mmmworldwide.org)
