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.”