Seasons

Another season, rain in Cameroon - heat in Peru, and for many here the leaves are changing, not too fast in Southern California!

These changes help us mark time, as one season ends another begins.  In our lives we also have seasons; childhood, youth, adulthood - and each has its own endings and beginnings.

I’ve worked for Mission Doctors since 1981 and over these years have seen many beginnings and endings - as one doctor prepares to serve for three years, another returns home, having completed three years.  Now with the short-term program I get to witness this on escalated scale, doctors preparing to serve, going and returning in a month or two.   There are things about these that are the same and things that are very, very different.

Those who serve for three years not only have the opportunity to develop relationships with the medical staff but often with the community.  Their farewells cause them to leave a part of themselves behind.  This can be both the sweetest part of long-term service and the most painful upon returning home.

Our hope is that this unique opportunity to share professional skills also provides the chance to make the connections that endure, that fills our hearts and changes our lives as well.   For the doctors who are able to serve for one - three months our prayer is that the experience is fulfilling, that you will encounter the faith of those you serve, that you will feel that your time and efforts caring for those most in need was well worth the tremendous effort you make to do so… and of course we hope that this will be the first of many short-term missions, that may lead to a long-term mission!

Big Day Maria and our invitation to say ‘Yes to God!’

The feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated in Cameroon in a way that most of us can only imagine.

Entire communities create clothes made out of matching fabric for the Mass that will last more or less 4 hours.  Marching to the Church together Women’s groups, student’s, and families set this time as an important opportunity to celebrate the gift and the example of the Blessed Mother. This celebration of the Mary’s ultimate ‘YES’ is our invitation to follow her and say yes to God.  Yes to finding His will in our lives.  Yes to following the call we receive. Yes to recognizing just how connected we all are with our sisters and brothers around the world.

Today I ask myself;  How can I say YES to God, as Mary did? What changes do I need to make in my life to continue to put Christ first, ahead of my own time, my own reputation, my own needs?  As Mission Doctors and their families follow the call to serve, they do so, saying YES to God.   On the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we celebrate Mary’s yes, and the ‘yes’ of all our Mission Doctors and their families who have made sacrifices over the years to care for patients around the world.

Where does the time go?

Sometimes when our long-term mission doctors are preparing to return home, I have to ask myself, “Is that really three years?” 

I know for them, the three years of sacrifice, hard work and greater than these, missing family and friends has at times seemed to last forever.  Yet as they prepare to return home too, they are often struck with how quickly the time seems to have gone.

My husband and I in Thailand

I remember getting off the plane in Los Angeles in 1981 after our three years with Tom and our three children and looking around to see the faces of my sister and her family, I was so excited!  I would meet my niece Shannon for the first time, and my sister would get to meet a nephew and niece born in Thailand, and see just how much our oldest had grown in three years.  She met me with a box of Cheerios in hand - I told her it was the food I had missed the most!  For my husband, there couldn’t be enough chocolate to compensate for three years without it - I think he is still making up for it today!

Hakes on their first day in Cameroon in 2010

This summer we see one couple, the Hakes, return home from Cameroon and a family, the Burket-Thoene complete three years in Guatemala and take their place in Cameroon.  Tim Cavanagh is ‘spanning the gap’ having served there twice before.

Someone once said the days can be long but the years go quickly - this seems very true about mission work, perhaps about everything.  There can be days that the amount of work that needs to be accomplished can seem like an insurmountable hill - yet, as we look back - “has it really been a year, two years, ten….”  Let us strive to use what little time we have in service to others, always grateful for the gifts we have ever mindful that our lives are a gift and we can share this gift with others!

How did it get to be February?

I find myself saying these kind of things more and more – but then I hear that from everyone else too!

It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about? 
Henry David Thoreau

January was a particularly busy month for us!   Doctors headed to Cameroon, Uganda and Tanzania.  Our new class begins today with the arrival of Dr. Antoinette Lullo and Dr. Brian Medernach who drove in from Chicago on Friday.  They will be here in Los Angeles for four months for the formation program, will be commissioned in May, and will then begin a three year assignment to Peru.

We are also preparing for the Religious Education Congress, our Annual Retreat / Seminar, the Appreciation Brunch, working with the Auxiliary for the Annual Benefit, well the list goes on and on… but, I think we can answer the question of: What are we busy about?

We are busy with the Mission of Mission Doctors – A Mission of Healing – A Partnership of Hope! 

Thanks to all who help us make the work possible!

Lent is just around the corner….

Mamma and Baby, Photo of the Week

This week's photo of the week comes from Terry Hake who is serving with her husband in rural Njinikom, Cameroon.  She is serving as a teacher in local mission school and her husband is a family practice physician caring for patients at St. Martin De Porres Hospital.


"The other day I was coming through the hospital compound and there were two mamas standing and visiting.  Each woman had a baby on her back.  What a lovely sight, it just brings a smile to your face."

Ma and Pa, Photos of the Week

They have lived long lives as farmers in the Northwest of Cameroon.  Coming to the outpatient clinic for a visit with Mission Doctor, Jim Hake, this beautiful couple were thrilled to see their photos.  In addition to health issues our US octogenarians may face as well, Jim said that Ma
could hardly straighten her back due to arthritis and the stooped labor women do in the fields of Cameroon with a short handle hoe.  

Photo of the Week

Each day, I am blessed to receive photos from around the world of our mission doctors and their patients.  I thought I should share these wonderful photos with you each week as part of Mission Doctors’ Photo of the Week.

To kick this off, I wanted to share this photo of Dr. Crystal Cunningham.   Crystal is a general surgeon serving short term with Mission Doctors this summer.   She hit the ground running last week, preforming surgeries before recovering from jet lag. 
 
In this photo, Crystal is praying before preforming surgery with the staff at St. Martin De Porres Hospital in rural Cameroon, as they do before every surgery. 

Please join us in praying for the success her time in Cameroon and all of her patients.  

A Holy Week for the Whole World

One of the great joys of being in the missions is the opportunity to celebrate our Catholic celebrations with both the familiar and the new. Everything from a 5 hour Chrism Mass with offertory gifts that include chickens and goats in Cameroon to the elaborate, beautiful and temporary decorations on the plaza in front of the Church in Guatemala.

Offertory Procession at Chrism Mass in Cameroon

“alfombras” or carpets made of 

colored saw dust in Guatemal

In parishes around the world our Holy Week celebrates the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus whose suffering and death was indeed for the whole world.

Every Eucharist is the opportunity to re-live the last supper. Holy Thursday also reminds, with the washing of the feet, that we are all called to be servants; called to share our very lives with each other.

On the Friday we call good we find ourselves again on the path and at the foot of the cross. How is it that the creator of universes embraces our humanity even to suffering this seemingly ignoble death?

The answer is always that we may be redeemed, that we may live, that we may serve, that we will love as Christ has shown us. We too are called to give our lives to others.

Today, Mission Doctors and their families are doing just that. They serve that others may live.

Please keep them and their families in your prayers this Holy Week.

Communication

Today, we communicate in ways that our parents could not have imagined. This blog, the internet, cell phones on dirt roads in Cameroon, websites, Facebook, instant messaging, skype – all ways to communicate, to reach out and connect with others.

I think this is basic human nature. We want to tell our story and we want to hear others and learn where our interests, our lives intersect. Shared values draw us together – a belief that all people, everywhere are created by our loving Father, deserving of our love and opportunities to live healthy lives.

For several months we have been working on the new web site for Mission Doctors Association. I am so excited about the updates and our ability to add information and keep the content current to what is happening today. I was able to add the photo of Dr. Talbot to the slide show on the home page – and he is in Cameroon right now on short-term service with his wife Jane Fehrenbacher Everyone is so excited to have a dentist there that the sisters from other hospitals have been making the trek to see him!

So – as we prepare for the season of thanks I also invite you to watch a video that tells a special story of thanks.

Blessings to you and yours!

What a trip it was!

It wasn’t a long trip – but it was packed full with an impressive amount of visits, contacts, hugs, tears and laughs. Greeted at the airport by my dear friend Sr. Xaveria we headed out to Padre Pio Clinic for the night, and followed it in the morning with a meeting with Archbishop of Bamenda, Cornellus Esua and the honor of Mass at the Cardinal’s private chapel in Douala celebrated by Archbishop Esua and the Cardinal. On to the 8 hour drive by the ever reliable Bo’Paul – (father of Paul) who has been driving for the hospital for 20 + years! To say that the car was in good hands is a great understatement – also known as Henry this driver’s infectious smile and laughter can only be met with same.

Arriving at Njinikom, Martin de Porres Hospital, after the obligatory stops half way to purchase pineapples and papaya, I was greeted by music, hugs from the many sisters and Jim and Terry Hake who began their three-year assignment this summer and two of our surgeons who were serving short-term, Bill Walsh and Magued Khouzam.

Over the next 10 days I had the opportunity to attend daily Mass with this wonderful group of faith filled people, to make rounds with our doctors, observe surgeries, witness both tragedies of loss and miracles of recovery. Coming home my heart is filled to near bursting with the faith and friendship, with joy and love and I know that I am so very blessed to have the opportunity to be a witness to this amazing ministry of healing.

We are preparing a new web site for MDA and we decided upon a phrase to put under the title of the organization that I believe does a wonderful job conveying just what this is: Mission of Healing. Partnership of Hope.

Please keep all these wonderful people in your prayers – know that you are in theirs.

A special bridge of healing...

I leave this week for Cameroon - of course this starts with spending quite a few hours sitting in airports & airplanes to get to Douala (I think it is 30!) - an overnight at Padre Pio Clinic and the next day a rather long drive to Njinikom in the Northwest - to St. Martin de Porres Hospital.

So, I began taking malaria prophylaxis, packing my bags which will include some medical reference books requested by Jim and some Tupperware requested by Terry Hake, and a bag of Peanut M&M's - the required take along for mission visitation!

I am really looking forward to this trip. I will meet with the Archbishop of Bamenda and the Bishop of Kumbo. I will have the opportunity to visit our overachieving bloggers Jim and Terry who recently began their three-year assignment and Dr. Bill Walsh who will be completing a one month surgical mission. I will also see my old friend, Sr. Xaveria Ntenmusi, hospital matron. Sr. Xaveria and I have been communicating since the 1980's when she was at Shisong Hospital and other mission doctors were serving there.

Without the hard work and dedication of Sr. Xaveria, St. Martin De Porres would not be able to invite our doctors and other doctors from around the world to provide life saving medical care and the necessary training for local staff.

Sr. Xaveria is just one of our partners in Africa and Latin America. It is this partnership, working with the local community to build sustainable health care that makes our organization and the selfless work of our doctors possible.

Partners here that support, and partners there who receive - a special bridge of healing!

A Seed Sown to Grow in Africa...

"I have come to realize that we all sow seeds everyday. By our actions we sow both good and bad seeds, we then live in the landscape we have created" Dr. Jim Hake shared this reflection on Sunday, at St. John the Evangelist Church in Los Angeles.

Dr. Jim and Mrs. Terry Hake were commissioned, blessed and sent forth this weekend for a three year assignment to Cameroon in West Africa. I wanted to take this blog post and share with you their words of wisdom.

Terry spoke of a faith journey that brought them to this day. She noted that God had sent her three messages that helped her realize that she too was being called to serve as a lay missionary, to teach in the Diocese of Bemenda. Jim shared that he had wanted to be a medical missionary since he first heard a priest from Africa on Mission Sunday 35 years ago while still in medical school.

The seed planted, had been kept buried until 2003 when he and Terry attended the annual Retreat / Seminar offered for doctors who are considering serving short-term. Subsequently, Jim and Terry did serve short-term assignments in both Cameroon and Zimbabwe. Retiring from his Family Practice in Moses Lake, WA, last year, Jim was ready to take the next step, and he and Terry came to Los Angeles in January 2010 and joined the formation program.

Jim completed his reflection by saying, “As we head out we ask for your prayers.”

I would like to ask that you remember Jim, Terry and all of our Mission Doctors serving in Africa and Latin America in your prayers tonight, sowing a seed of mission in your own heart.

Mother's Day Around the World

Mother's Day in the US is this Sunday, May 9, an opportunity for children of all ages to appreciate their own mothers and celebrate the role of mothers around the world. And while my own Mother's Day will be filled with a few of my favorite things; family, good food and just a little time to relax, my thoughts will inevitably travel not only to my own mother but to all mothers. 



The State of the World's Mother's report recently came out reporting the best and worse places in the world to be a mother. The report ranks 160 countries based on health, nutrition, education and political data. Our own country, the US, ranked 14 in the developed world, while 8 of the lowest ranking are Countries in Sub Saharan Africa.

• A women giving birth in Cameroon has a 1 in 100 chance of dying in childbirth, a number 100 times greater than the US.

• The life expectancy of a women in Zimbabwe is now 44 years, up from a previous record shattering 35 years just a few years ago.

• A mother in Uganda faces an infant mortality rate 10 times greater than a child born in the US, and a risk that her child will die before their 5th birthday is 131 in 1000, vs. 8 in 1000 in our country. *

Mission Doctor, Brent Burket, M.D., now working in Guatemala wrote recently in his blog about the lives of the mothers he has observed there. The pace of their day from the moment that they awake to the time they go to bed, their tasks to collecting water, moving to the water’s edge to wash clothes, collecting wood for a cooking fire, preparing meals – every moment of every day part of their efforts to provide for their families and this is where he notes there exists the similarity between his own mother, sisters and wife, their care for the family.

Mothers everywhere are striving to provide for their children. Most mothers around the world however are not as fortunate as I am, having four healthy married adult children. As I reflect on this time with my children and their spouses this Sunday, my heart is overflowing with gratitude for what I have, and I feel the need to raise a prayer for mothers everywhere.

Those who struggle today to bring life into an uncertain world, those who sit at the bedside of a sick child, and those who are facing - what in our hearts we know to be the most unnatural order - laying a child to rest. May we find ways to support women around the world through our prayers and actions to make the world a safer and healthier place for all mothers and their children.

We Wait Together

Advent is the time of waiting and preparing- but the word Advent is from the Latin word 'coming".

We are waiting, we are preparing for Christ’s coming – as the world waited more than 2000 years ago – but we know that in Advent our focus needs to be, not on the waiting but on who we are waiting for. We are waiting for Christ to come, waiting to celebrate once again the dawn of the new day when nothing would be the same.

Children may anticipate with joy the coming of Santa Clause.

Adults may prepare for families coming together at the holidays.

There are others in Guatemala that are also awaiting with joyful anticipation the coming of Dr. Brent Burket and Dr. Jennifer Thoene who will begin a three year assignment to Hospitalito in January.

In Uganda, the hospital awaits the coming of Dr. Ron and Mrs. Barbara Wick in January.

In Cameroon, Sr. Xaveria is awaiting the coming of Dr. James and Mrs. Terry Hake.

These doctors and others serve because Christ has already been born in their hearts and they can’t wait to share their skills and their faith with others.

Please keep all mission doctors and their families in your prayers this Holy Season.

We wait together. We know who we are waiting for, and we know that once again we can strive to be the one others are waiting for.