February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
MMM is committed to helping establish health care in areas of the world where there is none. This stretches from Africa to right here in America. Comprising 432 women of 19 nationalities, they work in 16 different countries.
For the recent trip, members of the Mission were determined to make some new friends out of it.
Sr. Siobh_n Corkery, part of the Mission’s Central Leadership Team, said that the association is at a disadvantage because its members are usually embedded in foreign countries for so long that many people here do not know who they are or the work they do.
Determined to change that, Sr. Siobh_n, along with other women from the Mission, are on a whirlwind tour, meeting and greeting Irish and Irish-American groups and dignitaries in the U.S.
The mission already has a small presence in the U.S., and keeps homes in New York, Boston, Chicago, West Virginia, and San Diego for these “friend-making” trips.
They call this latest endeavor “friend making” in the developed world to help them continue their work. The connections they make can ease day-to-day operations for the Mission, such as gathering donations, organizing meetings, office work, and just knowing as wide a net of people from city to city.
“We need people to know what we do,” Sr. Siobh_n said.
Sr. Siobh_n herself met the general consuls of Ireland for Boston and New York, as well as AOH members in New Jersey.
She noted how the AOH is a great networking tool, noting that the organization is involved in almost every aspect of Irish America.
She was also sworn in as an honorary member of the Cork Association of New York, which was an honor for the Macroom-born sister.
“People support people,” she said. “While we’re full of technology, the best way to contact people is still through friends and word of mouth.”
History
MMM’s work has been going on in good times and bad. The Mission was founded by Marie Helena Martin, a Dublin woman who served as a volunteer nurse during World War I. Deeply affected by the work she was doing, Martin left for Nigeria to help those even less fortunate, and learned about the suffering Africa was living with.
She realized she would not be able to change things on her own, and set forth to organize a group of women for the task. Returning to Ireland to recruit members for her new passion, Martin realized that her mission had to create health-care systems for villages that could not do it themselves and received no assistance.
Standing in her way was a church order that would not permit women in religious life to engage in obstetrics and surgery — both of which were central to her vision of serving the peoples of Africa. It wasn’t until 1936 that the church did away with that formality, and when Martin made her Profession of Vows in 1937, the order was born.
“She was insistent about getting care for both the mother and child,” Sr. Siobh_n said of Martin.
Unique to the Mission is that after being founded in wartime, it proceeded to be involved in caring for the many victims of war, especially in Africa. Corkery herself was in Rwanda in 1994, and recalls the many battles that have plagued the continent.
Having grown leaps and bounds from its humble beginnings, the MMM sisters live in small religious communities and commit themselves to serving those who need medical attention, as well as others in the areas they work in.
Not all the Missionaries are sisters, as there are a small number of what they call “associate members.” These are women and men, both married and single, who are drawn to the work of the Mission.
A global reach
The latest plague to the Mission is not a war, but AIDS. Working in South America and Africa, they have seen a lot of the toll the disease has taken on citizens of these regions.
Since the pandemic started, it has become a focus of the Mission to help regional health workers to prevent the spread and HIV, and encourage testing, counseling, and the importation of drugs to help the patients “live more positively and happier,” Sr. Siobh_n said.
The mother and child dynamic is most on display in these situations, according to Sr. Siobh_n, as there are often children and orphans to be cared for, many of whom, tragically, are infected as well.
This past year, MMM held a conference in Kenya on the issue of AIDS in Africa and its work there. The numbers are staggering, according to Sr. Siobh_n, and growing. She reported a huge increase in cases in Uganda and Nigeria is seeing steady growth.
Sr. Siobh_n blames the repercussions of their war-torn societies for the rising numbers of infected Africans.
AIDS is not the last word in Africa, however. Sr. Siobh_n spoke of problems with land mines, refugees, international debt, and the denial of human rights.
South America has also played a large role in the Mission’s work. Sr. Siobh_n has lived in Northeast Brazil for the last 18 years, working to develop low-cost medical care. Prior to this assignment, she was in Nigeria for 12 years.
“I’ve been out of Ireland more than I’ve been in it,” she said, laughing.
On the home front, there is a MMM presence in Appalachia as well. The downtrodden rural area that runs from southern New York State to northern Georgia is home to low literacy rates, poor health care, and scant water supplies, according to the Mission.
The Mission’s Sr. Bernie Kenny works there and drives a mobile medical clinic to offer the residents a chance at medical care they would have never otherwise received.
The work of the Mission is hardly satisfaction enough for Sr. Siobh_n and her colleagues. However, the slowly growing numbers of those joining the organization are putting a dent in the health-care gap between rich and poor.
“We’re looking to make a holiday with a difference,” Sr. Siobh_n said.
(The Medical Missionaries of Mary may be reached at www.mmmworldwide.org.)