“Love wants to give, does not count the cost. Nothing is too much for love.”(Mother Anna Dengel)
“We commit ourselves to promote healing and wholeness in all aspects of life,
to seek to preserve the integrity of life and to act where this integrity is threatened,
to participate in the movement of empowerment of those made poor and those who are oppressed,
weaving care and compassion into the web of life.”
The mission in the early years was focused primarily on providing the greatly needed medical services to women and children, who for too long had gone without them. Attention was given to training local women and eventually men, to take up health professions, so that they could care for their own people. The beginning of nursing schools and training programs for nurse-midwives, laboratory and X-Ray technicians helped to further this. Most of the vitally needed health care was given through hospitals or clinics.
As the times and the needs have evolved, so too our thrust in mission. The struggles of so many people living in dire poverty became the struggles of the community. We started preventive care, health promotion activities and village health education in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Soon, together with the people we initiated community development programs to help them tackle the root causes of poverty, lack of nutrition and the environmental impact on their well-being. Programs and projects became more community based and collaborative. We do advocacy and lobbying at global, national and regional levels, to respond to issues that affect the vulnerable and marginalized groups and take up the ecological concerns. We do have representatives from our congregation at the United Nations in New York and other countries, and at the World Health Organization in Geneva.
Over the past 92 years, Medical Mission Sisters have offered care and compassion to millions of people in the world.
