GOD'S HANDS & FEET
Forged by
family, fed
by faith,
missionary’s
work leads
her to one
of Africa’s
poorest regions
When the Reavey family gets together, their Catholic faith is likely to be a prominent topic of discussion. That’s because three members of the family have made service to their faith the focus of their careers.
Two of them, sisters-in-law Barbara and Mary Frances, are employed by the diocese. Barbara has been an auditor in the diocesan Tribunal for many years; Mary Frances serves as administrative secretary to the Department of Worship and Liturgical Formation. But a third member of the family, their neice Mary Dawn Reavey, is the one who most inspires both their conversations and their prayers.
Lay missionary Mary Dawn is currently serving the children and families of Tegeta, Tanzania, Africa, as a nurse practitioner in a nonprofit corporation she recently founded called the Love and Mercy Coalition, based in Missouri. It will soon be incorporated in Tanzania as well.
Mary Dawn’s aunts aren’t at all surprised that their “softhearted”, “special” niece has chosen to serve in the foreign missions. They believe that 39-year-old Mary Dawn absorbed her values in a devout Catholic family in which she was the second eldest of 10 children ages 23 to 40.
In a Catholic Spirit interview, Mary Frances stated that being a nurse “just wasn’t enough” for Mary Dawn, especially after her five two-week medical missions with the International Children’s Heart Foundation to Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina; Belgrade, Yugoslavia; Lima, Peru; Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and Nanjing, China. Even so, both aunts described the family as“awestruck” when Mary Dawn decided to pursue missionary work indefinitely.
This is Mary Dawn’s second mission to Tanzania, the first being for a year with the Canossian Daughters of Charity International Voluntary Service. The Catholic Medical Mission Board is providing her airfare, insurance and stipend for this mission trip.
Love and Mercy Coalition also works cooperatively with the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging and ICHF, which provides open heart surgery for poor children with congenital heart conditions.
Mary Dawn, a member of St. Brigid Parish, San Diego, brings a wealth of education and experience to her work in Africa. She holds multiple degrees in nursing from Duke University, Durham, N.C.; University of California, San Diego; Webster University, St. Luke’s Hospital of Nursing and the University of Missouri, all in Kansas City.
She has worked as a staff nurse or pediatric nurse practitioner at Children’s Mercy Hospital, Kansas City; Duke University Medical Center; Naval Medical Center, San Diego, and Camp Lejeune Naval Hospital, Camp Lejeune, N.C. She also holds many awards and certifications, including 100 percent tuition scholarship to Duke University Graduate School of Nursing, and certification as a trauma nurse.
In a Catholic Spirit interview, Mary Dawn described her life as a journey that has led her to Tegeta. Her days are“challenging” but full of rewards.
“I spend the majority of my time doing home visits with a variety of focuses — medical or palliative care, nutrition, education, social support and follow-up on the many street children,” Mary Dawn said.“I find out where to get different kinds of help and then try to get the people there. For example, I have found a wonderful hospital in Dar es Salaam for people with cerebral palsy and eye problems. I will help get them dala dala (bus) fare so they can be seen and treated. A huge example is getting two girls — an eight-month-old and a 10-year-old — to Khartoum, Sudan, around Nov. 2 for open-heart surgery by an American ICHF team.
“I will get uniforms and shoes for orphans and then help them get registered in the government school, continuing to follow up to make sure they are going. I have a lot of patients with HIV/AIDS (the overall rate in Tegeta is at least 35percent) and a handful of them on antiretroviral therapy (thanks to a generous donor from the States).
“I have a lot of people that need help with food and nutrition. I try to get them over the hump and then develop a longterm plan. I go to a lot of funerals and offer support with grief, spending a lot of time talking about forgiveness and trying to look at things from other perspectives,” she said.
According to its mission statement, the goals of the Love and Mercy Coalition are to be a vehicle of God’s love and mercy through personalized outreach, prayer, word and action. The group’s existing programs include the Christian-based Emmanuel Bible Story Group, in which the children learn about God through Bible stories; the Team Leader Group of 40 teens from several faith backgrounds who serve their brothers and sisters in need, and the Home Visit Project for homebound poor, which is supported by CMMB.
Planned future programs are the“Bibi Hulburt Tuition Program” to help fund school tuition; a CFCA children/ aged sponsorship program, and an “Empower, Educate, Employ Program for Single and Widowed Mothers.” An antiretroviral therapy program for people with HIV/AIDS and a housing project for needy families are potential programs.
“With the help of CFCA and CMMB and family and friends, I am starting a new community-based project in the parish. I am now leasing a large field where the tutoring program will be developed and a small building from the local parish. I live in one room of the building and the two other rooms comprise the office and storeroom,” Mary Dawn said.
“My goal is to train Tanzanians to carry on the work. Before I came back I thought I would be here one to two more years, but I see that stretching out as I am faced with the realities of creating sustainable services. I am very committed to seeing the project develop so . . . I will be here ‘indefinitely — only God knows!” Mary Dawn stated.
Mary Dawn described Tegeta as at least 50 percent Muslim but noted that the different faiths coexist peacefully. “People are very open and expressive about their faith and refer to God/Allah in almost every conversation. The overall goal of the project is for everyone to grow in God’s love and mercy — however they see Him. I don’t try to convert but try to encourage more positive behavior and understanding,” she said.
“My faith has grown tremendously through this experience — everyday I witness tremendous trust in God and am humbled by what the people have taught me and how they find joy in simplicity. I am blown away how God finds ways and people to help.
“I have learned to depend on prayer and on God in a very real and personal way and to look for his direction. I would encourage anyone to experience the Third World to see the gifts and blessings the poor have to give. Whether it is for a week or a couple of years, it is life changing,” she said.
Mary Dawn acknowledges her gratitude to God for her many blessings, which she can now share with the people of Tegeta. “I feel that I am only the vehicle for so many different people’s generosity and love and care. If people didn’t pray, advise, support, encourage and give, I wouldn’t be able to serve in the way that I do. Often it is those that are the most silent and most unrecognized, those that are unnoticed and unappreciated, who give the most,” she said.
Tax-deductible donations to Love and Mercy Coalition, Inc., can be made through CFCA, which has set up a special account. Checks should be marked “TANZ”. CFCA will wire 100 percent of the donation to Mary Dawn. Write or call CFCA at 1 Elmwood Ave., Kansas City, KS 66103, (800) 875-6564.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law