Story by Lisa Carolin, courtesy photos from Wendy Rutter.
Anyone interested in learning more about participating in and supporting mission trips is invited to attend an informational and fundraising event at St. Mary Parish Hall, Saturday, March 8 at 5:30 p.m.
The St. Mary Catholic Church committee for Charity and Justice is putting on the event in part to let people know about a medical mission to Kenya in September.
Parishioner Wendy Rutter, an anesthetist at Mott Children’s Hospital, will be going on her third trip to Kenya.
“It’s practical and it’s humanitarian,” said Rutter. “We need to build good relationships with up and coming countries.”
Rutter is going on a medical mission with five other anesthetists from Mott as well as a few parishioners from St. Mary’s. Their focus will be treating children and adults in rural areas, eight hours away from the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, near the border of Tanzania.
Most of the surgeries they will perform will be for facial deformities, cleft lips, cleft palates, and goiters.
“It’s really life changing for the people,” said Rutter, who says that they are looking for people for more than just the medical missions. “There is also need for teachers, builders, and for people to set up computers. There are all sorts of ways to help.”
Rutter says that Father Bill Turner at St. Mary’s is very supportive of the efforts.
Kathie Gourlay, a parishioner at St. Mary’s says, “The purpose of the committee for Charity and Justice is to empower the members of our church to spread love, justice, freedom and peace. It doesn’t matter what their religion is.”
Rutter says that those planning her mission trip will be taking more security precautions when they go in September. It was in September of 2013 when militants stormed a mall in Nairobi, which resulted in 72 deaths.
“Now more than ever we need to go because if we don’t the terrorists win,” she said.
The purpose of the March 8 event is to talk about missions in general. Rutter will share photographs from previous trips and talk about fundraiser to build a hospital in Kenya.
