Letter From Father Tom

Dear Friends and supporters of Kateri Medical Services,

As I write this, I am preparing for our annual medical mission trip to Nigeria. This will be my 13th mission trip to Nigeria. Every year, I find the trip to be totally exhausting – and totally fulfilling. Both at the same time. Last year, we helped 6,571 people in two weeks. I am hoping that we can help that many, or perhaps more, this year.
We are now in the process of reconstructing our web site www.katericlinic.org . We will be posting daily reports of our mission trip on our website. So please go to the web-site to read the stories of the many thousands of people we will be serving this year.

As you may know, Nigeria is a turbulent country. Over the past five years especially, the trend toward violence has increased under the Boko Haram reign of terror. This reality has made it more difficult for us to do our work. In response, we have been forced to relocate our intensive medical mission away from Kateri Clinic because of security concerns. We have also had to in-crease our security measures. In the early years, we had no security whatsoever. Now we have the Nigerian Secret Service, the Nigerian Army Special Forces and the Nigerian Peace Corps helping to protect us and our patients when we conduct our missions. Despite the risks, we are determined to continue this work because the people we serve are in such desperate need.

On a more positive note, a new president has been elected in Nigeria with a mandate to stop the terrorist vio-lence and to clean up corruption. President Buhari is a retired Army General with a reputation for toughness, honesty and a true patriotism that seeks the common good. From everything I have heard and read since the election, there is good reason to think that things are improving in Nigeria. Please keep the nation and our medical mission in your prayers.

And please keep supporting our work. We have helped more than 130,000 people over the past 13 years. Every year our numbers increase. Please help us continue with your prayers and generous contributions. Every dollar that you donate to Kateri Medical Services, Inc. goes directly to pay clinic staff and medicine. We have no overhead costs of any kind. We all volunteer our time and even the postage to mail this newsletter is donated by Trinity Church in Tariffville. Every dollar you give goes directly to providing medical care to very poor peo-ple. That is our promise to you.

Sincerely yours,

Ven. Thomas Furrer
President of Kateri Medical Services, Inc.