“PREFERENTIAL OPTION FOR THE POOR”

DEAR FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS

Twenty years ago, at the invitation of Josiah Fearon (then the Anglican Bishop of Kaduna), a team of three, including me, visited Nigeria for the first time. It was my first experience of a “developing” country. My previous travels were limited to the United States and other relatively prosperous countries. This visit was an “eye opener” for me in many different ways. On the one hand, I fell in love with the people and the culture. On the other hand, I was shocked at the level of poverty of people in urban and rural areas.​​

 To cut a long story short, when we visited the empty building in the village of Kateri, Bishop Josiah asked us if we could help raise funds for a doctor and a nurse to start a rural clinic there. And right then and here, a fire was lit in our hearts.
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God gave us a vision: To provide simple, decent and affordable medical care to the poor.

At the heart of this vision is our Christian faith. In the Gospel accounts, Jesus had compassion on the poor. He healed the sick of many diseases and afflictions. Why? Because he loved them and wanted to demonstrate the love of God for them. Our goal is to continue this work of Jesus in our own day.

A few months ago, I read an article by Dr. Paul Farmer, the cofounder of Partners in Health, an NGO which employs medical professionals to serve the poor in Haiti, Latin America, Africa, Siberia and the United States. Early in his medical career, Dr. Farmer was inspired by the writings of Latin American theologians who described the heart of Christian mission as a “preferential option for the poor.” Later in his life, he wrote about the terrible irony of this slogan: Kateri Medical Services seeks to establish clinics to serve those who are unable to afford medical care through their own financial resources. Our vision is to embody “a preferential option for the poor” through our medical clinics and medical outreach missions. Your generous donations help us make this vision a reality — reduce unnecessary suffering and save people’s lives as a demonstration of God’s love for them. To learn more about the people you have helped, read the rest of this newsletter. And please give as generously as you can. Sincerely yours, The Rev. Tom Furrer

​“Any serious examination of epidemic disease has always shown that microbes also make a preferential option for the poor. But medicine and its practitioners, even in public health, do so all too rarely. Imagine how much unnecessary suffering we might collectively avert if our health care and educational systems, foundations, and nongovernmental organizations genuinely made a preferential option
for the poor?”

Kateri Medical Services seeks to establish clinics to serve those who are unable to afford medical care through their own financial resources. Our vision is to embody “a preferential option for the poor” through our medical clinics and medical outreach missions. Your generous donations help us make this vision a reality — reduce unnecessary suffering and save people’s lives as a demonstration of God’s love for them. To learn more about the people you have helped, read the rest of this newsletter. And please give as generously as you can. 

Sincerely yours, The Rev. Tom Furrer​