Welcome to Mission Doctors Association

Why Missionary Work in Retirement?
By Richard Stoughton, M.D.

I would like to propose a challenge to all of those medical personnel who we find are retiring in their mid-fifties to mid-sixties. First, I want you to ask yourself this question: “Now what am I really going to do with the rest of my life?” Or, “Is there a need out there for my talents, at this stage of my life?” Or, “Can I really play golf (or fish; or play bridge; or garden; or just travel) every day for the rest of my life?” If I think I can, “Will I really get satisfaction with that?”

The United States and Canada and much of Europe has become so wealthy, that men and women are retiring at the prime of their lives, and at a time when they would have so much to offer the developing world. God has given us such a privilege to have been born, educated, and have practiced medicine in this prosperous, developed world, and yet there is such a great need for medical expertise in the developing world. It is my opinion that everyone that still has good health and does not have other serious family obligations has a responsibility to at least investigate the possibilities of doing short term or long-term “missionary” work. Certainly many people do this type of work because of religious beliefs and affiliations. However, anyone with a belief in God and the realization that as a member of the world community that we have obligations to all of the poor people of the earth, then this person can truly be a “missionary”. My wife and I (and our family) have been involved in medical missionary work on two occasions. We first spent 5 _ years in then Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) with our entire family. This was at the beginning of my medical career after I had completed a Family Practice Residency. We then returned to Wisconsin to a traditional small town Family Practice Group, to earn money to raise seven children and provide education for all of them, and also to provide us with a very good life. When retirement age came at age 64, I knew that I was too young to be really “retired.” We then made the decision to return to Zimbabwe, first for a few months to “see how it would go”, and then for a long term commitment, that is “as long as health and energy lasts.” I believe that it is at these two times in our professional lives that we are most likely to do missionary work, that is, either at the beginning of our career shortly after completing our training, or at the end of our career.

We simplified our lives by selling our house, giving all of our furnishings and assorted possessions to our children, and getting rid of all of those “extraneous things” that someone is going to have a hard time deciding what to do with when you finally leave this world. We now live and work at St. Theresa’s Hospital in rural Zimbabwe. It is a hospital with an average census of about 100 patients, a staff of 80, serving a population of 50,000, and right now I am the only doctor. Do you think that I feel needed? Or useful? Or satisfied? The answer is a resounding YES to all of those questions. Am I over worked? NO. I truly cannot think of anything that I would rather be doing at this stage of my life, and my wife shares those convictions.

This is not to say that there are no problems. We live in a rural area, so sometimes there is no telephone service; we sometimes are without electricity for long periods of time; we have problems getting enough medications, enough lab reagents, enough other medical supplies, and have to rely on help from friends and benefactors to be able to afford them. We have trouble balancing our books, and have to rely on donations to help us to keep going. The people in the area are extremely poor; there is much malnutrition; and many people are unable to pay even small amounts for medical care. And then there is the tremendous problem of the AIDS pandemic. Sub-Saharan Africa is suffering the greatest burden in the world-wide AIDS problem. Each year, it is estimated that there are 450,000 babies born in Sub-Saharan African that are HIV positive. The current population of Zimbabwe of eleven million people is estimated to decrease to nine million by the year 2025. Life expectancy, which had reached the low 60’s in the early 1980’s, is now 39 and continuing to fall.

Fortunately, we have the satisfaction of being involved in a project of help prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to baby. Because of our rural area, we have problems attracting and retaining qualified staff. Like any hospital community, there are always some personality problems and “turf wars” to be solved. These “problems” are the same problems throughout the developing world, and are not unique for us.

So, why keep procrastinating? Why not decide that this is really what you want to do with the next few years of your life? Because there is a tremendous need. Because you have the talent and ability to do a great amount of good. Because the poor people of the world are calling and begging you to come. Because God has been so good to you that it is time to give something back. You can spend a few weeks, a few months, or a few years, and whatever amount of time that it is, I can guarantee that you will be a better person because of it.

You do not really give; you receive. You receive all of the benefits, and in so doing, you help the people that you work with. And then, besides you receiving the benefits, you spread the word about what you are doing, and others start thinking “Maybe I could do that also”, and that keeps the ball rolling and people coming to help. We find that our work has inspired family and friend in the U.S. to become involved in fund raising, in sending medicines, medical supplies, school supplies, and used clothing. We continue to be humbled by the response to our continued begging for the poor of our area.

After we returned from Africa in the mid-70’s, we talked with many people about our work. It was not uncommon for doctors to say: “I always wanted to do something like that, but I am caught up in this need to pay for a house; pay for children’s education; pay for my building; pay for this; pay for that, etc.” I agree with those needs and necessities. That is why I challenge you to look forward to your retirement years and see just how easy it really is at that time of your life to make a commitment.
When we made the decision to return to Africa, it was with our families blessing, but only if we assured them that we would return at least once or twice a year to see them, but especially to see all of our grandchildren. We can afford to do just that, and our hospital here is only too happy to have us here for the 10 to 11 months per year that we are here, and then arrange for “locum tenens” help for the time when we are gone. Of course, if there were two doctors here, then this would not be a problem. IF I could convince some of you soon to retire doctors out there to make this type of commitment, then our returning to see our family would be much simpler.

How do you find the resources to assist you in such a decision. There are many, many organizations that support both short-term and long-term medical missionary work. We are associated with Mission Doctors Association, a Catholic Lay Mission organization in Los Angeles. Their address is: 3424 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90010; email: missiondrs@earthlink.net. Another organization is Catholic Medical Mission Board, 10 West 17th St., New York, NY 10011-5765 . I am sure that you can find many other organizations on the Internet. If you are truly interested, I would encourage you to seek out someone that has done missionary work, so that they can give you a realistic view of what to expect. If the organization requires you to spend a few days to a few months in preparation, I would say that that would time very well spent. The biggest problem that any missionary faces is how to effectively live in another culture, how to not create problems, and how to work effectively with the resources and staff that will be available.

I recently read a poem by Jessica Powers. She was a Carmelite Nun, who grew up on a farm in rural Wisconsin, and her poems seem to be changing my life. The poem is “The Leftovers”.

With twenty loaves of bread Elisha fed
the one hundred till they were satisfied,
and Scripture tells us there was bread left over.
Jesus did more: with five small barley loaves
and two dried fish he fed five thousand men,
together with their wives and children, all
neatly arranged upon the cushioned grass.
The awed disciples, when the crowd had eaten,
gathered up what was left: twelve baskets full.

Who then received these fragments? Hopefully,
the least (though not less favored) and the poor.
I think of those who always seem to get
the leavings from the banqueting of others,
the scraps of bread, of life, that goodness saves.
I pray that they come proudly when invited,
make merry at their meal and have their fill,
and rise up thankfully, remembering
the fragment, too were miracles of love.*

*From The Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers, published by
ICA Publications, Washington, D.C. All copyrights Carmelite
Monastery, Pewaukee, WI. Used with permission

Our missionary work in retirement can be considered “fragments”, because the main course was given to those in the U.S. But this fragment is given with love, and the people in the underserved, developing world do “come proudly when invited, and make merry at their meal.” They are tremendously grateful for the work that we do among them.

If I have been able to stimulate some interest, some introspection, some questioning of “How can I help?”, then I have been successful. If anyone would like to contact me, I am available at: rstoten@att.net , or at : domhama@mweb.co.zw . I would be happy to answer any and all questions, and yes I am able to be “on line” most of the time. Cell phones and laptop computers have truly made the world smaller. Technology does not solve any of our myriad of problems, but being “connected” to family and friends is a tremendous benefit, and one for which we are truly grateful. Please say a prayer for our work and for us, and then say a prayer for yourself that you will be open to the possibility of a “Call to Medical Missionary Work.”

Leftovers is taken from The Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers
Copyright: Carmelite Monastery, Pewaukee, WI

For more information on the work of the Carmelite Sisters and the poetry of
Jessica Powers visit their web site at:
http://www.geocities.com/pewaukeecarmel/

To purchase a copy of the book The Selected Poems of Jessica Powers visit
http://www.icspublications.org/