Sister Ann McKenna, a Spanish teacher from Our Lady of Mercy School in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, spent two weeks this summer in Peru as a translator on a medical mission trip. Twenty-one members of the Mercy medical team traveled to Chulucanas, Peru, to set up a clinic for poor children. The team consisted of pediatric doctors and nurses from John Hopkins Medical Center and Boston Children’s Hospital, as well as translators and support staff.

Sister Ann was asked by another Sister of Mercy to lend her translating skills to the mission effort. Her skills proved invaluable as patients would tell her their problem in Spanish and she would then translate that to the medical staff.

When she returned to Our Lady of Mercy, she spoke about mothers and children who traveled as much as six hours to come to the clinic. For some of these children, it was simply an annual visit; however, for many others, serious illnesses were treated and some were recommended for surgery. The medical team treated over 2,000 children and performed 47 surgeries while there.

"It was both a challenging and humbling experience for me to be of service to poor children in the northwestern regions of Peru," said Sister Ann. She has been invited back to Peru and hopes to return for next year’s medical mission trip. She told the East Greenwich Pendulum that she saw God at work, especially in the patients there. "They’re impoverished, but they’re wealthy in so many other ways," she said.

Sister Ann McKenna on medical mission trip in Peru. Photo submitted by Sister Ann McKenna.