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Sister Lutgarde de Brouwer Sister Lutgarde is one of 650 Medical Mission Sisters in 19 nations trying to be present to others in the spirit of Jesus the Healer. Born in Flanders, Belgium, Sister Lutgarde was the oldest of 5 children raised in a Catholic family. She studied social work, and spent 8 years in Bruges as a social worker. She learned about Medical Mission Sisters through a Jesuit priest friend, and made her First Vows in 1989. Her first mission assignment was to Nairobi, Kenya, where she trained AIDS counselors and worked with mothers of handicapped children. Sister Lutgarde returned to the Netherlands in 1993 and has lived mainly in Amsterdam since then. She did social work in the inner city for 2 ½ years with a program that had been organized by local priests, to help people who came to the parishes with financial difficulties. Then she focused more on mission with the homeless. "There is a kind of invisible screen between the homeless, and people who are in the city for business, work, or leisure time," she explains. After volunteering for a few months at a refuge for homeless women who had psychiatric problems, Sister Lutgarde became involved with a shelter for battered women. "What we did there was living group support - first, we would really be there with the women, make sure that the daily living was going well. Next, we did all kinds of social work, trying to organize their social security and things. And then we tried to strengthen them, to get their self-confidence back again." One of Sister Lutgarde's neighbors had an apartment with a small group of refugee women and children. After 2 years of supporting her and problem-solving with her, Sister Lutgarde took over this ministry with refugees. "We have had women from Cameroon, Lebanon, Ethiopia, Congo, Ecuador, Mongolia, Armenia, and Afghanistan…all over the world…sharing life together," she says. "The whole juridical aspect, to see if they will get official recognition as refugees, is taken care of by the organization that sends the women to us. We take care of everything that has to do with their living and personal welfare," she explains. Sister Lutgarde loves this ministry, which she has had for 4 years. "Each woman brings a message for me. I learn something from her. There is a challenge in having somebody new come in, trying to find out how you relate with this person, how she can fit in the group…that's very enriching."
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