These beautiful words of Saint Teresa of Calcutta are the inspiration to a new medical mission that has been formed in Fort Wayne, Indiana. For several years Sister M. Austin Terese Esotu felt she was being called to form a nonprofit organization to serve the poorest of the poor by providing medical assistance and food. Sr. Austin is from Nigeria where she lived among the poor and saw the need to help those who were dying from malnutrition and lack of medical care. Sister belongs to the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy and came to Fort Wayne when Bishop D’arcy requested that her Mother Superior Mary Paul Offiah send several sisters to help in our diocese.

In the 5th grade Sister Austin was invited by some sisters of the order to spend a weekend at their local convent. Many of the sisters were good friends of her family and she was allowed to spend the weekend. That weekend began her journey to become a member of the Daughters of Mary. She lived with the sisters from that weekend on and joined the congregation after graduating from high school. Her Mother Superior Mary Paul saw a great need to help the poor who were unable to receive or afford medical help and wanted a hospital to care for those in rural areas. She took it upon herself to care for the handicapped, the sick, the poor and abandoned children. “Mother Mary Paul is the Mother Theresa of Nigeria,” says Sister Austin. “She would never say no to anyone.”

Unfortunately, Mother Paul was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and was unable to continue her mission. Before she passed away in 2006, she asked Sister Austin to carry on her work and to see that a hospital was built and to take care of the poor. Mother Paul also hoped to build a home where physically and mentally challenged children could live. Often these children are abandoned because of their disabilities. In 2016 Sister Austin’s father provided land and built a hospital for the poor who could not pay for medical help. The hospital was named after Mother Mary Paul – Mother Paul Offiah Memorial Hospital & Diagnostic Centre. In November of 2017, Sister Austin felt God was calling her to form Divine Healer Medical Mission to continue the work of Mother Paul in Nigeria.