| Lifting Up A People – Mary and Joe Whelan - and the Story of “Give Us Wings.” |
| Sunday Mornings at St. Joan of Arc can be lively, thought provoking, and often an encounter with different life values. One life value that the community struggles with is that of PEACE. We find ourselves living in a world that daily sees pictures of uniformed Americans with guns. This is how we are quickly becoming known in this world. But sitting in the St. Joan of Arc community are a growing number of parishioners and their friends who without much fanfare have gotten on planes and flown to many other countries so that some of the world’s peoples can know that there are other kinds of Americans. At first we heard of Guatemala, and then South Africa. But in more recent years and months, Haiti, Palestine, Ghana, India, and other countries are places one can find people working as volunteers, and these same people may or many not attend St. Joan of Arc. This article is yet another story of a remarkable St. Joan of Arc member and the peoples of Kenya and Uganda, East Africa. |
Longtime parishioner Joe Whelan and his wife Mary Steiner Whelan are new arrivals to the Powderhorn neighborhood. Not by accident the upstairs couple includes their newly married daughter Shawn. The duplex arrangement is not unusual but it was done with specific internationality. “We bought this ” duplex and we arranged our living style so we could realistically devote time to what has become a life driven cause – the peoples of Kenya and Uganda.” The dining room table is weighted down with flyers, brochures, stacks of photos, forms, and event announcements, and one’s wandering eye sees artifacts everywhere that blend Minnesota with the colors of Africa. This is a family home and clearly a nerve center for a small but growing organization. Sitting at one end of the table is a 59-year-old Minnesota born woman, wife, mother and director of the organization, Mary Steiner Whelan(right). Next to her is her youngest daughter, Shawn(far right), now married and working as a registered nurse. Completing the group is Joe Whelan(lower left) who serves as cheerleader for the efforts of his wife and daughter who single-handedly set off in 1998 on a life-changing journey.
How many stories of life change start out with the words, “I had this friend.” Mary Steiner Whelan has done many things in life. One of those many was to be the managing editor of Red Leaf Press, a local publishing group known to many in the world of early childhood. Mary also had a friend who kept talking to her about Africa. She also had a daughter who talked about someday wanting to go to Africa.
Mary, when pressed for the “Why” answer, says she had always courted an un-acted upon desire to join the Peace Corps. Marriage and three growing children served as realistic distractions to the dream. Shawn said that the Ethiopian famine that gathered so much media attention in the late 1990’s initiated her interest and desire to work in Africa. Mary Steiner Whelan’s friend did introduce her to someone from Africa and that person in time came up with a proposition for how Mary and Shawn might just get to Africa. They were asked if they would volunteer for nine months in Kenya and Uganda. In short, when they arrived in Kenya they discovered that the group they went with was not getting the money to the people. What is interesting about their story is that they did not give up and they set out to find another way to accomplish what they came to do, work with the women and children of Kenya and Uganda.
Two life-changing decisions were made on that first trip. Shawn seeing the extent of the poverty and sickness, realized she could really help if she became a nurse. With that decided she left Kenya earlier than planned and came back to Minnesota to attend college and finish her nursing degree. Mary stayed on because she needed to find out how she could really be of help. She set off to talk and mostly listen to the people and to move from village to village absorbing the stories of the peoples of Kenya and Uganda. It was in one of those conversations with a man from Kenya who responded to Mary Steiner Whelan’s question of how she might help, responded by saying, “What we really need is access to information and education. We need people to give us wings. Give Us Wings.” Thus was named a cause that was to absorb much of Mary’s life as she smilingly says, “One feather at a time.”
Mary and Shawn could not have selected countries more in need. Kenya and the neighboring Uganda are both economically depressed nations. Kenya has 30.6 million people, poor and mostly unemployed. The British and the Portuguese had come to this part of Africa but while claiming it as conquered territories, neither did much to help build the countries infrastructures or economics. Kenya does not have many resources except for farming and fishing on the coast. The life expectancy is between 40 and 45 years of age. It claims that 15% are affected by HIV/AIDS. Life is hard as Mary and Shawn will tell you, but it is harder for the women. When Mary returned from Kenya, in true Scripture wording, ‘She gathered the women’ and told her friends and others who would listen, that she was going to find some way to help primarily the women of Kenya and Uganda. Mary had learned what others who have worked in the third world countries come to understand, in Africa especially, nations are built on the backs of women. It is the women who can affect any change.
1998 became 2004 and Mary returned to Kenya seven times for short and longer periods. Each time she made more connections, more alliances, and more friends. Shawn did become the nurse and still made five trips with her mother. She and Mary are pros at setting up day clinics and dispensing what medicines they bring with them. It isn’t all about giving direct aid. Their approach has been one of transformation rather than merely doing it themselves. They work with the people and use their limited funds for start up community projects, training in economic self-sufficiency so that groups can work with the education and medical needs of the people. Mary has learned the art of using duffel bags to bring key items. Joe Whelan has himself made two trips. He claims that he has found his role in this venture to model how men can be of help. When African men watch Joe helping the women and running errands and fixing things, they see a different model and one that many resist.
Mary Steiner Whelan and her supportive family members are really good at what they do. One senses that Mary’s energies and many talents have found an ideal platform for recognition. Not a lot of us can boast of writing books and digging wells, or of feeling totally at home in two cultures, two worlds. Their repeated trips have made them very good teachers to others who might consider working in third world countries. The first time is always the most dramatic because of the newness of the experience, the cultural difference, and the life value confrontations one internally experiences. But moving beyond grief and shock, one has to ask how can I really make any difference, and you know it starts with building relationships. It is always about building relationships. Mary is a pro at making friends and key contacts on both sides of the ocean. Sometimes it takes two to three trips or periods of time in a foreign country before you start to experience usefulness. Give Us Wings has collected over $200,000 to help start programs, dig wells, put up buildings, and open day clinics. This is remarkable, and most of this has taken place over the past five years. St. Joan of Arc’s Peace and Justice Fund gave her $3000 in grant money last year to help.
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