At the end of July I attended an international MIVA meeting in Stadl Paura, Austria hosted by MIVA Austria. Attending the meeting, besides myself, were representatives from all the European MIVAs: Netherlands, Switzerland, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and Croatia.
It was a German Priest, Fr. Paul Schulte O.M.I. (Oblates of Mary
Immaculate) who founded ‘Missionalium
Vehiculorum Associatio’ in 1927 following the death of his childhood
friend, Father Otto Fuhrmann, in Africa. Fr. Fuhrmann had pneumonia, complicated
by malaria, and it had taken him five days to reach a hospital, where he died. Fr.
Schulte was known as the ‘Flying Priest’ because he was a pilot who brought
medical aid and supplies to remote Oblate missions, particularly north of the
Arctic Circle.
The various branches of MIVA were spawned from Fr.
Schulte’s initiative, except, that is, SURVIVE-MIVA. We were founded quite
independently, possibly with our founders being unaware that any other
organisations linked to the Church were funding transport. Our original name
was ‘SURVIVE International Mobile Medical Aid’ and it was not until
1980, when we were invited to join MIVA, that we became known as SURVIVE-MIVA.
MIVA Austria has one main fundraiser each year, on
the Sunday nearest to St. Christopher’s (the Patron Saint of travellers) Feast
Day, 25th July. We celebrated ‘Christophorus Sunday’ at MIVA Austria
whilst I was there (Sunday 27th July) and children brought their
bicycles and other modes of transport to be blessed (see photograph opposite). SURVIVE-MIVA differs from
the other MIVAs in that our Patron Saint is not St. Christopher but St. Thérèse
of the Child Jesus, who is Patron of the Missions.
Of course each MIVA has grown and developed in
different ways depending on factors such as national culture, local church
structure, historical links with countries overseas etc. It was interesting to
compare and contrast, discuss and reflect on our ways of working. Some MIVAs supply means of communication
(radio masts, internet connections, computers) as well as a means of transport
but we all have the same mission – to improve the lives of vulnerable people living
in remote communities by giving them ACCESS to healthcare and other forms of support.
Theresa Codd
