A ministry of the Congregation of Our Lady Queen of the Apostles Congregation, in Mbeya, Tanzania, East Africa, St. Joseph’s Dispensary is located 12 kilometers from the nearest hospital. Because it is very difficult for women with children to travel to the district hospital to monitor their health during pregnancy, St. Joseph’s Dispensary was built. The facility serves people from the surrounding villages of Hasamba, Masangula, and Myimbili. Hasamba Village alone has over 1000 women of child bearing age and 353 children under the age of one.

The Sisters and staff of St. Joseph’s not only provide maternity health services but also offer counseling for first time mothers in caring for their children.
Unfortunately, many diseases absent from the western world are prevalent here; diseases such as malaria and intestinal worms. In addition to treating these ailments, St. Josephs’s has a continual stream of children with pneumonia, diarrhea, anemia, skin infections, asthma, and eye infections.




Pregnant women who live in the more remote villages in the Mybeya Diocese lack adequate pre-natal care. Many develop complications that result in serious health issues and even death during childbirth, which often takes place in very primitive conditions in the villages. To address this problem, St. Joe’s added a small and simple maternity home so that women with high-risk pregnancies can stay and be cared for in  the days before they deliver as well as afterward.

Because patients are poor and lacking funds, few are able to pay, even a little for medical help. This means that money to pay for equipment and supplies is extremely limited. The clinic struggles with its tiny budget, relying mainly on donations from limited sources.

In 2015 the Elmire Hammock Memorial Fund was established by her family to provide desperately needed medicine and supplies to St. Joseph’s Dispensary. Through donations to Sam’s memorial fund, St. Joe’s was able to install a fresh water tank from which water is piped into the clinic. In addition, solar power panels were added to help power the clinic through the many instances of electrical power interruptions and shortages. Sam was memorialized with a Mass and inscriptions painted over the door of the Dispensary.


This year the focus is on equipping the newly constructed maternity home.   Your contributions to this fund will help provide incubators for premies, medical supplies that are constantly lacking, and a host of other necessities required for safe delivery and care of babies and their moms.