By Anne Marie Amacher The Catholic Messenger DAVENPORT — Three weeks of visits to schools, orphanages, hospitals, clinics, a minor seminary and more were part of a needs assessment missionary trip to Africa for Pat Cannaday and Maribeth Green of Holy Family Parish. The two spoke to a group at the parish in late December about their trip earlier in the year to Tanzania, Africa. “Asante,” Cannaday told the group. “That is the Swahili word for thank you.”

A team of 27 people from the Diocese of Davenport and elsewhere provided medical and dental care to Haitians in the Jean-Denis area of Haiti last month. Ann Wester, coordinator for the Haitian Connection mission group of St. John Vianney Parish in Bettendorf, said the majority of volunteers were from the parish. Others came from Ss. Mary & Mathias Parish in Muscatine; Iowa City; Dubuque, Iowa; and from the Quad-City area. They met with a team from Hands Together of Palm Beach, Fla.

KEOTA — In a few weeks, new college graduate Maggie VanRoekel will head to Bolivia to help provide educational opportunities to marginalized citizens. As a volunteer with Franciscan Mission Services, she will spend two years living in solidarity with students at Unidad Academica Campesina in Carmen Pampa, teaching English and participating in ministerial work.