Sister Spotlight – Hermana Hyunjung Kim, M. M.

For the past 10 years, Sister Hyunjung Kim, M.M., has served the people of East Timor where access to healthcare remains a daily struggle for many families living in remote mountain villages.

Together with her Timorese colleagues at Clínica Uma Ita Nian (“Our Home”), Sister
Hyunjung has become a source of healing, dignity and hope for some of the most
vulnerable members of the community. But she does not do this alone; this ministry has grown through sharing and working together.

“The Timorese are not simply the people I serve; they are my partners in mission,” Sister Hyunjung said. “We each bring what we have, learn from one another, and support one another where needed.”

Through mobile clinics and outreach programs, they travel to more than 34 villages bringing medical care, rehabilitation services, and health education to people who have little or no access to doctors or hospitals.

“We try to bring care closer to people rather than waiting for them to overcome distance and difficult roads to reach us,” she said.

The impact goes beyond access to services.

Among the clinic’s most inspiring efforts is its support for people with disabilities and their families. Several mothers of children with disabilities formed a group called Lian Liurai Feto (“Queen’s Voice”) in 2024. Together, they advocate for the dignity and rights of their children while supporting one another through shared experience and faith-filled perseverance. With encouragement from the clinic, they opened a small restaurant that now provides both income and renewed hope for the future.

Sister Hyunjung has seen the difference in people’s lives. “Local community workers have become bridges between their neighbors and the health and social services they need,” she said. “Mothers of children with disabilities come together to support one another and share their skills, while people with disabilities have greater opportunities to work, participate in community life, and exercise their rights.”

In fact, the group created a sheltered workshop, Ofisina Francisco Assisi, where people living with disabilities craft cookstoves to be distributed to families in the mountain communities of Aileu and other parts of the country. The use of indoor wood fires for cooking is widespread in East Timor, leading to chronic smoke inhalation, burns and respiratory problems especially for women and children.

“The cookstove is a simple example of how people who are often seen as needing support,” she said, “can also offer something valuable to others and to the wider community.”

All of this is connected to “recognizing the God-given dignity of each person,” according to Sister Hyunjung. People receive support, yes, but they all have something to contribute, as well. She stressed that her role is not to replace something missing in the community, but to create connections that allow people to work together, to support each other.

“Mission is less about what I can do for others and more about what becomes possible when we walk together,” she said. “In the ordinary work of listening, sharing, learning from one another, and making room for each person to contribute, I often find God already present among us.”