Margret Marquart

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Margret Marquart , also Margareta (born February 25, 1928 in Böttingen ; † April 21, 2004 there ) was a German doctor and Catholic theologian . She worked as a missionary doctor in Africa for over 20 years and founded a mission hospital in Kpando ( Ghana ) in 1960 , which was later named after her Margret Marquart Catholic Hospital (MMCH).

Live and act

Margret Marquart was the second oldest daughter of the farmer Johannes Marquart and his wife Helene, née Villing. First she attended the high school for boys in Spaichingen , then the high school for boys in Tuttlingen until graduation in 1947 . She studied medicine and theology at the University of Tübingen , among others with Fridolin Stier . After the Physikum , Marquart moved to the Medical Mission Institute of the University of Würzburg , where she passed her medical state examination in 1953 and wrote her doctoral thesis .

At the age of 16, Margret Marquart already knew that she wanted to become a missionary doctor. After completing her medical studies, she therefore joined the International Movement of Christian Women (GRAL) and prepared for her assignment abroad in their Dutch center de Tiltenberg . At the end of 1956 she was sent to her first place of work, the Rubaga Hospital in Kampala ( Uganda ).

The Margret Marquart Catholic Hospital in Kpando (Ghana), 2011

Three years later she was sent to Ghana, where she founded a mission hospital, the Kpando Hospital , in 1960 in the city of Kpando, together with the two Austrian nurses Anita Linninger and Phily Fuchs . She worked there as chief physician for 17 years . In 1982, the Kpando Hospital was renamed Margret Marquart Catholic Hospital (MMCH) in her honor . Today the clinic is called MMCH Volta Eye Clinic . As one of the best equipped eye clinics in Ghana, it offers the only treatment option for the approximately two million inhabitants of the Volta region.

For her longstanding commitment, Margret Marquart was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class by Federal President Gustav Heinemann on December 21, 1970 ; It was presented to her on February 5, 1971 in Accra (Ghana) by the embassy attaché Helmut Müller.

In April 1977 Margret Marquart returned to her home country for health reasons. Initially a stranger in her own country, after a phase of reorientation she first worked at the health department in Tuttlingen and then from 1978 to 1992 at the German Institute for Medical Mission (Difäm) in Tübingen.

Pope John Paul II called Margret Marquart in 1979 as consultor of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples ( Propaganda Fide ). In her role as advisor on world health issues for the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum” , she took part in conferences in Veldhoven , Manila and São Paulo as the representative of the Vatican . In 1980, Bishop Georg Moser appointed her advisor to the Episcopal Ordinariate in Rottenburg .

In addition to her professional work, Margret Marquart has always been committed to poor, needy and marginalized people. From 1992 to 1996 she worked as a volunteer pastor for asylum seekers in detention at the Rottenburg correctional facility . Annoyed by what she saw as an inhumane deportation practice, Margret Marquart returned the Federal Cross of Merit to Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Erwin Teufel as a sign of protest .

Margret Marquart died in April 2004 of a tumor disease in her home town of Böttingen.

In 2008 her nephew Hubert Marquart published a book about her life. In her home town of Böttingen, Margret Marquart is held in high regard as an important local personality. In 2014, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of her death, memorial services were held both in Böttingen and in Kpando (Ghana).

Honors

Publications

  • The tubular insufficiency in salyrgan poisoning , Würzburg, Med. F., dissertation from November 4, 1953.
  • Dietrich Wiederkehr; Margret Marquart; Kossi Tossou; Thomas Eriyo; Ajit Lokhande; Roman Malek; Giancarlo Collet; Osmar Gogolok; Werner Prawdzik: Reality and Theology: Theological attempts and pastoral impulses from the universal church , Steyler publishing house, 1988, ISBN 3-8050-0193-2 .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Action Volta Eye Clinic (AVA) in Kpando / Ghana. In: africa-action.de. May 12, 2020, accessed June 16, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Helmut Müller in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)
  3. ↑ a b c d e biography of Margret Marquart in the German National Library
  4. ^ Report on the conference of the Christian Medical Commission in Veldhoven, 1985 (Margret Marquart mentioned as consultor on pp. 5 and 15)
  5. ↑ Schwäbische Zeitung: Article The Faith Requires Highest Risk , August 1, 2008
  6. ↑ Schwäbische Zeitung: Article Böttingen recalls Margret Marquart , April 21, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Marquart, Margret
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Marquart, Margareta
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German missionary doctor and theologian
DATE OF BIRTH February 25, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Boettingen
DATE OF DEATH April 21, 2004
Place of death Boettingen