Powerful testimony in the Catholic Register

Read it all. One thing that I wonder---is how much dietary changes and lack of Vitamin D play a role in the high rates of depression and hopelessness up north. Yes, there are definitely spiritual factors at play, too, but they can piggy-back on deficiencies that affect brain chemistry adversely.

I am a registered nurse who has served in impoverished villages in Nigeria and the shantytowns surrounding the cities of Lima, Peru, and Guayaquil, Ecuador. I have experienced much poverty in my travels, but I have also experienced hope, courage and love. Although these people may seem to lack the basics, they have so much more. It is a poverty of material, not of spirit.

One year ago my spiritual journey led me to a place much closer to home, yet in many respects a place that seems a world away. Little did I know this would become the most challenging mission God had ever presented me.

I am currently living in Moose Factory, Ont., an island at the tip of James Bay. I work at a small hospital that serves the Cree Nation communities of Moose Factory, Attawapiskat, Moosonee, Fort Albany, Kashechewan and Peawanuck. It has been an adventure, to say the least. It has also challenged me in ways I could never have imagined.

The poverty is immense. But unlike the stops in my previous travels, it is not just a poverty of material things. It is a poverty of spirit. There is so much hopelessness and suffering. Here exists the devastation that results from a hurt so deep that only alcohol and drugs can numb it — at least for a little while. When sobriety returns in the morning, so does the pain, suffering and hopelessness.