Catherine Parker
Katherine T. Parker is a missionary with the Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church serving as a Health and Community Transformation Advisor with the United Mission to Nepal (UMN). The ecumenical ministry of UMN has a vision of a “fullness of life for all in a transformed Nepali society.” United Methodists have been involved with UMN since it was founded in 1954. More information on its work is available on the UMN website.
Katherine’s work in Nepal is focused in three areas: 1) Adolescent empowerment, including sexual reproductive health and rights and menstrual hygiene; 2) Maternal and child health; and 3) Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). The United Mission to Nepal works in five areas for community transformation: education, health, hospitals, peacebuilding, and sustainable livelihoods.
Katherine is passionate about engaging community groups in participatory research about their environment and in a process of identifying and linking values to action. She believes that through telling the stories of our lives, and exploring the stories of our faith, we are better able to articulate our shared values that form a foundation for us to engage in collective action across cultural and other divisive barriers towards a world where every person can live to his or her fullest potential. She is currently engaged in a project with school- and church-based youth and mother’s groups in three remote villages in western Nepal.
In Nepal since 2013, Katherine was previously in Cambodia with the Community Health and Agricultural Development Program of the Methodist Mission there. She has been a missionary since 2007 and was a mission intern for three years beginning in 2000 with the Asian Rural Institute in Japan and Practical Farmers of Iowa in the USA. We are proud to be a part of her support team.
*To see more about Katherine’s work in Nepal you can view the following you tube videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfYX7CWauXU 2:44 minute video - working with village women to test their water sources.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsaakPTpBgE 13 minutes - interview about Nepal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRHaNgrKqZY 1 ½ minute video about working from home in the USA during the pandemic
