Ben Mathes is an ordained minister in the
Presbyterian Church (USA)
The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PC(USA), is a mainline Protestant denomination in the United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the US, and known for its liberal stance on doctrine and its ordaining of women and ...
who has been actively involved in providing health care in remote regions throughout the world.
He is the founder and president of “Rivers of the World”, an international exploration and development agency that focuses on remote river basins.
He graduated from
Rhodes College and earned his
Master of Divinity
For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and divi ...
at
Columbia Theological Seminary. He finished as a
Doctor of Humane Letters at
Hampden-Sydney College and a
Doctor of Divinity
A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity.
In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ran ...
at
Washington College.
His work has its focus on a large number of remote areas in several nations, including
Zaire,
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
,
Korea,
Taiwan and
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
Mathes was honored by
Rotary International
Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, prof ...
with an Honorary Membership in appreciation for his work fighting
polio and
river blindness. He received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (L.D.H.) from
Hampden-Sydney College in May, 1999.
References
External links
Rivers of the Earth Official Website
Living people
American clergy
Year of birth missing (living people)
{{US-Christian-clergy-stub