We are about to go on 'the great adventure' (as a guy named Steven Curtis Chapman might sing about it) and we wanted to give you an update as we depart (Saturday 1:30pm CST). An e-mail from Dr Dan Nesselroade, MD (Medical Director of Koutiala Hospital; see tab above) describes our activities in Mali, West Africa to take medical aid and the Gospel to large numbers of people in desperate need of both (having never heard of or received either).
We are very excited to be on our way--some of us for a second time. But, as you will read, this time we are going there to 'plow new ground' and develop the protocol for our future medical teams' to take medical care to the people in 'the bush' (villages within a 1 to 2 hour drive of the hospital) who have never seen a medical provider (as we know one) in their lives. They wear amulets and numerous cords around their necks, ankles and wrists that represent a medicine man's incantations and cures for their illnesses and complaints.... and they die. They also may have never heard the name of Jesus Christ to learn more about Him and trust their lives and souls to Him... and they die forever. We are there to turn the tide on both fronts. More fascinating details are described by Dr Dan Nesselroade below.
Our team includes two ER nurses with over 25 years experience between them and a seasoned radiology tech/medical assistant, along with my 15 years of Physician Assistant skills in the ER, family practice, surgery, internal medicine, etc. The fifth member is an accomplished solo vocalist who will serve double-duty to assist us all, and provide a beautiful voice to glorify God to the people we meet. You can see our photos on the right; please keep us in your prayers.
Return to this blog often over the next two weeks to read about what we are doing and to see pictures and videos as time permits us to post.
Below is an the text from an email that Dr. Dan Nesselroade, MD sent this week to let us know what exactly we will be doing. Be praying for our team! A big challenge lies ahead. Dr. Dan Nesselroade writes:
CCC Team,
Here is what I can give you at the moment. We plan to do three clinics. The first is on the 22nd and it will be for women and children in the village of Bobola-Zangasso. This is a village of about 6,000 people without a single believer. There is a pastor in a neighboring village named Josuee Goita. He will be following up on any converts and will be our principal host. The village is pumped for us to come and has asked that we come for two days, so the 24th we will be returning to the same village to do men and children care. Both nights will be evangelization with the Jesus movie and sermon by the local pastor starting to establish a church there.
The village has the only medical care available in the precinct. That is, they are it for a surrounding 11 villages that total 15,000 people. It is highly likely that we will receive people from these surrounding villages as well. We will probably get inundated, but as long as we can provide some sort of plan to control the chaos, it will go well. We are making the plans to do just that, so don’t worry about it.
Language barriers will make it just about impossible for you to treat patients alone, so your team will be doing different jobs and will be paired with missionaries or native speakers in a workable fashion. We will be able to do hematocrits and blood sugars and will have about 40 or so common meds with us, as well as vitamins and parasite treatments among other things. People will get triaged and be assigned numbers and will be seen in order after their vitals have been taken and written on index cards or some such. Different people from our staff will be going each day.
Each day we will eat one meal in the village and bring snacks for lunch. There will be so many people, that we won't stop for lunch, but rather just keep going. Saturday we will be going to a different village and seeing men, women and children . The village is named Tempela. the pastor there is named Simeon. He lives there and has a fledgling church that has just started in the past year. This is going to be a lot of fun!
There is no greater joy or privilege than being able to announce Jesus to people who have no idea who he is or how much he loves them! Pray hard and come with lots of energy and joy, and God will carry the day.
Dan
Thanks again for your prayers! Keep checking our blog for updates.
God bless,
Vaughan
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