We are going back. An earthquake, a cholera epidemic and a country that is still under a great deal of hardship, continues to seek help. A team of 27 US volunteers (doctors, nurses, PharmD, nutritionists, and lay champions) and a team of 10 local staff including 2 doctors and a dentist, will make up this Medical Mercy ministry team. We are scheduled to travel to 12 projects in 5 and a half days, seeing our children and the community. The times will be tough, rough roads, hot and humid, and little time for rest, but would we want it any other way? Not at all. Our medical ministry is to serve and to endure, all the while being humble. We will see children who are severely malnourished, ill and some will be close to the end of their lives. The same can be said for some of the community adults. So, you ask, what is the purpose. It is 3 fold. First to treat if at all possible. Second to “care” always. And third, to validate the worth of those who come to us for help.
We will leave something behind. We will be doing water filtration, first aid education leaving comprehensive first aid kits in every project, dental hygiene, we will be building “tippy taps”, a water delivery system that is amazingly simple in its design and use, and comprehensive nutritional assessments identifying those children who need a rapid nutritional rescue program that we have in place and will implement. So, on Sunday it all begins. I’ll blog every day as I can depending on the internet availability and invite you to come along. The weather on the east coast is threatening to block us from going, so bend a knee if you feel so inclined and pray for safe travels, for the health of the team, and for our tasks of medical ministry to be all that it should be.
In all things give thanks,
David
