Teresa Rehmeyer is a missionary and a nurse living in Swaziland. We met when I was there doing my assessment trip for MOM to see if we could be of help as a medical team. She is one of several missionaries there with Children's Cup who care for the "forgotten children" at the Care Points. She sent me an email today asking for some medical advice on a child she knew...I need to share, because those of you who will be going with me on the October 2006 trip will need to prepare yourselves...
A 3 year old little girl was found in the parking lot of Mbabane Hospital a few months ago. She was placed in Ward 8, a ward for abandoned children (some of you have seen my pictures of the ward and have head the stories). She had been terribly sexually abused, physically torn, and had large genital warts that were painful. She is HIV positive as well. In her blog (http://rehmeyers.blogspot.com), Teresa describes her time with the little girl. See if you can get through it without breaking down...I couldn't.
We will be exposed to alot in October. Most of it will be good, exciting, and blessed. We will also be faced with evil at times. The children we will see have stories. The childen we will see have pain. But the children that we will see will also have been touched by the hands of Teresa and Daran and Ben and Dave, missionaries who spend their lives bringing His love to those "forgotten children".
I pray that we too will touch the lives of those children through our medical work: healing as we can, loving always...as His servants.
In all things, give thanks.
David
Our mission is to help The Forgotten Children reach their God-given potential by creating opportunities for spiritual, social, mental and emotional development, by ensuring that their physical well being is optimized. David H. Beyda, MD Medical Director, Medical Mercy
- David H. Beyda, M.D.
- Phoenix, Arizona
- I am a pediatric critical care specialist working at Phoenix Children's Hospital. I was the Medical Director and Division Chief of Pediatric Critical Care for 23 years, and stepped down to become Medical Director for Misson of Mercy.I am responsible for the medical care of 40,000 children that Misson of Mercy cares for in 22 countries. I grew up overseas (Africa, Southeast Asia) from the time I was 7 years old until I went to college. My father was a career US diplomat. I started my third world medical involvement when I was 15 years old working with medical groups in Laos, and learned to fly riding with Air America pilots in Laos and have been a pilot for over 30 years. My first formal medical mission as a doctor was in 1979 when I served as director of pediatrics in a refugee camp on the Thailand-Cambodia boarder (Khao I Dang) at the age of 27 years old, still in my pedicatric residency. My heart is in third world countries caring for the Forgotten Children.