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| Our 19 year old friend who had a seizure and passed out for over 30 minutes. |
The other day, we arrived at the carepoint to hear a few kids yelling, "he fell!" We turned around the corner to see our 19 year old friend, laying in the dirt, having a seizure. After we got the kids into the classroom for discipleship, we asked the gogos more about his situation. We found out that he had been having seizures occasionally for years, causing him to drop out of school but had never had treatment for them...until today.
Last year, I was stopping by a carepoint to deliver vegetables, when the gogos asked us to see if we could help a little boy who had a serious infection. We saw that he needed immediate treatment & went to ask his parents for permission to take him to the hospital and to find out why they hadn't gotten him help. When we asked his mother, she ashamedly told us that they were waiting until month end to go to the doctor because that's when they got paid. His total hospital bill was less than 5 American dollars.
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| Ntombi and her mom on the way home from the hospital. |
Two months ago, I got a call that one of our dear friends was needing to go to the hospital. I was already at the hospital, having driven an emergency case an hour earlier, when our friend, Ntombi, arrived. I held her head in my hands, walking awkwardly between the arms of the one who pushed the wheelchair. She was totally unresponsive and had been for hours. A half hour later, as we were walking to the car to leave after getting her admitted, the nurse came running out after us to tell us we should just stay because she probably wasn't going to live another 5 minutes and we needed to be able to take her mother home. After an hour, we told the nurses that we would call and check on her in the morning. The next afternoon, she was still alive. And the next afternoon, we stopped by after church and she rolled part way over as we were praying for her. Less than 3 weeks after they told us she only would live 5 minutes, she was going home from the hospital, and talking enough to tell me that my water bottle fell off of the car seat. Over and over her family thanked us, saying that they wouldn't have been able to do anything if it wasn't for help from our medical fund.
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| The daughter and nieces and nephews of one of the women we helped through the medical fund. Here we were bringing her home from the hospital, but she died a few weeks later from HIV. |
As we talk about changes in health insurance and medical needs in America, the people of Swaziland have no options. Many people are desperate for medical treatment, but can't afford the treatment or can't afford the transportation to get there. Some weeks it's overwhelming - driving to the hospital for emergency cases, having to turn people down from our weekly hospital trip because our car is too full. Some weeks it brings me to tears - praying with a woman who just lost her husband, praying with a man who just lost his wife and newly born baby, praying with people in the delicate hours before death. Yet it is a privilege to have the opportunity & the means to help people in these fragile hours because of your donations.
As we drive to & from the hospital, it is our chance to have extra time to talk to people, hearing their stories, praying with them, and pointing them to the ultimate Healer. As we sit with them & their families in those hard times, it's a privilege to be able to read Scripture to them and remind them of the unshakeable truths of the Gospel in the times when their whole lives are shaking.
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| An unwed older woman who relies completely on her church and our ministry for everything. We have been helping her get her medications each month for high blood pressure. |
So...if I had a million dollars, I would help to continue to care for the people of Nsoko through our medical fund. So far in 2014, we are taking an average of 10 people to the hospital per month, spending approximately $350 on their medical costs and fuel. This ministry is continuing to grow - as of today, we have helped 55 people in 2014...more than the whole year in 2013! As the needs of the people grow, we are praying for God's continual provision. Please join me in praying for God's provision, for His hand of protection as we drive to & from the hospitals (the closest one is an hour away, with the better ones being an hour & a half away), for His Spirit to lead our conversations as we minister to people in these hard circumstances, for our staff who often have no time to prepare their hearts to lead & serve in these situations.
