Text and Photos by Ken Thomas
- Introduction
- The Mission
- With the People
- Organizations Who Helped
- Download the article
as a
With the People
While we built the power line, Jackie and Carol visited nearby villages with missionaries Doris Spurrier and Sue Locke. They delivered food and medical supplies. They met one child, Fredie, who was about 4 and suffering from encephalitis caused by a mosquito bite when he was 2. Fredie’s head was swollen to a size equivalent to a third of his body. He was completely disabled and helpless. His mother had to force-feed him. The normal practice is that the father eats first, then the mother, followed by the healthiest children. Lack of medical resources means children like Fredie are left to die so a family can focus on keeping other children healthy.
One day as we worked, a family with a very sick infant came to Shalom Hospital and pleaded for respiratory equipment for the baby. We rushed to the warehouse to search through World Medical Mission boxes of medical supplies sent by Samaritan’s Purse. We opened many WMM boxes until we found the right combination of respiratory hose circuits and an infant oxygen mask to match the adult inhaler the family had. We prayed for the family, and the baby was doing just fine within a day or so.