let us run...

"let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us..."

Hebrews 12:1

When I traveled to West Africa in 2009, I was confronted with an overwhelming sadness of how so many of God's children are suffering in this world. We are so comfortable with our environment here in this country. We know that when we wake up every morning, we can walk into our kitchen, turn on the faucet and drink water from a clean water supply. Our infrastructure gives us that confidence daily. We flip on a light switch and immediately our rooms are illuminated and we can go about our lives, even when the outside world is dark. We walk to our driveway and get in our car, and drive to the grocery store where we can buy virtually any kind of food from anywhere in the world - no matter if you are in the mood for Italian pasta, Greek salads, Indian curry, or good ole Eastern North Carolina BBQ. It is all there waiting for you every day. Perhaps one of our greatest inconveniences may be when snow has been forecast (a big event in eastern NC) and the bread supply drops to critically low levels on the store shelves - for up to 5 days in some cases!

But in West Africa, there are regions where there is no clean water supply, no electricity, not even grocery stores for food. The "lucky" people may have a well....a mere $2000 US can pay for a well installation which can serve entire communities...but these are scarce in many regions. Children have no clothes. Babies have no diapers....think about that. Their waste is captured either on the tapestry they are swaddled in, or their mother's lap, then just wiped away without any semblance of cleanliness. 

 

Our waiting room ...

While there, we ran a clinic over a week. We treated about 1000 patients that week. All ages represented, their problems ranged from malaria to parasites, to asthma...the pollution in this country is particularly horrible as all vehicles are operated with leaded fuel, often smuggled in illegally from other countries, making respiratory illnesses very prevalent. Our clinic, that one week, was probably the only medical care in that area in a 6-12 month period. They could only wait for the next mission team to come and hopefully continue their care. Without mission groups providing care, their only other option was to travel to the country's only main hospital, many miles away. 

 

I met a young patient - she could not have been more than 30 years old - with a large breast tumor, clearly a cancer - causing her great pain and clearly taking her life. She came to us hoping we could help her. Obviously, I thought, she needs surgery, and chemotherapy, and with treatment she may be able to live a long time. Even if we couldn't cure her cancer, I knew the medicine existed to ease her suffering and prolong her life. She and her family were desperate. But I was in West Africa, not North Carolina, and so my options were very different - very limited. If only I could get her to a hospital. But she was on a moped and had traveled close to an hour just to get to me, and she had no resources to go any further. And so what could be done? Truthfully, she probably had less than a month to live if she had no treatment, and realistically, there was no way to get treatment to her in these conditions. 

 

So I knew then that my role for her was not to cure her cancer, but rather to pray for her, with her and her family, and to tell her what was happening to her body. She seemed to have peace - finally - when she understood what was going on in her breast - and what that meant to her health. Her family was so grateful to finally have answers. They thanked me (!) for what I did - which I did not comprehend until much later. Knowing God is with you, and that you are not alone, is often the greater medicine. This alone seemed to ease her pain that day. 

with the children at clinic

If the ill were fortunate enough to make it to the local hospital, they would be seen and treated - only if they had money to pay before any care was rendered. For example, a blood transfusion costs $400 US. I met a young mother who had taken her 2 year old son to the hospital in the weeks before we arrived. He had malaria and a simple blood transfusion would save his life. She finally found a ride for her and her only son to get to the emergency department, only to be turned away for not having the money. Her son then died in her arms - while sitting in the ER waiting room. 

treating malaria

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This of course does not happen in our country! As many problems as our health care system has, we live in the comfort of knowing we have emergency care available to us. I have struggled so much with the question of ?why are we so blessed here, when in so many other parts of the world people are suffering? Why does God let this happen? 

Before I left for this trip, someone told my husband to be prepared for such questions. His way of coping with the disparity was to know that God put us here, and God put those people there. I still cannot understand why, but I did come to know one thing for certain. God may have put me here in this country, but He did not put me here to just sit here and do nothing. I was sent to West Africa, and I will go back. And I am also called to work here. God's children are suffering everywhere and He makes is presence know to us all. He sends us out to do His work and we are obligated to listen to His instruction. He equips us with the knowledge and the endurance to run His race. Hebrews 12:1 instructs us "let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us..."

 

Some days are difficult, some are rewarding. But there is no greater reward than the peace of knowing I have done on that day what the Lord has called me to do.