All posts by Suzy Kuj

Medical Clinic

Praying for the Women

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Written by Annie, a midwife at In Deed And Truth Ministries

Medical emergencies have been so rampant this month in our clinic, especially in our ANC. I saw two ladies recently with serious conditions, Akon Deng from Malualmok village and Amon Det from TimTok. Akon arrived having Ante-partum hemorrhage,very anemic ,even going into shock. We started our emergency care immediately and managed to stabilize her.

Amon Det had obstructed labor and had been laboring for the last 24 hrs at home. She was brought to the clinic in a very bad state. On examination,there was intra Uterine fetal Death (I.U.F.D).

Both women were referred for surgery to a hospital in Wau about 5 hrs drive from our clinic and we assisted them with our ambulance. In our follow up we heard Akon survived but she lost her baby before delivery. Sadly Amon did not make it, she had a cesarean but passed away the next day.

Please pray for the families of these two ladies and in general for the pregnant women and for improved maternal health.

South Sudan holds one of the worst maternal mortality ratios in the world at 2,054 deaths per 100,000 live births. That means that 1 out of every 48 babies who are born alive loses their mother at birth. In the United States that statistic is 8 deaths per 100,000, or 1 out of every 12,500. That the average woman in South Sudan experiences 7 pregnancies in her life makes this reality even more dire, statistically, 1 of every 7.5 women will die due to pregnancy or delivery complications. Take a moment to think of 8 women you know. If you lived in South Sudan, chances are one of them would die from hemorrhage, sepsis, or obstructed labor.

God bless you for caring and for praying.

Medical Clinic

In His Hands

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Written by Sham Musyoki

“But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.” – Job 12:7-10

Mary Agum and baby

Mary Agum is from Hyzindia village, about 2 km from our the IDAT clinic. She has been attending our ANC clinic and has a bad obstetric history having lost the previous delivery during birth due to macrosomia (big baby). The previous was a home delivery.

When she went into labor this time round she decided to deliver in our clinic. She was afraid and we were able to comfort and reassure her that God holds the life and breath of her baby in His hands. And so we put our trust in him, prayed and went to work. Although the delivery was difficult, with God’s help we managed to assist her and delivered a healthy baby boy weighing 4.5 kg (9.11 lbs) who scored well after delivery. She was so thankful and we are seeing the fruit of our ANC program going out into the community. We are praising God for this young life.

Mary's baby boy

Medical Clinic

Healthy Homes by Sister Annie

Home Visit
Sister Annie with her nurse aids on a home visit

Home visiting has been part of our program to bring up healthy families especially focusing on pregnant and lactating mothers. Today we visited Rebecca Koikathia family in a place called Manyatta about 3 km from our Clinic. She has three children and is expecting the fourth child. We decided to visit Rebecca after one of her friend’s who visits our ANC clinic told us about her. Rebecca has had bad obstetric history of losing pregnancies in the first trimester and we felt that she needed some encouragement, follow up and prayer.

We did the antenatal check up while in her home and encouraged her to visit our clinic. She was so very thankful we took time to see her and is now willing to start her ANC program and even join our Sunday church service. While in the homes we share some health tips on simple adjustments they can make to have a healthy home, which in turn brings overall better health to the entire family. We are really seeing our vision to have our clinic more community based start to take shape and and even we are seeing growth. Please keep praying for the Community Health Evangelist (CHE) program as we combine to the two ministries for the Glory of God.

Pastor Training

CHE Update

Written by Whitney Smith

Athunta Farming God's way
Athunta Farming God’s way

So we just completed our fourth and final training for this group of trainers! It’s so exciting to see their motivation and hard work now almost a year after they attended the first training. The trainer teams have all started committees in their communities, and most of them hope to finish training those committees by April, which is when the real fun starts!

During our training we discussed leadership skills and responsibilities, biblical roles of men and women, and Farming God’s Way! Though the afternoons were hot, most of us managed to stay awake through each lesson. We also gave each training team some time to share how things were going in their communities. Everyone was really moved by what Pastor David of Lurchuk shared. He and Athunta (pictured above) went to visit a woman in their community who had just given birth to twins. They took some clothes they bought, some food, and also prepared a CHE lesson about infant nutrition and feeding to share with this young mother. During their visit they were not only sharing with her words about God’s love, but they were demonstrating it with their lives. The woman was so touched that she wanted to know more about God and decided to give her life to Christ! She started attending the church where David pastors. Not long after, however, one of the twins died. In the midst of this tragedy, the woman now had a church family that loved her and took care of her during this time, grieving with her. And then, just a few weeks ago, the woman was baptized.

What a powerful testimony of the faithfulness of these two trainers not just to share the word of God and give health teachings, but to come along side someone and really be the body of Christ to that person. And there were many testimonies of how each team is working to seek that transformation in their own lives and the lives of others.

One trainer, Pastor Joseph, shared with me today that what he really likes about CHE is how it helps people grow closer to God. And that’s the point of the Kingdom of God, God’s glory and our good.

Mission Trips

Welcome R. K. and the Bridge to South Sudan

The Bridge International has been a partner with us from the very early days in 2000.  This month was very special as we welcomed the founder and director R. K. Ulrich to visit our work in Tonj.  R.K. was on a tour of ministries and really went out of her way to make sure she got time with us, not so easy when we are living in the middle of nowhere! The Bridge has faithfully supported our pastoral workshops throughout the war, as well as the late pastor John Riack, and our current pastor training programs.  It was our joy to introduce her to the pastors she has helped school and for her to actually go out to one of the church plants. Her time was short but very encouraging to us.  In April 2007, during a trip around Florida, we visited and met R.K. and her husband Steve for the very first time.  During that visit R.K. and Suzy chatted about the challenges of running your own non-profit.  This was an area we were unsure about and the Lord used her to confirm some things in our hearts and In Deed and Truth Ministries was born!! Thanks R.K. for coming , it was such a blessing to be with you.

R.K. with some of the pastors