Today Matoch melted my heart. I gave him a scone and he looked at me and said “thank you mummy” in English. Stacie and I were both, oh that’s so cute. He’s doing so well without his mother here and follows my kids around everywhere. It is so precious.
Category Archives: Medical Clinic
Sabet Asks For Urgent Prayer!
“But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.” 1 Peter 5:10
We are trusting the Lord at this time as we are feeling quite stretched. Sabet called today and asked for prayer. At 4 am this morning he awoke to gunfire, as retaliation from the attack in which Matoch was injured, occurred in a village called Bagdare about seven minutes from our compound. The attack was brutal and there were quite a few deaths and several children killed and injured. Among them, three year old Agan was shot in the face and a woman named Achweel has severe gunshot injuries to the arm and leg shattering the bones and both limbs may need amputation. Our clinic was able to treat most the patients but these two need more care than we are equipped to give. Our vehicle took them 70 miles (3 hours) to the hospital in Wau, only to find it closed due to some gunfire and insecurity there. They came back to Tonj and Sabet contacted me and AIM AIR to arrange a medical evacuation to Nairobi for treatment. The soonest we are able to get them out is Saturday, where they will be taken immediately to Kijabe Missions Hospital. To reassure you, we praise the Lord that our compound is safe and a place of refuge. Sabet and our staff are safe inside the compound.
Please pray for our medical team as they work around the clock in difficult conditions. Pray also for me and Stacie as we receive the victims in Nairobi. We still have Matoch with us who was discharged and is waiting for a check-up next Tuesday to see if a second surgery is necessary. This attack will effect our return. Pray for Sabet, me and the kids as we spend an indefinite amount of time apart from each other. Pray for Agan and Achweel that the Lord would sustain them through this waiting period to get treatment. Pray for favor with immigration, travel, logistics and Albino (one of our Sudanese staff) who will escort them.
We have asked for financial help in the past 2 weeks and are grateful for the many who gave generously to Matoch and the cost to evacuate him. It’s hard to ask you to pray about helping with this financial need also but we must. So please pray and if you are led to help, go to our website to give a gift.
Thank you for allowing us to share this burden. We will keep you updated.
Suzy (on behalf of Sabet and the team)
www.indeedandtruth.org
A Day in the Clinic!
Every day starts with unpredictable number of patients more worrying the overwhelming emergencies. In a country where gender equality is still a concealed vocabulary under search and research, women bear the plight the faults of the war. At In deed and truth ministries we try to provide not just treatment but care. May be one might ask, what are the issues that face the women (and obviously children) that make southern Sudan unique? Here is an example.
On this Tuesday morning, as a routine we pray to God to bless our works of the day especially in the clinic for the unpredictable emergencies. At around 2 pm, after attending to over 80 patients, majority being children hardly accompanied by their fathers or male relatives, I stand from my seat with a breath of sigh ready to check what the table has for lunch. Immediately I hit the door, my attention is engulfed by a multitude of people carrying a sick patient. As we support the patient to the bed, the history we are given is about drug poisoning due to a domestic quarrel with a co-wife and since women are seen inferior and obviously denied their freedom of expression, the sick woman aged about 20, decides to sought attention by taking her own prescription-the devils prescription-hair dye, which she drunk generously. What a pity for the lady as she groan and roll in agony. Thank God that her medical condition is manageable but what about her social problem? That’s the care I mentioned earlier- counseling and follow-up.
This being one of the many daily issues affecting women and obviously children in this region, it even speaks for itself clearly when the husband, a ‘big’ man in the army visits her at hospital about 2 hours later. Astonishment is what I try to hide from my face when am told he has over 30 wives most of which were the many caretakers who brought the lady to hospital. One of the translators appears in haste and reports to me that there’s a child at the waiting bay with bizarre behavior. Am immediately interrupted and order for the child to be brought in.
Another emergency! A 3 years old boy who went from home to unknown place to play and came back with drooling of saliva, anxiety behaviors and excessive sweating. The accompanying mother does not know where and whom the child was playing with. Neither does she have an idea of what the child might have swallowed. On examination I realize it is organophosphate poisoning (characterized by increased body secretions, progressive dehydration and shock). The child is in shock. Thank God who made our resuscitation and treatment successful for both the coincidental poisoning cases .
In Southern Sudan, women face a daunting task to provide for their children and husbands independently. Their frustrations to put a hot plate on the table everyday keeps them away from their children posing a danger to the young ones. Despite their hard work, they meet frosty treatment us limited freedom of expression. They therefore seek other options to get attention such as hysteria and worse of all suicidal attempts. It will take many years of indefatigable support for the lives of the two parties (children and women) to improve.
A Temporary Solution!
One of the most difficult things coming back was seeing our clinic struggling to operate in such tiny quarters. We are of course raising funds for a new building and hopefully we will get the remaining funds soon so we can begin construction. So as a tempoarary solution we have taken one of the three discipleship training buildings and converted it into a 4 room clinic, using plastic tarp for partitions. It looks so nice and has really helped us to get through 150 patients a day with proper care and love, taking time with each one. Our medical staff are amazing and we feel blessed to have each one of them. As we grow we continue to pray for the right staff, good quality medicine and provision from the Lord. The clinic outreach continues to be a tool to bring many to Jesus every day through the simple story of the wordless book.
Baby Delivery!
Tonight during dinner a young woman came in labor. Our Sudanese clinic staff had gone home so I offered to assist our Kenyan nurse/midwife Linda with the delivery. When I got to the clinic, Linda explained that the mother was telling her she was 7 months pregnant and even she looked about that or even less. She was in labor though and dilated 8cm so we knew it wasn’t going to be a long time before delivery. At just 18 years old, this was Awien’s first child. As she progressed we prepared ourselves for another difficult birth, where this premature baby might not survive and we prayed with and for the mother and the baby. Without an incubator, we had blankets and cloths ready to try and keep the baby warm. Sabet came and prayed with the Dad as he waited outside. Awien was struggling to push and we couldn’t understand it as the baby was supposed to be small. Well little Laht finally popped out and weighted 4 kg (8.8 lbs). We were both in shock as the mother’s stomach was tiny. But we praise Jesus that once again the mother’s dates were wrong and this time it was in our favor!! He was a full term baby boy, healthy and so cute. Because it was now midnight, we cleaned up mummy and baby and put them to bed in the clinic (though we technically are outpatient only). I’ll be glad when we have a proper facility to better care for these newborn babies. I got lots of cuddles as I cleaned him, wrapped him and snuggled with him. In the morning Hannah and Jed both came to see him and Jed asked “is that our baby?” I was tempted to say yes!! The LORD really helped us and this family. We give HIM all the glory.