Kuj Family, Ministry

Urgent Prayer for Suzy

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Dear Family and friends,

Prayer Request

Please pray for my wife Suzy as we are preparing to fly to the UK in less than 12 hours and she just tested positive for malaria. Malaria often comes when the body is compromised and tired and Suzy has done so much in the past few weeks with the ambulance and cataract clinic team. We arrived in Nairobi on Monday night and then spent the last 2 days in Nairobi moving our belongings from the mission house we use when in Kenya to storage at a friends house. Suzy’s been packing the house, packing for Agum (who is staying with friends in Nairobi) and packing the family to go to UK where we plan to visit her family and church family after 6 years of absence. Today she felt tired and said her body ached and we thought it was due to the stress of moving and working around the clock. But as the day went on she said she felt she was having malaria. As the malaria has been so high in Tonj this season we carried tests and treatment for the family in case we get sick in UK. So I tested her tonight and yes it is positive. She will take her first dose of 6 treatments tonight and the second in the morning. We have been waiting for this trip for a long time so please pray she is well enough to travel.

We are blessed by your prayers,

Sabet Kuj

Medical Clinic, Ministry

Bandages Come Off!

Very exciting!!  Yes the morning after the cataract surgery we got to be a part of the patients having their bandages removed and eyes retested.  What an amzing sense of joy and thanksgiving as these people regained their sight.  Some jumped up running and throwing down their trusty cane.  Hallelujah – we give you Jesus all honor and praise.

Patients wait for the bandages to be removed

 

Richard removing the bandages
 
 

A man rejoices that he can see again
Kuj Family, Medical Clinic, Ministry

Hannah’s Field Trip – A day in Surgery

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We are always looking for interesting things for the kids to ‘do’ as field trips and the cataract clinic was an amazing opportunity for our kids to see something new and different.

When the doctors invited us to view a surgery we jumped at the chance and Hannah and I did a ‘walk through’ with a patient from start to finish.

Suzy and Hannah prepared to watch a cataract surgery

So please join us on this journey through a cataract operation:

First the patients are assessed to make sure their sight problem is truly cataract  as there are many other eye diseases that cause blindness here.

Patients waiting to be screened
Patients then wait in line for the surgery.  173 surgeries were performed in 4 and half days, which is quite a remarkable accomplishment. 
 

One of our Pastors shares the gospel with waiting patients
First stop before surgery is with Wilson, who uses an ultrasound machine to scan and measure the eye and the current lense to make a perfect synthetic match for each patient.  They also check if their is suspected retina detachment or other complications.  He puts numbing drops in the eye ready for stage 2!!
Wilson shows Hannah the ultrasound scanner
This was much harder to watch than the actual surgery.  After Wilson they go to Emily.  She cleans the eye with povidine and injects a local anesthetic into a small space between the bone and the eyeball.  Thankfully the patient can’t see yet!
Emily injecting the patient with a local anesthetic
A pressure ball is placed over the eye to prevent the eyeball bulging out and they then wait for the surgeon.
 

Patients waiting with the pressure ball on the eye
The doctor starts with clamping the eye open and making a small incision.  I can’t remember all the details but he basically slipped out the cataract and then slipped in a new lens. 
During surgery
It was fascinating to see how the once cloudy eye was now perfectly clear.  Hannah closely watched the entire process which took only 15 minutes.  I was so proud of her, I think she did better than me.
 

Hannah with Dr. Ben during surgery
After surgery they are bandaged and taken to the ward to spend one night before having the bandages removed and being retested.
Moses helps a patient as he leaves surgery
 
Medical Clinic, Ministry

Achol Deng the First Referral Patient on the Ambulance

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Achol is from Thiet village 24 miles away and she was brought to our clinic last Friday night.  Her husband stabbed her in the abdomen two nights before, thought he killed her because she was unconscious and dragged her body to the forest where she was left to die.  When she regained consciousness she was not able to move or even call out.  Eventually someone found her and brought her to us.  When she arrived here her guts were out, a very difficult thing to see. Dr. Tom and Dennis did the best they could with the limited resources we have in our clinic and they made her stable so she could make the jouney to Wau and get surgery.
Suzy and I shared the gospel with her before she left and even when she seemed to be very weak, she was still able to pray and accept jesus as Lord and Savior.  We knew the situation was grave and Achol was hanging on a very thin thread between life and death, that’s why we were so clear with her and her family explaining what might happen and what the Bible says in regards to life after death.
Achol’s mother was there and we shared about the hope we have in Jesus for life after death and His healing even in the most challenging of circumstances.  I could see a glimpse of hope in her face and I am sure it meant something special in her most time of needs.
I was glad she prayed and I was glad the ambulance was there to help.  We really thank our Lord Jesus for providing this vehicle to Achol, to give her a chance to save her live and be the tool for her to hear the gospel message and be saved.  Our God is so good if He gave us His live what else that can be withheld from us in order to be saved and know Him!!!

He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Romans 8:32

The doctors in Wau teaching hospital were glad to see we have an ambulance and impressed by the health care Tonj is receiving. We paid for her surgery about $150 and they received the patient and prepared for surgery.

Today our ambulance took it’s second patient to Wau with an urgent heart condition.   Our staff were told Achol died that morning, five days after getting the surgery.  Please pray for this family.  We are confident Achol is with Jesus.

To support our ambulance program and help us meet the cost of running it and covering emergency medical costs, please click here and give through our medical evacuation fund.

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