Lives Changed

As I've written before, there are many times we see people asking for help well after our surgery schedule is full.  This has been one of the heart breaking things in my world as I'm at every screening for eye and dental care and this is where the people primarily come.  One of my jobs overseeing the screening security is to work with these people and either refer them to our surgeons if they have a condition that may qualify for one of our remaining slots or to break the bad news that we won't be able to help.

The week before Christmas, on Wednesday, we were conducting an eye screening looking for people with cataracts.  Some of the first people in line was a 12 year old boy and his father.  The boy had a dressing covering one side of his face.  When we talked with them we found that the child had a growth that ran from his ear to the corner of his mouth.  We are still able to look at maxillofacial issues so we pulled them to the side, knowing we would refer them to the screening team.  The Eye Team Coordinator spent time with them and found that they were from 10 hours north of Pointe Noire.  They had heard of Mercy Ships in the past few days and felt pulled to immediately travel the 10 hours to see if they could find help.  Once they were in Pointe Noire, a city of over 1 million people, they found us at a church in a residential neighborhood.  Please understand this was absolutely the last screening activity of any sort for 2013 and only went on for about 3 hours.  Given the distance they had travelled and the significant condition the boy suffered, we called the screening team on the ship and asked if he could be seen that day.  They were happy to do so if we could get them to the ship.  So, when eye screening was done, we loaded them up with us in the land rovers and brought them home with us.  The screening team had arranged for the boy to be seen by a surgeon and to get his blood work and CT scan done all within a couple hours.  That young man is now scheduled to have surgery at the end of February.  This will totally change his life, no longer will he be looked at as the boy with the growth on his face (often believed in Africa to be evil spirits), but he will just be another boy!

Yesterday, I was honored to be allowed to observe surgery.  Due to a tumor removal prior to our arrival in Pointe Noire (a well done surgery according to our surgeons) and a number of following issues, a young man was left with literally no lower jaw.  I watched our surgeons create a jaw for this man out of titanium and fit it into place!  It was absolutely amazing to be on a ship in the heart of Africa watching a man have his life changed.

As part of Mercy Ships, we work to bring hope and healing to the forgotten poor.  We do this through our works.   Denise and I send out monthly newsletters that each give a story of how these works happen, focusing on a single patient.  However, we aren't the surgeons or the OR nurses who operate.  We aren't the ward nurses who build loving relationships with these wonderful people.  We play a support role.

For you, our readers, who support us in so many ways, we hope that these two examples help make this journey more personal.  Just as we work to support the overall mission of the ship, your prayers and thoughts support us!

Mercy Ships New Zealand office has put together a free wall paper calendar for computers.  If you would like to have some great photos and a calendar, please follow this link:

http://www.mercyships.org.nz/wallpaper.php

If you do not currently receive our newsletter and would like to get it on a monthly basis, please drop us a line at:

MTveite@gmail.com

Please continue to pray for God's peace for us and for all who serve here on the Africa Mercy.