Burundi 2007 Field Reports

Team Name: Medical Ngozi Team Members: Andrea M. Berneita R. Bonnie H. Catherine A. Jackie R. Mark K. Roger H. For the sake of Christ 13-Jul-2007 Team: Medical - Ngozi The medical team in Ngozi ministered in two orphanages. In one of the orphanages where there were mainly young boys, they met a boy whose hands were so burnt they had been rendered useless. At first they thought he was a leper. They befriended the boy and learned that he had been a Muslim who became born again. When his family found out he had become a Christian, they burnt both his hands to get him to give up his new found faith. He did not, and is still serving the Lord with joy in spite of the persecution he experienced! Stretching our faith to glorify His name 12-Jul-2007 Team: Medical - Ngozi One of the outreach team members who assisted the medical team in Ngozi shared at dinner today. Other than EMS training, she has no medical experience whatsoever and the Lord has really stretched her on this trip. The medical clinic in Ngozi was housed in a place with no electricity or running water. They had minimal supplies and hardly any surgical instruments or equipment. One day a man was brought with a deep cut from a machete. The team member was astounded that even with the little they had to perform the procedure to close the wound, the Lord miraculously supplied everything that was needed. Today she traveled with the team to a Twa village near Bujumbura. The team member’s faith was even more stretched, as the team brought only the very basic medications and supplies to address the many physical ailments of the people. A tent was set up for dental work and she was asked to assist one of the dentists. Needless to say she did not have a clue about what that entailed but having seen what the Lord can do, she just trusted Him. A woman was brought in with a hole in her cheek, caused by a degenerative disease, which exposed the inside of her mouth. They had no tools whatsoever to perform the procedure that was necessary to close up the hole, nor the proper sutures to sew it up. Someone mentioned that they knew someone who had a pocket knife and the team member was sent to get it. The dentist was miraculously able to close up the hole with the pocket knife and sew it up with whatever was found. All this was done without any anesthetic. The team member asked us to pray that God would miraculously provide the drugs this woman needed to deal with the pain from the surgical procedure. The dentist who performed the procedure later testified that he has been on many medical clinics like this one where he had very little to work with but this incident was particularly challenging. He was able to re-create a cheek using the pocket knife and after it was sown up he called another colleague to examine the work. The colleague was surprised and said: “Wow, this is beautiful, don’t touch it, just let it heal.” To God, and God alone, be the glory for what he is doing in our midst.

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