Our end of the year health report from North West Uganda showed that over 17,000 services have been provided thus far. Our program addresses the following areas that have contributed to the improvement of several public health indicators. This excellence and compassion in service in a region of extreme vulnerability has created a platform to share the gospel in supporting the ministry of the local church.

Health Services

1. Quality diagnostic and therapeutic care for sick children (< 5 years) and pregnant mothers
2. Ensuring access to goal-oriented antenatal care for pregnant women through clinic and integrated mobile out-reach program
3. Provision of community based health programs: Mobile clinic out-reach program and health education through Village Health Teams
4. Provision of Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric care (EMOC)
5. Provision of integrated home-based HIV / AIDS care

Health Program Results

Maternity and infant services

Child services

Surgical services

HIV / AIDS services

Mobile medical clinic services

Disease burden and mortality results

What Can I Do?

“Regard it all as joy, my brothers, when you face various kinds of temptations; for you know that the testing of your trust produces perseverance.” –James 1:2

The short time spent in Haiti this past week was none too different than the time I spent in Africa last summer—and I suppose that’s how it should be. It was full of joy, excitement, ministering, discomfort, exhortation, perseverance, unfamiliarity, observation and investment of our time and prayers; it was, for me, also a time of comfort. On going home I noticed, once again, that life always seems easier when I’m away from my life. Not because I’m so busy at home, or because I have more redundant responsibilities at home, and especially not because my life is hard or difficult—it is far from any of those things. On the contrary, my life is incredibly blessed. Rather, it is because I feel farther from me. I’m taken out of my comfort zone, my schedule, the things that I am used to and tend to wrongly identify with, and I am placed in unfamiliar, unpredictable, and (in Haiti) dirty, hot, and sweaty circumstances. All of these to the typical person from any developed nation make for an undesirable predicament. But I have found in this situation, as any lover of Christ will, something far more desirable than my comforts of home—I have found the comfort of God. When I am in a situation that initially makes me uncomfortable I am forced to rely on God and his Spirit to comfort me. When I feel so physically hot, sticky, dirty, and maybe sick, I am reminded to pray and think how miniscule these temporary physical trials of mine are compared to the life-long ones of those around me, and I am reminded of the sufferings of Christ. He reminds me that this life is merely a vapor, that I am not only told I will suffer in life, but that I am called to suffer in this life. It is a privilege to suffer anything at all for the sake of his name, and so I am not only comforted but also overjoyed.

The mission field is a field of ministry to others, a field specifically to spread the Kingdom, a field of affliction and trials, and a field of growth. We grow when we suffer for Christ, and so suffering should be a road that we are more than glad to be on considering the destination to which it brings us. Christ suffered for us to bring eternal life, and we are called to share in that suffering as joint-heirs. The people of Haiti suffer everyday, some for Christ and some for themselves. When I saw people afflicted with starvation and poor water, disease and abuse, I remembered that this is why we are called to take care of the poor: to show the love of Christ by sharing in their sufferings and bearing their burdens. We suffer everyday, whether we are at home or in the mission field, and we are so blessed to have a church come along side of us and be the hands of Christ to hold us when we’re weak. So it is that we should be willing to give up our temporary comforts of air-conditioning, healthy food, clean water, and comfortable beds for a blessing and joy that is everlasting. That is what the team went to do in Haiti, and that is what every missionary trip aims to do. This is how they glorify our God—in sharing in His suffering. Paul said, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our own spirits that we are children of God; and if we are children, then we are also heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ—provided we are suffering with him in order also to be glorified with him” (Romans 8:16,17).

As I exited the plane my senses were greeted with the familiar sights, sounds, and smells of a third world country in distress.  The smoke from the burning trash filling the air, United States Marines and U.N. Soldiers patrolling the dirt streets surrounding the airport; the crowds of locals in and around the airport shouting for the attention of the arriving passengers hoping to serve them in some capacity or perhaps sell them a small trinket.  Some laying claim to individual travelers and willing to defend their new found treasure from the other locals at all costs.  Generated by desperation, shouting and shoving amongst them breaks out and the police quickly step in and restore the peace; the opportunities to provide for themselves and their families are truly few and far between in this desperate place.

Traveling from the airport I scan the landscape before me and the question that I seem to carry with me on my travels confronts me yet again:  Why?  How is it that these people are born into all of this and I somehow grew up in Orange County in sunny Southern California not wanting for anything?

One of our missions on this short trip was to assist in completing the replacement housing for the 60 or so children of an orphanage that was destroyed in the earthquake.  Just the fact that these children were living in a Haitian orphanage indicates that many of them have already survived unspeakable tragedy; even before the events of January 2010 that took the life of the man that had cared for these children.  I did not know him but I learned that he was a local who lived the words of Jesus: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:24-25).  He was not a man of means yet he gave all that he had for these children, he gave himself.

As I ponder the question I am reminded of the fact that the only hope to have a grasp of this is through God’s word.  I am reminded that I serve a perfect God whose ways are not my ways.  Through the tragedy I see a stage that is set where God is being glorified; God’s people coming from around the world to offer the people of Haiti relief from the unrelenting pain and with a message of hope.  When asked why they answer: “Because the love of God compels us” (2 Cor 5: 14).  Through this the change occurs that will make a real difference in the individual lives and thusly the country of Haiti as a whole.

God never promises to insulate anybody from difficult circumstances.  “The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him (Nah 1:7).  However, He does promise to “never leave us or forsake us” (2 Cor 13:5).  I believe that we as believers play a major role in God revealing Himself to those in time of need; not that God needs us to achieve this, but to allow us the privilege of participating in a fulfillment of His promise.

As I draft this entry for the Blog, Luke 12:48 resonates through my thoughts: “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.”

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).

References:

Bible passages referred to are from the New King James Version, found at www.blueletterbible.org