The Kind Of Medication You Can’t Write A Script For

By Guest Contributor, Dr. Mark Paschall

This image has haunted me since our return from a remote village in a forgotten region of Kenya. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and this picture makes that especially true.

It tells a story of hardship in this mother’s eyes as she brought her child to our clinic looking for answers to the developmental and behavioral issues in her son. He was not acting like other children his age and at times did not seem capable of understanding and complying with directions or instructions. Hoping that perhaps some medication or nutritional supplement could remedy the problem, she had travelled a long distance to attend one of our medical clinics.

We were able to quickly diagnose Down syndrome and also determine that, at least for now, there were no other serious neurological or cardiac issues that often accompany this condition. While we certainly had no medication to offer that would change his situation, we were at least able to explain his condition to her and offer her realistic expectations for his future.
The obvious concern that can be seen in her face in this photo affirmed she had understood the challenges she was facing. The tremendous resources available in the U.S. for children with this genetic chromosome disorder would never be available to her, and she now understood that this was a lifelong condition that would impact her entire family for decades. At the same time, we were able to give her the information she needed to understand the implications of his condition.

When I was at the University of Michigan, the slogan for the Medical School was “Knowledge is Power,” While this may ring hollow in many desperate situations, I believe there is some truth in this case. We were able to empower this strong, determined, and concerned mother. We were also able to offer a commodity little seen in these remote areas of Africa. That commodity is hope. We were able to pray with her and remind her that she is not alone in her struggle. God is aware of her challenges, and there is now a group of Americans who will remember to pray for her regularly. Hope is something that I could never write a script for. It’s a remedy only God can provide.

As medical personnel, we often feel we have been successful only when our treatment has offered a cure or when we have fixed something or alleviated physical suffering. The most important thing we can do on these mission trips, however, is point people to the Great Physician through our holistic approach of caring for their entire beings: physical, emotional, and spiritual. This is what Jesus did and we have the tremendous opportunity to do likewise in His name on these medical mission trips.

Whatever your passion is, whatever skills and abilities God blessed you with to share with the world, I’d encourage you to use those gifts on a short-term mission trip. You will leave changed.

 

**Since 2011, Dr. Paschall has traveled to Kenya each year with his church, Kensington Community Church in Detroit, Michigan. We are grateful for his faithful service to the Pokot people and Pokot Outreach Ministries.

 

Pokot Outreach Ministries – South Sudan

The focus of our ministry over the past year has been evangelism, church planting, the training and equipping of leaders, and education. Evangelism was done in our five hubs and was significantly boosted by the Jesus Film machines. Over 15,000 people were reached and almost 500 came to the Lord! Four churches and several preaching centers were established and 77 people were baptized. We have had exciting moments with training of our leaders.

Among those who were impacted by our ministry is a woman named Lokeno, who came to the Lord as a result of our evangelist and mission hub leader to Mogos, Eliya Lokuru. Lokeno, who is due to be baptized this month, was formerly an ardent believer of African Traditional religion, which is a belief in animism. Preoccupied by a fear of spirits and malevolent gods, they seek the comfort, protection, and priesthood of witch doctors. They believe that every sickness, catastrophe and calamity has a direct connection to the spirit world. Therefore, charms and superstition give physical assurance of the control of the spiritual world. Lokeno had beads, bracelets, pieces of skin ropes and other things worn on the wrist, waist, neck, and some put in the house as an expression of her belief in the occult. She followed witchcraft and occult teachings, but after hearing the good news, it dawned on her that there is a loving God who loves and cares for her, who is appeased not by traditional sacrifices and superstition, but by a pure heart surrendered to Him.

After hearing the good news of Jesus Christ, and of the love of a good and gracious God, Lokeno stripped herself of all connections to her former way of life, giving up her belief in animism, burning her bracelets and charms, and completely surrendering her life to the Lord! She is so excited about her new found faith, and her testimony is leading others to church. She always testifies to others about the goodness of Jesus and is leading others to Christ. We praise God for her!

The other evident impact that our ministry is causing is to children. With the excitement of showing the Jesus Film, along with joyful singing and child-friendly games, our ministry is attracting many children, both in the villages and urban centers. At our main hub in Kapoeta, we have over 200 children attending our weekly activities. These children are from various family backgrounds. Some have both parents, while others are partial orphans and a few are total orphans. Some are living in the home of friends and others are street kids. We had previously taken 13 street kids and sponsored them to go to local schools. A few were later taken to a boarding school by a church organization that has similar interest in children. There are three who are now staying in the homes of believers in Kapoeta. One is a Toposa girl called Napem, who was drawn from street life by the love of Christ through our ministry. Her former life was the business of collecting used water and soft drink bottles, which were sold very cheaply to retailers to wash in order to repackage their liquid products such as cooking oil, petrol, or liquid soap. This hard street life orients boys to abuse drugs and use vulgar language. Most become desperate and alcoholic. Girls usually follow the same route, but also became commercial sex workers at some point. We are happy that the trajectory of Napem’s life was affected positively the day she joined our community. We sent her to school for a year, but she found it hard to continue since she is in her early teens and still in grade 1. She lives in the home of a church member. We are still exploring how to help her learn a trade or skill that can help her be self-reliant. She is part of our community and joins all activities with the teenagers at our church. I baptized her in December. She asked me to give her a new name on baptism day, and I called her Ruth. We hope that she will live to tell the goodness of God. I can’t tell of the joy in our hearts whenever I see her, and the many other lives, affected positively.