Elena is 40yo and arrived eight months pregnant with severe difficulty breathing for over a week.  She said she had a painful, growing mass in her neck for several weeks.  She had swollen lymph nodes in her neck and ultrasound revealed a healthy pregnancy, her eighth, and a large amount of fluid in both sides of her chest.  From one side, we drained over a liter of thin, dark fluid and, from the other side, several hundred ml of milky pus.  She breathed more easily and her neck mass opened during the night, draining pus.  She went into labor the next day and delivered a healthy 2kg baby boy.  Elena’s (tiny) baby began hungrily nursing right away and had no difficulty breathing.  Elena had two chest tubes and couldn’t lie on her back but breathed easily for the first time in weeks through the night and, with much help from her mother, nursed the baby well and kept the baby warm.  The baby thrived and Elena improved dramatically over the following several days.

Elena needed multiple chest tube lavages of her chest to drain the thick pus, while the other side of her chest continued to drain thinner fluid through another chest tube.  Her neck mass drained well.  She was with us for over a week and continued to breathe well on her belly, eating a little and improving.  Her baby boy continued to nurse and looks to survive.

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Ana is 65yo and came to us after fighting tooth pain and swelling for several weeks at home and, of course, a visit to the shaman.  She finally came to the hospital when she could no longer swallow her own saliva.  We drained a large amount of thick pus from her neck twice over a week and she was able to swallow and quickly progressed to eating and drinking.

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Alberto is 14yo and arrived after suffering from fever and abdominal pain for two weeks.  He had been to the shaman and the health post and was then admitted to the local city hospital, about three hours from us.  When he wasn’t improving, Alberto’s family brought him to Cavango with a hugely distended abdomen that one couldn’t be touched without Alberto groaning from the discomfort.  Adelaide made a quick and accurate diagnosis of peritonitis caused by intestinal perforation from typhoid and we stabilized Alberto and flew him with our ever-ready servant MAF colleagues to our ever-ready servant surgical colleagues in Lubango and he was operated the same day.

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All three of these patients received excellent medical care immediately upon arrival to Cavango and our care was unable to save their lives.  They all succumbed to their illness in the days following their excellent care as their severely weakened bodies failed to recover.  Elena and Ana died without warning in their sleep and Alberto died the night after his successful surgery. The lack of access to good, basic, evidence-based medical care prevented them from receiving care in a timely enough manner to survive their illnesses, all of which are easily overcome early in their course. What they do have access to is a persuasive and culturally accepted shaman and his “all-natural” remedies and demonic spiritism and/or the local, “free,” and unstocked, government health post staffed by well-intended, untrained caregivers.  As illustrated in the lives of these three, delay in receiving basic medical care costs precious lives every day in Angola.

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I recently read an accurate article in “Christianity Today” discussing the lessened enthusiasm in today’s global church for missionary medical works in impoverished and/or undeveloped areas in the world.  More “Christian” church leaders need to visit places like Cavango and places like Angola, one of many countries which portray themselves as providing evidence-based medical care.  They also need to re-read accounts of the life of the One they claim to follow, paying special attention to how he spent so much of His time and effort.

Of course, most church workers and pastors, who are unenthusiastic about medical missionary work, take out “evacuation insurance” for themselves on their two week trip to visit their “church-planting” missionaries…

Cavango is much like the earthly work of Jesus, perhaps in less dramatic fashion, but in a way that wouldn’t happen without caring and cost to those who care. As depicted in these posts for many years, the blind see, the lame walk, the hungry are fed, captives are freed and those who would otherwise lose their lives to tuberculosis, leprosy, typhoid, malaria, pneumonia and more, are healed and return home well. The good news of our invitation to live in communion with the King of kings is proclaimed, taught and modeled every day to those who have so little… (Mt 11:4)

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It is also widely believed that many nations like Angola are “Christian”, because “churches” can be found here.  What is here are largely government-friendly, world-friendly, well-respected and competitive institutions of religion (common connotation for “Christian”) which work well to curb the behavior of the populace but there is virtually no understanding of a surrendered, passionate, personal relationship with the living Jesus (uncommon connotation for “Christian”).

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Our work is one of great sadness (Lk 19:41).  We see so many preventable and young deaths in a region that hasn’t changed in 2000 years and whose people are bound in godless spiritism, ignorance and hopelessness.

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Our work is also one of joy.  The vast majority arriving in Cavango “beat the odds” and have their earthly lives extended by the excellent care by our devoted Cavango staff and so many of you, who have sacrificially supported this work for many years.  We have other reasons for gladness, as well…

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We had our first of several scheduled conferences for our staff of 70+ on Jesus-centered self-awareness, personal development and leadership (photos).  It was led by Brás (Angolan attorney/missionary and new husband of our Angolan physician intern/missionary/colleague, Vianne), Messele (our Angolan pastor/missionary/servant colleague) and Adelaide (our Angolan physician intern/colleague/missionary).  They led the event wonderfully and the whole staff was engaged and interacted enthusiastically throughout the eight-hour event this past Saturday.

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Some of the topics presented and discussed were, “What is leadership?”, “Discovering the leader in me”, “Developing leadership skills”, “Leadership by example”, “Authority vs authoritarianism”, “Obstacles to healthy leadership”, “Characteristics of healthy leadership”, “Christian leadership”, “How healthy and Jesus-following leaders can impact the Cavango region”.

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The beauty of the conference is that, after some help with organizing, preparation and direction, I had little to do with the actual event.  It was so good to see our team enthusiastically both give and receive around these topics, as the ongoing fruit of this ministry will come from them and their healthy connection to the Vine.

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