A New Vision

By Ellie Goolkasian

Some of us from the mission drove up to Pasadena to attend a conference on Medical Missions and Evangelism. We heard the vision held in common by the greatest minds in Christian medicine.

First some sad facts:

1.      Forty thousand children die daily of disease which could have been prevented. Of these, ninety-eight percent occur in developing countries.

2.      There is a mutual recognition that curative medicine has been available for years, but the rural village people of the world are not getting healthier.

3.      Over half the preventable deaths of children are related to malnutrition and infection (diarrhea, gastrointestinal diseases caused by contaminated water and food, improper waste disposal, poor hygiene, and poor nutrition.)

4.      When health services are received by villagers, they are mostly curative, but 80% of their disease problems are preventable through health education and vaccines.

Many of the Lord’s best healthcare providers now humbly admit we have not served the poor in the most excellent way. We have flown into their villages for two weeks, told them what we thought they needed, handed out drugs like candy and left. Infections returned, drugs caused unmonitored harmful side effects, and the transformation of lives was not top priority.

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,” says Proverbs 13:12, “but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”

Here is the miraculous transformation God is bringing to the global poor through people with vision. Many speakers told us the same thing.

“We are educating people in what causes diseases and how they can maintain health. We train healthcare workers to teach and provide care within their communities, and now the people have hope.” “We ask people about their greatest needs and help them find ways to meet those needs, even if it is different than our assessment.”

My favorite story came from a missionary in Uganda.

“In a community where the incidence of AIDS was 26%, a survey showed that the people considered their biggest problem to be that they had no soccer field.”

In humility and with respect for those they were serving, the mission team helped the locals raise money and build a soccer field. When it was completed, one of the town’s elders came to them with a welcome request, “Will you help us with our problem of AIDS?” Trust had been established and God’s way of doing things bore fruit.

Missionaries are learning to empower, respect and love the poor. The change is bringing hope, the greatest medicine of all time.

While two doctors attended patients at our health outreach on Thursday, I spoke to a group of children about germs. Using poster-sized drawings from our “Health Education for Developing Countries” program and my ability to act ridiculous in a way kids enjoy, we learned that sneezing and then shaking hands can spread disease. We sang “Feliz Cumpleanos” to one girl and washed our hands through the whole song because that is the length of time recommended by one healthcare organization. The children listened and responded with enthusiasm and during fourteen years of working in an Intensive Care Unit, I never felt more fulfilled.

To God be the glory!