Good Samaritan Hospital and Dispensary

Dr Ezekiel consults with a patient

The room was warm and damp. A slight breeze was coming in through the half open doorway, but it wasn't enough to cool off the stifling humidity emanating from all bodies present. A woman was giving birth and in the room was her mother, the doctor delivering the baby, myself, and another patient who had given birth to twins the day before. All seven of us eagerly awaiting the baby's arrival. I watched in a simultaneous feeling of amazement, disgust, wonder, and joy as the baby's slimy little head emerged from an opening about 4 inches long.(*) The moments leading up to the delivery felt drawn out and painful, but once the head was about halfway out, the rest of its body slipped out easily and the baby started to cry. No anesthetics, no machines. Just the blue plastic bed lined with a few sheets of khangas that the patient herself brought. Doctor Ezekiel expertly clamped and cut the umbilical cord with confident hands and the baby's grandmother collected the soiled sheets to dispose of the afterbirth.

Good Samaritan Dispensary, the medical clinic founded and operated by the mission, sees a wide variety of cases. Most involve prenatal care and delivery, infectious disease diagnoses and treatments (typhoid, malaria, schistosomiasis), sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV counseling. Ezekiel told me that AIDS prevalence in this part of the country runs around 20-30% mainly due to lack of education on preventative measures and a culture that condones sex with multiple partners via polygamy.

There's certainly lots more I can say about this clinic, but for now, please pray that the patients will find healing, that the existing staff will have enough knowledge to make wise and informed decisions, and that the work of the clinic will become a witness to the power of Christ in this remotest part of the world.

(*) This is why men pay for women when they go out. Guys, we'll pay for your dinner once you have a slithering little creature slide out of your nether regions in the name of reproduction.