Lack of Health Care Access, Prompt us to Action
The lack of adequate health care access should be a concern to each one of us, and prompt us to action. Jesus is our example:
“And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.’”
Matt. 9:35-38 (NIV)
Medical Outreach to the Brick Makers
January 2018
God has been so good during this outreach, and we touched the lives of hundreds of people.
January is the middle of the winter and they expected cold weather with heavy fog, but God cleared the skies and we had lovely sunny weather up to the day I left Pakistan. The weather started changing back to normal, when I departed from Lahore Airport.
We were able to do medical clinics in five different brick yard villages. We paid a medical professional and bought medication to distribute for free among the sick people.
We treated all kinds of illnesses, including high blood pressure and the flu. Many had muscle and joint pain. The pregnant and breast feeding mothers received special care and multivitamins.
We treated men, women and children for different types of illnesses. There were two nurses who helped with distribution of medicine and injections. We were able to buy antibiotics and patients received proper treatment.
There were cases, where patients needed specialist or hospital care and we made it possible for them to get help.
One little girl had a severe skin condition since birth, and also an eye infection. We took the parents and the little girl to see a skin specialist and an eye specialist. She received treatment that improved her condition within a week.
We also distributed blankets at three different brick yard villages in Toba Tek Singh.
I shared encouraging messages at every brick yard and also prayed for many, many people. This included Muslim people. They came for prayer, putting their trust in Jesus. Asher shared the gospel in Urdu.
We provided in the immediate needs of some people. I also gave out baby and children’s clorhing, which I took as access luggage from Australia. It was donated by other people.The brick makers are extremely poor and every little thing made a difference.
Chronical malnutrition hinders the children’s ability to grow normally, leaving both their height and weight well under normal. I have seen and prayed for many children that are much smaller than other children their age. Children also eat dust because of a shortage of calcium in their diet. This is very sad. We gave them vitamins.
I went to visit some families at their homes and they were all extremely poor. Their circumstances were worse than any other I have seen. At one house a woman was alone. Her husband was working, making bricks. She didn’t come to the medical clinic, so the pastor directed me to visit her. It looked like her house was not fit for any human to live in. She had nothing. In the small courtyard of her home was one of the things they use for baking flat bread from flour and water. I cannot call it a stove. Next to it was a heap of dry cow dung, which the brick makers use as fuel for the fire, when they do their cooking.
I prayed with this lady, and she cried while I was holding her close to my heart. I put 2000 Pakistani Rupees in her hand, because I had nothing else to give.
I have seen the two toilets we built a few months ago, but the other brickyards still have a huge sanitation problem. I also tested the water, which tested positive for bacteria.
Even the filtered water they buy for the Lily of the Valley Home, tested positive for bacteria. After boiling the water, I tested it again and it tested negative. They are now boiling their drinking water before use.
We will have to make a different plan in order to help the brick makers with safe drinking water. Their water was more contaminated and boiling is not an option.
I walked in the brick yard where they made the bricks. There was a disabled man, who was crippled because of an illness. He has no other choice but to make bricks every day. I don’t know how he gets the job done, because he didn’t speak to us. Another brick maker said that nobody takes care of him and his family and he must earn his own money. I could not help to think how different it is for disabled people in countries like Australia.
We had a lovely day on food parcel day and the widows and orphans were lovely. I was so blessed to meet them all. Everyone was happy about their gifts from Australia and we enjoyed lunch together.
I was also impressed with the skills of the girls at the sewing school. I have seen all the outfits they made and Razia thought them everything! I was so pleased.
They graduated and we also had a women’s meeting on that day, and about 60 to 70 women attended. It was a blessed day. The girls happily received their free sewing machines. This will secure an income for them. I praise God for that.
I also preached to about 300 people in Toba Tek Singh during their Sunday morning service. It was so blessed.
I visited people, Influential Missions supported in the past. I have met the lady who had Hepititis B and through our help, received treatment and was cured.
I met the little girl who was in hospital with kidney problems and infection. Her mother brought her to the Lily of the Valley Home, after school, to meet me. She is now a happy and healthy little girl.
I have met the man who needed a bicycle to get to work, and he was still providing for his family.
Also the crippled lady who received a sewing machine, is still earning money to help support her family .
I visited the family who didn’t have shelter against the cold. We provided shelter for them two winters ago, and they were honoured that I went to their humble home to see them.
I have found everything, exactly the way Asher and Sadaf said it was. These people are born again, pentecostal Christian people and I trust them to do this ministry with integrity.