Ebola

Luke 12:15

The Voice (VOICE)

¹⁵ Then He used that opportunity to speak to the crowd.

Jesus: You’d better be on your guard against any type of greed, for a person’s life is not about having a lot of possessions.

This morning Dr Kent Brantly gave a very moving speech crediting God, a new drug, and Emory Hospital for his recovery from Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). He had been serving in Liberia under Samaritan’s Purse when he contracted the deadly disease.

This reminded me of a conversation I had with Gail Schatzschneider earlier this week. All hospitals in Monrovia, the capitol of Liberia in West Africa, closed down a month or more ago due to the EVD epidemic—that is all of them except the Adventist Cooper Hospital. Gillian Seton, a surgeon there, insisted that this hospital remain open for non-EVD patients. She pointed out that people would still need emergency care unrelated to EVD. Unfortunately no hospitals in Liberia are equipped to handle this terrible disease.

Last month at our Fellowship of Adventist Missionaries to Africa (FAMA), Gail told me about the stand Dr Seton had made. She mentioned that a new doctor and extra money were urgently needed to enable the hospital to keep operating. I passed the news on to the people sitting at table with me, but they showed no apparent interest in what I said, and the conversation moved on to other matters.

Gail’s news this week is that shortly after our FAMA meeting, one of the people sitting at table that day sent a check of $10,000 for the Cooper Hospital project. This was the seed that launched a rapidly growing fund. A doctor has volunteered to join Cooper. Many lives will be saved. It is gratifying to be a small cog in a large endeavor to help Africa. If you wish to follow and possibly support the progress of Cooper Hospital and other Adventist Health International institutions around the world, you can check their webpage at http://www.ahiglobal.org/

A temporary mission doctor from Chad, Dr. James Appel, tells of his harrowing experience getting to (Entry 1) and at Cooper Hospital (Entry 2) on the AHI webpage: http://www.ahiglobal.org/main/news/?title=ahi-doctor-heads-to-liberia-to-aid-ebola-crisis--entry-1/  Look for his second installment http://www.ahiglobal.org/main/news/?title=ahi-doctor-heads-to-liberia-to-aid-ebola-crisis--entry-2/

Lord, thank You for organizations that enable us support Your suffering people in places as far away as Africa rather than simply acquire more possessions.