/ Africa
Boyd Matson interviews Laura Waters Hinson about her documentary film *As We Forgive* on the National Geographic Weekend radio show. Used with permission. Look for a screening at Saint Francis.
“Many people ask me why on earth should a survivor of the genocide in Rwanda forgive someone who murdered either their mother or husband or brother or sister. When you consider that a million people got destroyed by the cruelest means ever known, hacking people to death with machetes and banging children on the walls. Somebody has to tell them this painful message of forgiveness. If we let them be consumed by that ongoing bitterness and anger, it’s like an acidic content in a metal container. It will eventually eat the container up. When they forgive, they get released. Those perpetrators, after they get forgiven, come to us and say, ‘Can you help us to do something to show our remorse?’ And now they are building houses for their victims.” — Bishop John Rucyahana
From the September update of Russ and Beth White, Tenwek Hospital, Kenya, Africa. Russ is my wife Victoria’s brother. [Click the link to see the complete newsletter.] Dr. White will be the preacher at Saint Francis at the 9 o’clock service November 15th and he will speak at the adult forum afterwards.
Esophageal atresia with tracheo-esophageal fistula is a relatively uncommon condition of newborn babies in which a baby is born with an incomplete esophagus. This means that the baby cannot swallow any milk or even saliva after birth. The condition is further complicated by the fact that the stomach connects abnormally to the lungs. Therefore the baby has the double problem of severe malnutrition and ongoing pneumonia. Repairing this condition requires a delicate operation to recreate continuity between the esophagus and the stomach, and to close the abnormal connection between the trachea and the stomach.
We usually see 3-4 cases per year. They are always a challenge as getting the tiny baby through the surgery is difficult, and then the post-operative care requires very intensive care for up to a week. Many of the babies are small for their age and require mechanical ventilation with a breathing machine. In general on the African continent, survival after this operation is very poor. In fact, in the early years we were at Tenwek, we certainly did not have survival above 50%. In August of this year, Russ operated on three babies with this condition within three weeks (2 were within 2 days!). It was a lot of work for Russ, all the nurses in the nursery, and our surgical residents who helped care for these babies. We were thrilled to see all three of them recover well after surgery and go home!! We thank the Lord for the opportunity to serve these fragile children of God!
“His name is Kobok, and his family was ready to disown him because he shirked his duties of farming and tending cattle. As it turns out, Kobok was simply unable to do this work because he had severe mitral stenosis, which is a narrowing of one of the main valves in his heart due to rheumatic fever as a young boy. He could not walk more than 25 yards without getting too tired to continue. I explained through an interpreter to the mother the condition and that without surgical intervention, Kobok would continue to get weaker until he died.”
Doctor Russell White (my brother-in-law) will be speaking at Saint Francis at the 9 o’clock service November 15, 2009 and at the forum following the service.
My wife is a physician’s daughter. Victoria’s father, Dr. Robert Bracken White, delivered her — mom had a little to do with it [Thanks Mom!] — in Brussels, Belgium on the kitchen table. She grew up in the Belgian Congo where dad White was for the better part of 10 years there the only physician in a 500-mile radius. Her brother Russell, whom you see above with his family, is a medical missionary at one of the largest mission hospitals in Africa. Trained at Roberts Wesleyan College, the University of Michigan, Brown, and Harvard, Russ is his father’s protégé. That is saying something. His father was everything a Christian should be. Russ is like his father in this way also: he married — as did I — a woman wonderful to get through the nights with and enter every new day beside. Beth and Victoria are like this.
Saint Francis Church is glad to be counted among supporters of the White family. I encourage you to remember Russ, Beth, Adam, Andrew, Peter, Jamie, and Anna in your prayers. If you wish to receive updates directly from Russ and Beth (their March update is here), send me an email and I’ll forward it to them. [This video was made in 2006.]
Bernard drinks his first Coca-Cola on Christmas Day after six months with nothing to eat or drink. The March newsletter from my brother-in-law Dr. Russell White of Tenwek Hospital, Kenya, Africa is here.
I think of Russ when I sense the politically correct condescending to Christian missionaries in Africa. Hard as it is to believe, there are people who resent the stories my wife Victoria tells of her childhood in the Belgian Congo where her father, Robert White, was a missionary doctor. One needn’t be a Christian or a theist to admire the good and altruistic lives lived by missionaries like Russ and Beth White.
In case you missed my earlier post of it, read Matthew Parris’s Times of London piece, “As an Atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God.”
A woman walks home carrying an umbrella near Minova in eastern Congo, February 12, 2009. (REUTERS/Finbarr O’Reilly) – the Big Picture
A man plays an electric guitar in the village of Pinga, a village with no electricity, in eastern Congo, February 7, 2009. (REUTERS/Finbarr O’Reilly) – the Big Picture
Jean-Pierre Kalikunshe (L), 10, comforts his friend Espoir Kangeshe, 6, both of whom have had surgery to correct leg deformities, at the Heal Africa hospital in Goma, February 10, 2009. Kalikunshe and Kangeshe are among some 70 children looked after by Stand Proud, a charity that assists children suffering from polio and other leg defects in war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo, where 15 years of war has devastated public health services. (REUTERS/Finbarr O’Reilly) — the Big Picture
A Congolese girl displaced by fighting carries firewood at a camp near Goma in eastern Congo, February 9, 2009. (REUTERS/Finbarr O’Reilly) – the Big Picture
But travelling in Malawi refreshed another belief, too: one I’ve been trying to banish all my life, but an observation I’ve been unable to avoid since my African childhood. It confounds my ideological beliefs, stubbornly refuses to fit my world view, and has embarrassed my growing belief that there is no God.
Now a confirmed atheist, I’ve become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people’s hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation.
Out of Africa (from Dr. Russ White)
Greetings from Tenwek Hospital, Bomet, Kenya. Things here have been rather eventful over the past month, to say the least! As most of you will have heard, tension has been very high since the announcement of the Kenyan Presidential election results on December 30. The results have been highly disputed by the two main parties in the election. During the first week of disputes, there was a good deal of violence throughout the country. On several days, we could stand on our front porch and hear gunfire and tear gas cannons being fired in some of the towns within two miles of Tenwek. We were essentially unable to travel, as roads in the area had been closed by roadblocks and protesting crowds. This lasted for about 10 days, and then seemed to settle down. All of us have been hopeful that some political solution would be reached between government leaders to bring peace. Unfortunately, there have been several new waves of violence which have essentially become tribal clashes in nature. Since the political parties tend to split down tribal lines, the violence also tends to be tribally directed in nature. The situation currently is marked by unpredictability. There have been many days when all seemed to be well, and business was returning to usual. In fact, we traveled to Nairobi as a family just one week ago, and everything was very stable. This past week, however, saw the killings of two politicians, which again sparked significant unrest in our area. To date, there have been no signs of violence coming near Tenwek, although many of our Kenyan staff who are not of the most common local tribal background have decided to leave the area temporarily as we wait to see how the situation will develop. In the hospital, we are certainly seeing the effects of the violence. Our elective surgery cases have decreased significantly as people find transport to be difficult and unpredictable. On the other hand, our cases of emergency surgery have increased markedly! Our male surgical ward is overflowing with two patients in almost every bed, with more than half of them victims of violence related to this current situation. We seem to have at least one or two patients shot with arrows brought to the hospital every day, along with at least one gunshot victim. You may remember that arrow injuries are not uncommon, but this volume is certainly much more than usual. However, the Lord has been gracious. Throughout all of this time, we have only had one patient die who had made it alive to the hospital with an injury. Further, we have generally been able to get the hospital supplies we need to keep taking care of patients. Most importantly, we have been able to show Jesus’ love to hurting people in very difficult times.Please continue to pray for this entire situation, as the stress level is quite high for everyone. Some of our missionaries have had very difficult situations trying to pass through roadblocks and being threatened by large crowds. Many families of our national staff have experienced losses of many different types. We are praying daily that the Lord will bring peace, and that we may be His hands, feet, and mouth as we deal with these dangerous situations. Currently, we have put a temporary hold on new people and visitors coming to help us with work here in Kenya. This is making the work-load more difficult for many. As a group, our World Gospel Mission Kenya field leadership is keeping a close eye on the situation and meeting frequently to keep abreast of the situation. We do not feel a need for any of us to leave Kenya at this time. Please pray for wisdom in all of these difficult decisions. We also have a Crisis/Relief team working on helping the many displaced people within Kenya. Please pray for their safety as well.There are some bright spots in all of this also. We are now one week into our new surgical residency program here at Tenwek. We had decided to go ahead with beginning this training despite future uncertainties. This has been a dream and hope for many years for many of us here at Tenwek. Many of you have prayed with us for this. We have taken on two great, young Kenyan Christian doctors for formal training in surgery. These tumultuous times make certain aspects of the training difficult, but it is certainly giving them a lot of exposure to management of trauma cases!The family is doing well, although the stress of uncertainty is wearing a bit on everyone. The picture above was taken Sunday after our service. I was the preacher and I reminded all of us that we are strangers and aliens on this earth, and that our true citizenship is in heaven. We’ll try to keep you updated as the situation develops. We very much covet your prayers, and so appreciate your support of God’s work here at Tenwek.
