Zipppp.......zoooom........gone!!

Wow.  Two more months have just flew by!  It is absolutely amazing to be in a place where time is not a priority, yet be so busy that the days just run together.  May and June were jammed full of activity and visitors.

WATER PROJECT in partnership with New Life International.  As I previously informed you, we have installed a water purification system for the hospital.  I am pleased to say that after a few trials, we are successfully providing purified water around the clock to all areas of the hospital.  We praise The Lord for bringing New Life  and Chimala together and for providing funds for this project through Harding University.  I also want to thank Steven Uhde for the many hours he put in training our staff to run the system.


OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY students.  We were blessed with a visit from 7 students this year.  They helped with painting at the schools, organizing at the hospital and unpacking boxes from the container we recently received from the states.  They also provided 3-day VBS programs to 3 different villages with anywhere from 150 - 200 kids each day.  The students bring an energy with them that helps refresh the missionaries.  Of course, we all work side by side, so their activities add extra work to our normal schedules.  The day the OC students left the ..........

HARDING UNIVERSITY medical group arrived.  The group this year included 2 doctors, 4 nurses, and 8 nursing students.  This group works every day at the hospital.  This is a great opportunity for the students to learn about medical care where there are no advanced technologies and for our local doctors to have some help with our heavy load.

BRE AND CLAIRE.  These two young ladies arrived with the Harding group.  Bre was here two years ago with the OC students.  This year she and Claire came to spend 2 months at Chimala to see more about missionary life.  I am blessed to have them staying with me.  They have been a huge blessing to me and the work I do.  They have helped get our registration department on computer as well as sort out all duplicate files and re-organize the files.  They have also gone with me on all my mobile clinics which was a great blessing to me as Anna Wagner has left to go home.  Anna did patient vital signs for our mobile clinics, so with her gone we were in a bind.  These ladies have been very valuable to us in our time of need. 

MOBILE CLINICS.  In case you didn't catch it in the paragraphs above, I now have 5 monthly mobile clinics to outlying villages.   We are averaging 70 patients per clinic.  At our newest clinic, Kapunga, we were able to identify 5 HIV positive patients and refer them to the hospital for free HIV treatment.  These clinics have allowed us to identify several patients who needed immediate hospitalization, many who needed care who could not afford care and show many the love of God through our actions.  We use these clinics to bring community members to the church building where they receive a welcome from a member, prayers for their medical needs, fliers about God's plan for salvation and the opportunity for Bible studies.

The services we offer at our clinics include a physician consult/exam, lab tests and medications at a lower cost than they would at the hospital.  This is not to undermine the hospital, but instead to encourage them to come to the church where we can make contact.  Also we are able to reach those who are in need and do not have easy access to medical care providing them treatment before they become so ill that they are in critical condition before arriving at the hospital.

HOSPITAL.  We are extremely busy at the hospital!  Due to generous donors, we have started work on two big, much needed remodel jobs.  First is the job of cleaning up our very deteriorated bathrooms.  I am in hopes that within the next 60 days we will have clean, functional bathrooms.  Pictures of progress to follow....soon, I hope......

The second project is to bring our laboratory into better working condition.  Early this year, the Walter-Reed Foundation partnered with us to help us provide more laboratory tests to our patients.  So far they have donated a CD4 machine which will assist us with more accurate diagnosis for our HIV patients.  As partners, we have to do so improvements ourselves and part of that is to enlarge and upgrade our facilities.  Again, I promise pictures as we make progress.

TRIP HOME.  I am planning a trip to the states in September.  I am in great need of financial support for the work I am doing here at Chimala and also for medical teams who are looking for a great opportunity for a short-term mission where many are in need.  If you are interested in meeting with me while I am in the states to discuss either of these needs, please feel free to e-mail me at cheryl.bode@yahoo.com



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