PRAYER FOCUS 2017/18
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WELCOME Thank you for supporting the work of EMMS International and its partners in prayer. “YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN HERE, YOU DO NOT KNOW US OR THE PEOPLE WE CARE FOR, BUT STILL YOU PRAY FOR US. WE ARE SO THANKFUL.”
These are the words of Ethel, a palliative care nurse at Mulanje Mission Hospital, Malawi. They are echoed by healthcare workers in Nepal and India too, and by all of us at EMMS International. Your commitment to pray is a real encouragement to committed Christian healthcare workers. Thank you.
James M Wells Chief Executive, EMMS International
Additional resources
The reflections in this edition of Prayer Focus come from “Health & Hope: Bible Studies in Mission, Equality & God’s Kingdom”. If you would like a full copy of this resource for you or your church, please contact James Petticrew on 0131 313 3828 or james.petticrew@emms.org or visit www.emms.org/biblestudy to order or download. EMMS INTERNATIONAL
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REFLECTION
THY KINGDOM COME Luti and Norman have four children and live in Chilonga village in Malawi. Life there is hard. Malawi is ranked the poorest country in the world based on GDP per capita. About 1 in 10 people have HIV. Floods and drought have had a devastating impact on food supplies. Luti and her husband are HIV positive. They found this out during Luti’s fourth pregnancy, when she was tested by one of EMMS International’s Christian health workers at the Mziche project. The Mziche project enabled Luti and her husband to receive HIV treatment. Crucially, they also gave Luti the medical care needed to stop HIV being passed on to her unborn baby. After the birth, the healthcare team supported the couple to have their baby tested - not easy in a country where HIV carries so much stigma. Imagine their joy and relief when the baby tested negative. In a country where poverty, disease and climate change have taken their toll the Mziche project’s work is helping to restore hope. • Give thanks for the hope of life without HIV and for women like Luti who are making a stand to protect their families and communities. • Please pray for an end to the stigma around HIV so that more people will be tested and work together to stop the spread of the disease.
GLADNESS AND JOY WILL OVERTAKE THEM, AND SORROW AND SIGHING WILL FLEE AWAY. Isaiah 51:11
Photos: Families helped to stop the spread of HIV.
PRAYER FOCUS 2017/18
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PROJECT FOCUS
UK: Hawthorn Brae Palliative Care Hawthorn Brae supports people in Edinburgh living with chronic illness by providing grants for respite holidays. Give thanks for the rest and recuperation enjoyed by grant recipients over the last year. Pray for those who are supported, that their holidays are a source of rest and restoration. Pray for blessed relationships with those travelling with them. Please pray for wisdom and guidance for the team that review applications and award grants. We give thanks for the various organisations working with people in Edinburgh with chronic illness. We appreciate the opportunity to work with them to care for poor and vulnerable people in the city. Please pray for ongoing work to develop the work of Hawthorn Brae to assist more people through respite holidays.
Photos: Refreshing respite holiday views, rural Malawi village near Nkhoma Mission Hospital. EMMS INTERNATIONAL
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PROJECT FOCUS
Malawi: Empowered for Health Poverty and food security continue to jeopardise health in Malawi. Healthcare resources are strained to meet the country’s needs. It is therefore more important than ever to use those resources well and to deliver the care that communities need most. We’re working with our partners to help communities raise their voices and influence the local and national government to ensure they get the health improvements they need and have been promised. As a result, they are also improving care for people living with HIV and providing access to essential healthcare services through rural clinics and improved hospital referrals. Please pray: • For our partners Livingstonia Synod Aids Programme, Nkhoma Mission Hospital, Mulanje Mission Hospital and Malawi Health Equity Network. • People’s voices will be heard by government and that they will get the improvements in healthcare that their communities need most. • More people will attend health centres and mobile clinics. • Those who need additional care will get the referrals and follow-up care they need. • More people will know their HIV status, and those living with the disease will get the care and support they need to live a healthy life.
SPEAK UP FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES, FOR THE RIGHTS OF ALL WHO ARE DESTITUTE. SPEAK UP AND JUDGE FAIRLY; DEFEND THE RIGHTS OF THE POOR AND NEEDY. Proverbs 31:8-9 PRAYER FOCUS 2017/18
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REFLECTION REACHING OUT Coming to Madhipura Hospital in Northern India was a great personal sacrifice for Dr Timothy and his family. Through college years they had prayed to make a difference to the poorest and most vulnerable. The answer to these prayers led them to Madhipura, but they were not prepared for the culture shock when they arrived. The level of poverty and social stigma towards people of “lower castes” was a stark contrast to the more affluent southern India where they came from. There is no school, or friends for their daughter to play with. The hospital’s facilities are very basic, with limited opportunities to further his and his wife’s careers. EMMS International has been working with Dr Timothy to build up the hospital and make it a better place to work and be treated. We trust that God will build up the team and call more Indian missionaries to this special place. Photos: Dr Timothy and the progress on new nurses accommodation at Madhipura Hospital.
EMMS INTERNATIONAL
Give thanks for the commitment and dedication of Christian healthcare workers like Dr Timothy who make significant sacrifices to care for the most vulnerable.
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PROJECT FOCUS
Madhipura, India In order to serve their rural community, Madhipura Hospital needs more doctors and nurses. Give thanks that building works have pressed ahead despite challenges of weather, government bureaucracy and labour strikes. Please pray that: • The final phase of building works will continue without delay. • More committed Christian healthcare workers will come to serve at Madhipura hospital. • The people of Madhipura will receive improved care and know greater hope.
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REFLECTION GOD STEPS IN Along with half of all girls in India, Salome was married as a child. By the age of 14 she was pregnant. Malnourished and small for her age, Salome had not been to school, could not read or write, and had little understanding about the changes in her body. She didn’t know how to care for herself in her pregnancy or what to expect the birth to be like. Photos: The work of Duncan Hospital
India remains one of the most high risk countries in the world in which to give birth. The poorest communities suffer the most, as their access to health information is limited and healthcare is prohibitively expensive. There is no national health system. Fortunately for Salome, mid-way through her pregnancy she was found by one of EMMS’s health workers. With gentle encouragement she agreed to have some antenatal check ups. She was identified as being high- risk because of her age and her narrow pelvis, and was advised to have a hospital delivery. Salome came to the hospital after she started having labour pains, but was initially so afraid that she refused to be examined. After two hours of persuasion, she did finally agree. The baby was delivered safely and Salome’s life was saved. Mother and child went home in good health. Without this loving care Salome would probably have given birth at home and died of obstruction, like so many others.
EMMS INTERNATIONAL
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PROJECT FOCUS
Duncan Hospital: Protecting mums and babies Duncan Hospital serves some of the most vulnerable people in Bihar, India’s poorest state, and many who come from neighbouring Nepal. In particular, they provide life-saving healthcare for child-mothers and their babies and they work against a culture that fails to value women and girls. Give thanks • For better care for women and girls who are too often overlooked and neglected. • For female staff at Duncan hospital who not only deliver excellent care but are also role models to girls in the community. • That more mothers with high-risk pregnancies were referred to hospital for life-saving care for them and their babies. • For improved care at government facilities thanks to staff training by the Duncan Hospital team.
Please pray for: • Continued positive working with government staff and facilities to improve care across the region. • Ongoing work to educate and empower girls and women to claim their health rights. • Protection for staff as they go about their work in communities.
PRAYER FOCUS 2017/18
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REFLECTION A CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS Even before the earthquake, life was tough in Nepal. If you are poor and sick there is nothing to take away your pain. Even paracetamol is often beyond reach. Photos: Nurse Manju and her patients
Nurse Manju brings hope to people living in poverty and with terminal illness. Not only does she give practical pain relief, but also comfort and the love of God to those she visits. Through EMMS International Manju is training to be the first palliative care nurse in Nepal. Supporting people at the end of their lives and supporting their families is incredibly challenging. She says ‘For me, serving God and serving the poor are one and the same thing. If I can relieve the suffering of others, then I do this with a glad heart.’
EMMS INTERNATIONAL
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PROJECT FOCUS
Nepal: Palliative Care As Nurse Manju continues her training to be the first Nepali palliative care nurse specialist there are signs of hope for those in poverty and pain in Nepal. We give thanks for: • The success of Nurse Manju in her training and for all those who have benefitted as a result. • For the opportunity for other healthcare workers to learn from Nurse Manju as she works in different hospitals. • The adoption of a national palliative care strategy by the government of Nepal. • Improvement in the situation for visas so that palliative care specialists can come to Nepal to improve care and deliver training. Please pray for: • Nurse Manju as she continues her studies, trains others and cares for her patients. • Continued efforts to extend care to those in rural communities. • More healthcare workers to rise up and care for those who need it most. • Improved political stability in Nepal and effort to implement the new palliative care strategy.
SO JESUS SAID TO THEM AGAIN, "PEACE BE WITH YOU; AS THE FATHER HAS SENT ME, I ALSO SEND YOU."
John 20:21
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PROJECT FOCUS
Malawi: Lakeside Lifeline In northern Malawi, the communities around the lakeside are among some of the poorest in the country. 80% live on less than a dollar a day and many of these people are sick with very little access to quality healthcare.
Photos: Lakeside healthcare in northern Malawi
The rural location makes accessing healthcare a challenge, with many people having to travel by boat to reach a hospital. It also makes recruiting and retaining healthcare workers a real challenge. A new project will bring a lifeline to these lakeside communities by improving access to healthcare, providing a new ambulance speedboat, renovating clinics and training more healthcare workers to serve in the area. Give thanks for the support of the Chauncy Maples Malawi Trust in making this new project possible. Please pray for: • Women from the lakeside community who will get the opportunity to train as healthcare workers. • Renovations of health facilities, that as a result more people will make use of rural clinics and receive improved care. • Better access to hospital services thanks to additional ambulances, that lives will be saved as a result.
EMMS INTERNATIONAL
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PROJECT FOCUS
Student Elective Bursaries Each year EMMS International provides bursaries to healthcare students to enable them to do their elective placements in resource-poor settings. They provide a welcome support to mission hospitals which are often over stretched and under staffed. At the same time they develop their own skills and character for their future healthcare careers. Please pray for: • Hospitals which will receive students over the next year. Pray thay they are strengthened and encouraged in their work as a result. • Those considering application. Pray for wisdom in planning their placement and writing their applications. • Students who receive grants, that they will make the most of the opportunitiy to grow and learn. • Those who consider long-term service following their placement, that they will know God's leading. • Those who go on to work in the UK, that their skills and experience improve the care they give here.
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REFLECTION UNLIKELY MISSIONARY People with cancer in Malawi face an agonising death because of a lack of basic pain relief and trained medical professionals. Cornelius was a junior doctor, watching patients suffer and die from cancer and AIDS when he realised the urgent need to help. Doctor Cornelius says, ‘My mission now is to make good palliative care a reality, not just for my patients, but all those who are suffering needlessly across Malawi. I believe that is how I can best serve God and love my neighbour.’ EMMS International works with Cornelius to bring pain relief, support and dignity to the dying.
Photos: Dr Corneliys Huwa and palliative care work in Malawi
EMMS INTERNATIONAL
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PROJECT FOCUS
Malawi: Palliative Care We give thanks for the huge improvements in palliative care in Malawi over the last decade. The METHOD project, made possible by your support and matched funding from the UK government is continuing this good work across Malawi. Give thanks for: • More healthcare workers getting hands-on palliative care experience thanks to the new professional development programme. • The launch of a new degree course in palliative care in September 2017 which will continue the development of specialist care for those who need it most. • The dedication of staff at all levels working with limited resources to care for patients and their families when they need it most.
Please pray for: • Improved food security, hunger and pain are the two major problems of palliative care patients. • Students who will enrol on the degree course, that they will become champions of care for the most vulnerable. • The development of future work to build on what has been achieved during METHOD. PRAYER FOCUS 2017/18
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