An older lady came to the compound with a foot injury. As she was running to escape the water from the tsunami, something cut off a big chunk from the ball of her right foot. It was healing but she only had sandals to walk in and nothing to protect her foot.

I asked, “Can we get some shoes for her to wear?” The answer was, “There are no shoes available here.” After cleaning and dressing the wound, I gave her my shoes to wear to protect her foot. As she left she had a big smile on her face, as did her daughter and the hospital director. I told her we would pray for her.

Doctor gives time and shoes for tsunami relief

“How can God use me in Indonesia?” was my first response to the email I received, asking if I was interested in joining a medical relief team going to that tsunami-damaged site.

I am a family practice doctor working in Asia. I am not trained to do this kind of emergency relief work. But the people there need medical care and I am trained to provide that. I responded and in less than one week I was on a plane bound for Indonesia.

The team, consisting of three doctors from the US, a native Indonesian, another translator from Malaysia, and a lady from the US who brough food, supplies, and tents helped provide relief for ten days in January.

The bulk of our time was spent in the village of Lhoong. It is about 30 kilometers down the western coast from Banda Aceh. Lhoong itself was not hit by the tsunami, but of the 28 villages in the area, only four are left. The population of 12,000 was cut in half. The number of houses was reduced from over 2,000 to about 400.

We set up our clinic in a small hospital, which did not have a doctor due to the fact that he left the day after the tsunami to find his family. Most of what we saw consisted of stomach problems, coughs, colds, and old injuries, although we did see a few patients with malaria and tetanus.

The bigger concerns were psychosocial needs. Many of the children did not want to eat and could not sleep at night. Nutrition is a growing problem as the mainstay of the food the people receive is rice.

A little boy of about seven years old came to see me for a cough. I asked his mother how long he had been coughing. I was told this was not his mother. He was an orphan who lost his entire family to the tsunami. The lady had lost her eight sisters, husband, and children, including a boy about seven years old. She was now caring for this boy, forming a new family.

To provide for him she was sweeping around the hospital, one of the few jobs available to the people there. In a place with so much devastation and sadness, here was a glimmer of hope. We are praying for this new family that they will find new life in Jesus.

Many of the patients we saw had lost family members, had only one change of clothes, were living in tents, and were eating mainly rice, but they were grateful and friendly towards us and the other workers who were bringing help and love to them.

Sylvia*, the team member from Malaysia, was not a believer. She watched each of us representing different organizations, working together as “one body.” She saw how we got along without fighting, how God answered our prayers, and how we showed humility (doctors picked up trash around the hospital grounds). Within one week after returning home, Tracy became a “family member.”

Although it was fun riding in helicopters to get to Lhoong and back, the trip as a whole was emotionally and physically draining. It was the right thing to do, however.

Isaiah 58:10 reads, “Feed the hungry and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as day” (NLT).

God used the team to let the light shine among the people of Lhoong. They won’t soon forget the foreigners who put up tents inside the house (to keep out the mosquitoes), who came from far away to give free medical care with love, or who played soccer with the children.

-a Friend

*Not her real name.

Southwest Friends Assess Relief Efforts & Choose Partners

Alan Amavisca, Scott Sward, and Dr. Jonathan Hibbs, recently traveled from California to Indonesia to meet with Indonesian Friends, assess the situation, and determine the best avenue(s) for Friends to help with tsunami relief.

After careful consideration, the team decided to partner with three organizations already operational in the area: Samaritan’s Purse; Mission Aviation Fellowship; and the Indonesian Alliance of Christian Churches.

Individuals and churches have been responding in sacrificial ways. One church even decided to give an entire week’s offering to tsunami relief. The need will exist for many months and Friends look forward to channeling even more relief to the area.