Morgans embody Christ’s love in Muslim country while world’s religious tensions are high

“Here we are blessed,” write Drs. Les and Cindy Morgan, “with the opportunity to live out our passion: to embody the loving presence of Christ in the midst of a Muslim country during a time when religious tensions are high all over the world.”

The Morgans run clinics in the capital city of Dhaka for the Church of Bangladesh, a partner of the PC(USA). They previously lived and worked in a small city located on the Ganges River in northwest Bangladesh, and find Dhaka, with it’s 12 million people, both a challenge and an opportunity.

Their work in Dhaka and twice a month at the ...read more >>

Hopital Ste. Croix in Haiti to reopen September 1

After being closed for nearly eight months following the massive earthquake in Haiti, Hopital Sté. Croix in Leogane will reopen September 1. Although the main three-story wing of the hospital won’t be ready for occupancy for several months during rebuilding, the old medicine wing of the hospital has been repaired, cleaned, painted, and set up with about thirty beds. Suzi Parker, PC(USA) co-worker in Haiti says that “sheets are on the beds, curtains at the windows, and doctors are ready to make rounds!”

A tent hospital manned by volunteer doctors and nurses from all over the world has now closed, but the...read more >>

Christians lose homes in Pakistan's worst flood, MBF asks for help

According to the UN report on the Pakistan Monsoon Floods, Pakistan is facing not only its worst flood on record, but also its worst natural disaster in terms of people affected (see chart below). About 13.8 million people have been affected (killed, injured, displaced) by the floods this month. We pray for people of all faiths in the region and offer help to all people.

Christians in Pakistan are a small minority but the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan, an MBF partner, reports that 1,200 Christian families have lost their homes. The UN reported th...read more >>

Major reconstruction announced for quake-damaged Haiti

The Medical Benevolence Foundation (MBF) has just announced a major project to reconstruct and expand medical and educational facilities near the epicenter of the earthquake that devastated Haiti on January 12, 2010. The project is being conducted by MBF, in partnership with the City of Champions for Haiti, a coalition that includes business, healthcare, and building trade leaders of the Pittsburgh area.

The Hospital of St. Croix, an important reference hospital for the area around Leogane, was badly damaged in the quake - an impact still being felt by the hundreds of thousands of Haitians injured. The $10.5 milli...read more >>

Bringing healing through Christ in one of the world’s poorest countries

John and Gwen Haspels, PC(USA) mission co-workers, work with the Ethiopian Evangelical Church of Mekane Yesus in a remote area of the East African country of Ethiopia. Gwen supervises a medical clinic for the Sui people in the village of Tulegit and John is building roads and developing a water system for the area.

According to Oxford University’s new Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world. Ninety percent of Ethiopians are poor and more than 39% are extremely poor. The MPI uses indicators such as child mortality, malnutrition, drinking water and sanitation, dirt or dung...read more >>

MBF asks for prayer for those affected by shootings in Afghanistan

Dr. Will Browne, Executive Director of The Medical Benevolence Foundation (MBF), expressed sympathy and asked for prayer for those affected by the shootings of ten multinational medical aid workers in Afghanistan Thursday, August 5. The team, members of the International Assistance Mission (IAM), a Christian nonprofit charitable organization, provided humanitarian work at an eye clinic in a remote northeastern area of the country.

Although MBF has no work in Afghanistan, MBF does help support medical workers in other dangerous areas o...read more >>

A night in the life of a missionary doctor

It’s somewhere near 2:00 in the morning, and she has just sewn up the ruptured uterus of a woman who delivered her sixth child. The regular surgical nurse is out sick, as is the anesthetist. The medical assistant who has filled in for the anesthetist can only administer ketamine anesthesia, so even though the patient is not awake, she is often moving, adding to the difficulty of an already challenging procedure. Some surgical instruments are missing. Those available have seen better days. As usual, there is no running water tonight, so they scrub up from water dripping from buckets.

This is a typical night for Dr. Ma...read more >>

Doctors volunteer so patients get care at Salam Medical Center in Egypt

Dr. Freddy Elbaiady, Director of Salam Medical Center in Egypt remembers when an old man came to him requesting a duplex ultrasound scan for his leg arteries. When Dr. Elbaiady explained that the hospital did not have such an expensive machine, the old man began to cry, knowing that Salam Medical Center was most likely the only place he could find such a procedure at low or no cost.

Dr. Elbaiady recounted the story in a recent visit to the Medical Benevolence Foundation offices in Houston during a tour of PC(USA) churches. He says he came to the U.S. to tell people how God honored the efforts of a small 40-member church to foun...read more >>

MBF’s CFO visits Haiti after nursing school loses accountant in quake

After the previous accountant at FSIL School of Nursing was killed in Haiti’s earthquake, MBF offered Fred Kingston, MBF’s Chief Financial Officer, to assist their new accountant with the annual audit. Upon return from his recent trip to Haiti, Kingston reports that thousands of people are still living in tents on the school grounds. There is much rubble in the streets, but the rains have encouraged lush growth.
 
Kingston says that six months since the devastating earthquake, students at the nursing school are just now returning to live in their dormitory. Even though the dormitory has been declared sturdy and ...read more >>

Encouraging first results of mosquito spraying in Nkhoma, Malawi

Last fall, Nkoma Hospital, in Malawi sponsored a campaign to reduce the mosquito population in the area and lower the alarming number of malaria cases, particularly in children. Nkoma is one of the hospitals of our partner, the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP). The campaign included spraying the doors and walls of homes in ten villages of the Nkoma community with a special insecticide. People from each village were given special training for the job. The spraying was in addition to the use of bed nets recommended by Nkoma Hospital.

Now the evaluation of the first spraying in the campaign has been completed, showing ...read more >>