Help with Repairs to Mtendere Hospital

Dear John,

Whenever I go out for lunch, or go shopping in a grocery store, quite often I’ll overhear a conversation in which one person or the other is complaining about some aspect of life here in the United States. We see it on television news channels. We hear it on the radio and even read it in newspapers and magazines. Someone somewhere is writing or speaking about something wrong in the U.S. And in many ways, that’s okay. We have the freedom to air our views no matter if people agree with us or not.

But after reading a number of letters from some of our missionaries working throughout Africa, there are a lot of things that are quite good about our country. No, I’m not talking politics. I’m talking about the quality of life most of us enjoy here.

Whether we are wealthy or struggling to make ends meet — we know that whenever we turn on a light switch, the lights will come on. We know that if we are sick — even if we cannot afford medical care, there are hospitals in nearly every community that will provide us with excellent healthcare. And we know that when we turn on the faucet to get a drink of water, the liquid that flows out is clean and safe to drink.

It isn’t like this everywhere.

Recently, I received a letter from Sr. Perpetual Kadyampakeni — a missionary Sister in charge of Mtendere Hospital in a very isolated area of the nation of Malawi in southeastern Africa. Malawi is a small country — bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. It is also one of the world’s least developed nations. The people are desperately poor.

Mtendere Hospital is the only major healthcare facility for more than 15,000 people living in a very isolated, rural region of Malawi. The catchment area is huge — even serving people as far away as the neighboring country of Mozambique. And while the doctors, nurses, local residents and even the patients themselves are working to keep the hospital open and working, the hospital itself is in urgent need of care!

“At our hospital, our electricity has been short-circuiting,” Sr. Perpetual writes. “We had electricians check out the wiring throughout the hospital and they have advised us that some of the buildings need to be completely re-wired. Needless to say, because of the danger, it is something which must be done soon.”

“At the same time,” she continues, “our water pipes are rusted. They are old and rust comes out with the water. That is extremely unhealthy for the patients and for the staff as well. The plumbers who inspected the pipes throughout the hospital are saying that the water pipes need to be replaced with pvc/plastic pipes.”

“I am hoping there is some way you can help us,” she explains. “As you can imagine, many of the people who come to us cannot afford to pay for their healthcare, so we are operating on a very tight budget. No matter what repairs our physical facilities may need, we must have money for food, medicine, medical supplies and hospital staffing so care for our patients. Yet, we must also make the necessary repairs to our electrical and plumbing systems.”

Reading Sr. Perpetual’s letter, I cannot imagine the incredible difficulty she is facing right now. Along with her letter, she included a list of the items she needs to purchase. They include pipes, valves, and faucets as well as electrical wiring, outlets and circuit breakers. The list goes on and on! My sincere hope is that we can raise at least $35,000 so that the necessary repairs can be made to the Mtendere Hospital and so that we can help our other missions with their medical needs as well.

Please, my friend — you have been so generous whenever we have asked you to help provide for those in need. Now, as I write to you again, I hope you will know that I would not be asking you if there were some other way. Whatever amount you can send — whether it is a lot or a small amount –will be used to help missions like Sr. Perpetual’s continue to reach out to the poor!