The Malaria Factor and The Runway
We have often shared about the impact malaria has on the people of Mozambique. Caused by a parasite that is transmitted by the anopheles mosquito, according to the World Health Organization, malaria still kills over 2000 children a day in Africa! This is why mosquito nets are provided to the children in our orphan program and why we do our best to ensure our health posts have a critical supply of malaria treatment. You can help with a donation to our health ministry and put a note on it “for malaria medication/mosquito nets.” If a glass of cold water in Jesus name get’s God’s attention, I have no doubt a treatment of malaria medicine would do at least the same, and both save lives and give children a chance to become productive adults.
But it is not only children who suffer, often it is their parents who struggle to be productive at critical times of the year due to a bout of malaria when they should be planting or cultivating or harvesting their crop. And the delay of a week for a farmer at a critical time of the year can mean the difference between an adequate food supply or starvation.
Two weeks ago much of the heavy equipment showed up to begin the completion of the runway on the mission in Mozambique. Everything was set up and the contractor and engineer along with our team were prepared. But just as the equipment arrived on-site, Law the contractor came down with malaria and so badly that he ended up in a private clinic fighting for his life. Then after many delays waiting for a flat-bed that could transport the grader, one was found and the grader arrived on-site. No sooner had this happened but that the grader driver came down with malaria and was put out of commission. Thankfully both men will survive and we anticipate the work to be completed over the next few weeks, but this demonstrates so clearly the impact this disease has on us and the people we work with.
Thanks to Ron Wayner, Rick Neufeld, Tony Frank as well as others on our team, the work has progressed in the meantime with the mission back-hoe and tractor-drawn grader blade. And thank you for your prayers and interest in this project!