Malawi's Young and Old Find Healing and Hope

The lack of sophisticated healthcare leaves many Malawians without hope for a better future. But that all changed for Jephither, a seasoned village chief, and Ireen, a young single mother, when Samaritan’s Purse World Medical Mission Speciality Teams brought advanced healthcare to their remote area earlier this year.

For decades, Jephither has leaned on the solid rock of God’s Word in the midst of life’s storms.

“What keeps me going in the Christian life is simple: the summary of the commandments,” he said, with a youthful zeal. “Love the Lord God with all your heart, mind, and strength, and love your neighbour as yourself (paraphrasing Mark 12:30-31). These truths draw me close to God.”

Scripture has strengthened the 72-year-old throughout his gruelling life, fortifying him especially during the passing of three of his children. Two of his sons died from treatable diseases, and he lost his only daughter to cerebral malaria at two years old. “I miss them all” was all the weary father could say.

Finding Help

A broken arm was the most recent storm to afflict Jephither. As he was leaving his house, Jephither slipped and fell on the wet concrete and broke his upper arm bone (humerus). For months, Jephither faced the despairing reality that he would have to live with this injury for the rest of his life. Even in his old age, he regularly provided his relatives with food from his farming. His injury meant they, too, would go without.

Jephither’s despair was lifted to joy when he heard of orthopaedic surgeons from Samaritan’s Purse visiting Nkhoma Hospital, providing free surgeries for anyone in need. The elderly man made the 60-mile journey from his village to the hospital, hopping from taxi to taxi, after hearing the news.

Within days of his arrival, Jephither received surgery on his arm. Dr. Greg Hellwarth, an orthopaedic surgeon who has served with World Medical Mission for over 30 years, plated the humeral shaft on Jephither’s injured left arm.

“There is an overflow of joy because I will be a full man again,” Jephither said after the surgery.

The long-time follower of Christ gladly accepted a Chichewa Bible after the surgery and looks forward to returning home to his farm and to resume his duties as village chief. Most of all, however, Jephither is excited to see his wife of over 40 years again. “I miss her above everything,” he said.

Exuding an Uncommon Joy

Ireen smiles with an uncommon joy. Even among difficult times and in painful situations, her smile beams from her young face and comforts those around here.

Like Jephither, Ireen found refuge and hope at Nkhoma Hospital after breaking her arm. As she scaled the mountainside near her home to collect firewood, the young mother fell and broke her elbow and wrist (distal humerus and distal radius).

Separated from her husband and with a toddler at home under her neighbour's care, this injury debilitated the 24-year-old mother.

“I cannot do any work. I cannot cook or wash clothes,” she lamented. More critically, however, the injury prevented her from caring for her daughter and earning an income. “I farm to make money, but I can’t do anything with my injury…I can’t even hold my daughter.”

Fortunately, Ireen lives just under four miles from Nkhoma Hospital, where our Samaritan’s Purse orthopaedic team provided free surgeries for 44 patients, including Ireen. Even as she was admitted into the ward, Ireen smiled.

Blessing the Lord for Healing

However, the young mother’s surgery proved to be difficult. Though Dr. Hellwarth began the surgery, the location of the fracture and the anatomical complexity of the elbow required help from Dr. McCluskey, another orthopaedic surgeon volunteer on the team. Together, they completed the procedure.

“There were two pieces that needed to key in like a puzzle and I wasn’t getting it,” Dr. Hellwarth recounted after the surgery. “Then Lee [Dr. McCluskey] happened to finish up and walk into the room…it didn’t take more than a few minutes.”

After the successful surgery, Ireen returned to smiling. Chaplains at the hospital gifted her with a Chichewa Bible, as they did with every patient we treated, and urged her to pursue Christ. Ireen had been going to church, but recently stopped attending because of her separation with her husband and the societal shame that followed. However, she vows to return to following the Lord after realising the blessings of God on her life.

She flipped to Psalm 63 and had the chaplain read the words aloud to her.

“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water…So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands” (Psalm 63:1, 4, ESV).

“The words uplift my life,” Ireen said, with a smile on her face, of course.