Imagine cutting your finger while slicing vegetables for dinner. You would probably stop and wash the wound with clean water and soap. But what if you didn’t have good clean water, or soap, or didn’t really know how to properly care for such a wound?
We often take basic first aid for granted. It’s something many of us are taught at an early age by someone, but not everyone in the world has access to that information and not everyone has clean water and first aid items like bandages to care for a wound.
Recently, this very thing happened to a pastor’s wife in Mozambique. She was preparing dinner, cut her finger, and just a couple of days later her finger and hand looked horrific. The finger and hand were excessively swollen, and there was gruesome evidence of a severe infection that was quickly spreading. Her finger had developed large ulcers that looked as if the flesh were being eaten away. She was at risk of losing her finger, her whole hand, or worse. Her husband described her pain as so excruciating that she was unable to sleep, and he also shared that the wounds had a bad smell. They had been to the hospital but were getting the run-around. No one was taking time to address the problem and determine what kind of treatment she needed. This unfortunately is all-too-common in Mozambican hospitals.
As soon as we learned of her situation and saw pictures of her hand, we were very concerned. Since they were not getting the help they needed from the public hospital, we organized for proper medical care. One of the students we’re currently helping go to nursing school happened to be in his internship at the hospital. He had developed a good rapport with many of the doctors and staff there. He was able to help us arrange for a doctor to see and assess her, and then arranged for a nurse to come to their home to administer treatment, dress the wounds, and monitor her progress until the infection and swelling subsided.
It took quite some time for her finger to heal and for the swelling to go down enough so that she could fully begin using her hand again, but we’re happy to report that she’s now back to work and using it.
Medical interventions like this would not be possible if it weren’t for the gracious support of people like you! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your sacrificial giving to save lives and limbs!
