n Call is a quarterly publication from World Medical Mission written to those who support our work with doctors and dentists in hospitals around the world. In each issue we include stories of how your support helps us to "bind up wounds and bring healing to the brokenhearted." You can also see a list of mission hospitals asking for help and consider volunteering your services if you are a doctor in one of the listed specialties. Read each issue here by downloading the Adobe pdf file available to the right.

The following article is from the current issue of On Call. To read all of the articles in this issue, you will need to download the pdf file.

Two days before our departure to Kudjip Nazarene Hospital in Papua New Guinea we found out we were blessed with being pregnant. It was good news, of course, but it also meant that I could not safely take malaria prophylaxis during our trip. However, we knew that God had put this mission trip strongly on our hearts and we took a leap of faith and trusted that He would keep all three of us safe during our travels.

I worked in the pediatric ward during our one-month stay. The most difficult times were to have a pre-term newborn stop breathing and having to stop resuscitation, knowing that if this child only had a ventilator available he/she would still be alive.


During my entire pediatric intern year I only had one child die; in the middle of the month at Kudjip we had a difficult time when we lost six children in a 36-hour period. Parents here will grieve with loud wails and sometimes hit their head on the ground or pull their hair out all while you are attempting to resuscitate their child. At the end, we all pray together and I had one mother start humming a familiar Christian song. Their faith here is so incredibly strong.

Many infants come in malnourished because they are fed milo (a chocolate milk powder mixed with water). Their parents cannot afford the expensive baby formula, and bottles here are illegal to buy without a prescription.

The hospital is surrounded by multiple tribes, and most people carry around machetes and spears. It is not uncommon to get called in the middle of the night for the ever so common “chop chop,” either from an accident or a wound caused by tribal fighting.

Tommy helped to build an “internet café” with two computers to be used by the hospital staff and nurses. He taught over 90 people who had never touched a computer before how to use the internet to search medical and Christian information and set up e-mail accounts. Now it is not uncommon to see lines waiting outside to use the computers as it has become a favorite pastime.

Church services here are very uplifting and you can hear people singing at the top of their lungs in praise. When asked to give testimonies, it is amazing how many people stand up and share personal stories of how Jesus has helped them that week.

At the end of our trip, one man presented Tommy a thank you gift of a bow and arrow set. We later found out that it cost him an entire month’s salary. We were overcome by how people who have so little can openly give with such a huge heart. In the presence of so much daily suffering and death they have an internal joy and peace that can only come through knowing Jesus Christ.

The missionaries here have been such wonderful role models as parents, spouses, and physicians truly living their life for the bigger purpose. We will always be grateful for their examples as followers of Christ.

Download the current issue of On Call from the information box on the right side of this page.