Mongolia is located in northern Asia between Russia and China. Its pasturelands make livestock herding a common occupation. A traditional Mongolian dwelling is called a ger (yurt), a circular tent-like structure made of wood and canvas. Samaritan’s Purse began distributing gift-filled shoeboxes there in 1996 and launched The Greatest Journey, our follow-up discipleship program, in…
The Heart of a Chaplain
In 2009, the Rev. Mark Sukulao lay in a hospital bed in Zimbabwe, very ill, discouraged, and in almost constant pain. This hospital was the third one he had been admitted to in less than two months, and now he was facing another surgery. Many anxious thoughts churned through the pastor’s mind. What was God’s…
Walking in the Light of God’s Grace
Editor’s Note: A year ago, Dr. Gregory Ekbom thought he was going to lose his son. In the midst of the crisis, he held onto hope that God would use the traumatic situation to bring about good. As they soon discovered, the arduous path to healing often begins the moment we seize the opportunity to…
Breathing New Life
As a general surgeon for the past 10 years in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dr. Warren Cooper has performed operations of every description and complexity. That includes everything from repairing broken bones to craniotomies. However, one of the more difficult procedures he has undertaken at Nyankunde Hospital involves the removal of foreign objects…
Medical Team Provides Cataract Surgeries in Remote Mexico
Fidel badly broke both his leg and arm decades ago, and despite the continuing pain, he still pushed through to do heavy farm work and cut firewood as best he could. But when cataracts took his sight a couple years back, life quickly came to a halt. “I mostly have to stay in the house,”…
Restoring Lives After Trafficking
Alesha*, an 18-year-old secondary school student in Uganda, was preparing to graduate when a friend made her a tempting offer. She would pay for Alesha’s plane ticket to Thailand if she would accept a lucrative job to work at a grocery store there. Life in another country sounded exciting to Alesha, and it was a…
They No Longer Call Her Cursed
Editor’s Note: Joni Byker, Country Director for Samaritan’s Purse Liberia, recently visited ELWA hospital where Samaritan’s Purse surgical teams provided corrective surgery to cleft lip/palate patients in Monrovia, Liberia. She wrote this moving account. The work that we are able to do here in Liberia is not without its challenges. Daily we are faced with…
Help Comes from Far and Near After Fires in Australia
Terry and Patricia watched in horror as the raging Australian bushfires destroyed their home. “It was like watching the lights on a Christmas tree all night—the flames must have been so high above the trees,” Terry said. They watched from 12 miles away—the blaze was that intense. “It was just unbelievable; horrified, just horrified.” Record-breaking…
Bringing Relief to Israeli Families
Samaritan’s Purse teams and ministry partners are offering various forms of relief to the Israeli people following the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks that claimed more than 1,200 lives. We are providing 21 new ambulances, including seven that are armor-plated to guard against sniper rounds and other attacks. “Generations to come will remember this help,”…
Their Faith Endures in Sickness and in Health
In nearly half a century of marriage, Wanda and Arnold never expected to celebrate their 49th anniversary in a tent hospital just minutes away from their home in Lenoir, North Carolina. Shortly after Christmas they began displaying severe symptoms, and they were diagnosed with the disease they’d feared for most of the year—COVID-19. Their symptoms…