News from the Frontline - Nuba Mountains Medical Mission
Greetings in the Precious Name of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
By God’s grace, the mission team that went to the Nuba Mountains in January has returned. Dr. J. Pons, the eye surgeon, Johan of Doctors for Life and I are all safely back home.
The planning and preparation for this particular Medical Mission began back in July 2019. Dr. Tom asked us to consider helping set up their very first speciality surgery theatre, a permanent eye clinic, in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan at Mother of Mercy Hospital (this is the only referral hospital for the Nuba Mountains).
Dr. Tom had sent a young man from the Nuba Mountains to medical school who was set to finish up his ophthalmology training in October 2020 and return to provide eye care for his people. Our task was to locate and purchase the eye equipment conducive to operating in a 3rd world setting and then to transport it all the way to the Nuba Mountains.
In hindsight, there were hundreds of little steps in the planning that had to fall into place to make this mission possible:
- Waiting on God to provide the $21,000 USD to purchase the equipment.
- Finally obtaining the visas in time so that we could travel in January.
- Negative COVID tests before departing (one of our team members tested positive and could not go, although he had no symptoms whatsoever and tested negative the following week).
- Negative COVID tests upon entering South Sudan.
- Charter flights needed to be on time.
- A 280-mile round road trip over mountainous, rugged dirt roads without a single vehicle problem.
- Barely making the last checkpoint in time so that we could safely exit Sudan.
- Favour with soldiers and especially government officials, many of whom tried to extract bribes (none of which were paid).
- No major diseases afflicted our team members (such as malaria, or snail fever, which were contracted on previous missions).
Although we were providentially hindered from taking in the medical equipment as originally planned in May 2020 and we had many additional hoops to jump through due to Lockdown regulations, I have never before experienced such an incident-free and successful mission. No amount of planning or experience in remote areas like the Nuba Mountains can achieve this. We have been incredibly helped by the Lord and can only thank God for His grace.
While Dr. J. Pons and Johan were busy training Caesar on the eye equipment and performing 153 cataract surgeries, I hiked up and down the mountains to various remote villages every day with one of the local pastors. Over the course of 6 days, we hiked 70 miles in the 110-degree heat and travelled many more miles on the back of a motorbike preaching, teaching, distributing Bibles and showing the Jesus Film.
Many who came to the hospital for eye care walked on average 7 to 10 days. We even had one person travel over 600 miles to receive cataract surgery, coming from a village North of Khartoum.
I am truly humbled by the local partners we work within South Sudan and the Nuba Mountains who assisted our team in so many ways. There was even a local third-year medical student who insisted on paying for some of the medical supplies and our accommodation while in Juba. It brings me to tears to think about the sacrifices both he and each of you have made to help us get the Gospel to people who have never heard.
“All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord and all the families of the nations shall worship before You. For kingship belongs to the Lord and He rules over the nations.” Psalm 22:27-28
Yours for the fulfilment of the Great Commission
Ben Cohen
www.globeworks.org
www.doctorsforlife.co.za
Dr. Peter Hammond
Frontline Fellowship
P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725
Cape Town South Africa
mission@frontline.org.za
www.FrontlineMissionSA.org
