The three pillars that define EMAS Canada continue to find expression as teams step out in action in 2024: Education, Medical Aid and Service.
Already, a surgical team is in Tanzania; while a dental team is heading off to Honduras, an orthopaedic team is cautiously watching the security situation in Ecuador, prepared to serve if it is safe to travel.
Medical teachers are in D R Congo this month, training and overseeing trainees who have been sponsored through the scholarship program.
In March, we will again join Zimbabwean pastors at an annual retreat and refresher course that we do in partnership with Karanda Mission Hospital. This interlude from the rigors and demands of church leadership gives rural pastors a respite from meeting the needs of others, as their own needs are met.
At the Gambade Medical Clinic, Canadian donors are collaborating with a team of Haitian healthcare workers to combat malnutrition and promote health and wellbeing. Every morning the staff meet to worship God and pray with patients before starting the clinical services. This is the 11th month since we opened the clinic. Our local team in Ontario meets once a month to pray, receive reports from Gambade, and work on raising support. The annual team fundraiser Tropical Night in Hamilton, Ontario will be on February 24th.
Our goal is to sustain the Haitian team throughout 2024, to visit and encourage them as they work among their own people.
We have similar aspirations for Gutu Mission Hospital in Zimbabwe where we plan to support and inspire the national staff in their endeavors to raise funds locally, to perfect their skills in managing emergencies in the labour ward and to improve infection control through better physical facilities. We are pleased to report that the hospital has acquired local funding for a 20,000-litre water storage tank that puts them nearly halfway to having the 50,000 litres they need everyday.
We look forward to meeting medical needs in Vietnam in the summer and to bring material aid to our partners in Myanmar and other parts of Asia, and a return to Mongolia in the fall.
Our partners in the capital city of Haiti soldier on in the middle of ongoing insecurity, continuing the feeding program for children.
We look forward to a year in which we will be at God’s disposal for the good of others. We know we are not necessary for Him to bless people or make Himself known; we do not do anything for God, rather He works through us. This is why we are not preoccupied with the volume of humanitarian activity, because that would usurp the power of the gospel of God’s grace.
You can support EMAS Canada teams by giving at our improved donor page or via e-transfer using donations@emascanada.org
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All Scripture references are taken from the New International Version (NIV)
Feature image: 2024 Tanzania Surgical Trip, EMAS Canada, all rights reserved.
