This year GANSU, INC had four teams serve in Gansu Province and two teams in Qinghai Province. We have established the habit of asking the teams to send a report at the end of each week to give us an update of the mission work. These weekly reports give you insight into the activites of the volunteers while on the mission field. We do not have the capabilities to add each weekly report to the website, but we have added the latest reports below. Should you be interested in reading more weekly reports we can be reached at info@gansuinc.org and we would be glad to share other reports with you.
QINGHAI PROVINCE REPORT
FROM THE OFFICE OF GANSU, INC
This has been “the year” of challenge for GANSU, INC; a year to be tempered like steel. This can be good, for success is shallow if not met with difficulty, and that we have had. From the H1N1 virus in late May to the recent virus that hit Gonghe, Qinghai July 31st.
An email received Friday morning, July 31st, from the team read: “We’ve been locked out of the hospital area due to the hospital being quarantined. The military is even guarding it, keeping all non-essential people (us plus a whole lot of others) out. We had to leave Thursday right after lunch, could not go in today (Friday) and have been told not to show up Saturday, maybe even Monday. Apparently a couple of patients were brought in with some kind of very infectious virus but this is only rumor. We don’t know for sure what is happening”.
Well it wasn’t a rumor after all! It basically came down to the fact that the Qinghai Team had to leave Gonghe, but let's back up a day or two. Early Saturday, August 1st, Executive Director, Janet Foskey, received a phone message from the Qinghai team stating they had been informed they must evacuate Gonghe immediately. They were requesting advice on the situation. We all knew this was not possible because the mobile surgical unit and all the GANSU, INC supplies would have to be stored appropriately before the mission could be completed for the summer. Before Janet could return their call the team had contacted Dr. Bill Conrad. As you will remember, he was still serving in Qin'An, Gansu province. Dr. Conrad was able to contact the appropriate personnel at the hospital and they agreed to give the team two days to pack up all the supplies and the trailer before leaving the community. The team was given Sunday and Monday to work and they were to leave Tuesday morning.
This was accomplished as needed. The team very wisely contacted Iona Holsten who was to leave the US, Saturday, to travel to China. They contacted her by cell phone as she was traveling to her local airport to tell her to cancel her plans; she could not come to Gonghe. She was the only new team member scheduled to leave that day. Dr. Dan Gold and his wife, Karen, were the other team members scheduled to serve in Gonghe. They were not to leave until August 14th. They were informed of the situation Monday.
What a disappointment not to be able to finish the mission at hand! To have to leave an area where poverty flourishes and modern medicine is rare. To the people of Gonghe and the surrounding area the GANSU, INC trailer is where miracles happen. We are disappointed for those planning to go and serve and for the many who will not receive restored sight because of this unexpected event. The last surgery day was Thursday, July 30th. Two teams had served in Gonghe and 133 cataract surgeries were performed in Gonghe.
Therefore, this is the last report about the Qinghai team. After the closure of the team we did read on the ShanghaiDaily.com website of a pneumonic plague that had hit northwest China. The headlines read, "Plague claims life of a third man in Qinghai". This plague is spread through the air and can be passed from person to person through coughing. It is caused by the same bacterium that occurs in the bubonic plague. Therefore, it apparently was a serious condition and we are thankful our team members were able to leave the area before the situation became any worse. As we checked on line today it is our under-standing the quarantine has been lifted in the area and the virus did not spread.
Thank you once again for your thoughts and remembrances during these difficult days of unexpected change. The good news is that we know the One who was not surprised by any of these changes.
Please continue to remember the team in Qin'An, Gansu. They will serve through August 27th, begin the closure process and return home September 1st.
May each of you be blessed in your service to others wherever you may be!
Written August 10th by Gary Sutton and Janet Foskey
Weekly Report 13
Team # 4 Qin’An Gansu Province, China
Aug 24 – 28, 2009
As I write this last weekly report, I do so with a spirit of gratitude for the wonderful way our Master has provided for us during our time here in China. Despite several in our team getting sick with gastroenteritis this past weekend, this set back only lasted one day, which happened to be on Sunday, our day of rest. By Monday morning we were all feeling 100% and ready to get back into our routine. This past weekend also gave us the opportunity to attempt to westernize our diet with the preparation of gourmet omelets (not the reason for our gastroenteritis); which the team greatly loved and kept asking for more.
On the last report, we mentioned our young Chinese student friend, Jonathan, who has helped us with simple tasks around the trailer for the past month. Dave and Jenny went to visit his home in the country on Sunday, and in addition to his extended family, also met his first grade teacher at the elementary school, who still remembered him. It turns out that Sunday was the first day of school, with all the Chinese kids dressed up in their best. Jonathan had been reading the Word and other literature given to him by Dave over the past few weeks, and only in the last days had he begun expressing an interest in the life of faith. On Thursday he asked how he could come to personally know our Lord and after kneeling came to know the Father’s forgiveness and newness of life. We then spent the next 2-3 hours reviewing the Word and what it says about living in the Light. We all rejoiced in the strengthen bond of friendship and brotherly fellowship we could now enjoy with him, and plan to keep a correspondence with him by email in order to further strengthen this bond.
On Monday morning, we began our day of surgery with an accelerated plan of more than the usual six patients. We had decided to all drive back to Lanzhou, the capital on Gansu, on Friday morning and needed to finish our surgeries two days prior so that the trailer and supplies could be packed up and stored for next year. The hospital originally told us that there were only a few patients left for this week, so we anticipated the usual number, but like the phenomena of showing up at a store before it closes, several family members of the hospital workers and VIPs decided to show up at the final hour. On Monday we had a total of nine cataract surgeries with the same number on Tuesday, plus an emergency patient who had a de-centered lens implant with poor vision. With three doctors (myself, Lingping and Dr. Song), and two nurses and Cinderellas, we rotated to get the job done without any difficulty. Although the de-centered lens implant patient needed some special attention and extra time, I was personally thrilled to see her come back the next day with greatly improved vision and a smile that went from ear to ear. With these final patients, our total number of surgeries for this summer came to a grand total of 378, which included the two corneal transplants and this special lens implant repositioning and suturing.
Last night at the closing banquet, the hospital director, Dr. Zhong, expressed a special appreciation for the efforts of our teams, and especially applauded the fact that our efforts over the past 3 years in Qin’ An have resulted in nearly 1000 eye surgeries, and a visible role model for the rest of the hospital about how they all should approach the care of their patients. We are looking forward to coming back to Qin’An again next year.
We have appreciated sharing our experiences with you all, and wish to express our thanks for remembering us in your thoughts. As this is our last weekly report, we will no longer be accessible through the volunteer email address, and ask that you attempt to contact us individually or through the GANSU INC office. It has been a wonderful summer, and we can all be thankful for the way our Father has provided for our needs, and powerfully revealed himself to us through the many circumstances, stories and personal encounters with the Chinese...... until next year!
Written by Dr Ron Krueger for Team 4: Dr. Shi Lingping, Dave and Pauline Liukonen, Connie and Nellie Brand, Amy Wei, and Jennie Zhou.
