Medical Mission
of Mercy

Dear Friend,

A TERRIBLE CIVIL WAR CONTINUES TO RIP SUDAN APART. Rival factions, armed and supported by foreign powers, are committing horrible crimes against the people as they wrestle for control of the country. In some areas, people are starving. In other areas—where there is relative peace—basic services are overwhelmed by the influx of desperate people who have fled their homes.

To help bring relief and hope into this dire situation, Samaritan's Purse airlifted an Emergency Field Hospital and staff members to southeast Sudan in mid-December to a city called Gedaref. Two to three million fleeing people have encamped in the region. Our medical team found just one overcrowded maternity hospital there to serve this massive population. Fifteen to 20 women were in labor in one room of just seven beds.

We quickly partnered with this facility and set up our tents right outside the back door. Our team began seeing patients on Christmas Day, and we now have a 12-bed labor/delivery area—with one woman per bed—as well as an operating room for emergencies. We've already delivered dozens of babies, including several by cesarean section.

We are also running an outpatient clinic at the same location, where a long line of women and children forms each morning even as temperatures climb into triple digits. Our medical team, working through the heat and the dust and the insects, usually sees about 100 people per day. Two inpatient wards—one for women and one for children—accommodate those who need additional treatment. Many are sick with parasitic diseases, dengue fever, malaria, chronic illnesses, and malnutrition.

Several things set our facility apart. Though the local hospital has excellent personnel, they lack both space and equipment. We are able to provide the space, catheters, IVs, beds, medications, and monitors that are needed. Even more important, our team has the freedom and ability to offer compassionate, one-on-one care to our patients, extending to them the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. In our labor and delivery room, there is a calm environment where doctors, nurses, and other staff members comfort and sincerely love on each patient. New mothers—and their mothers who often accompany them—are amazed and grateful. There are many smiles and tears of joy. One woman even gave our team a big high-five as she left. The patients all become part of our family in such a short time. We thank God for every opportunity to minister to them.

This is what Samaritan's Purse does. We bring relief to people in great need in Jesus' Name. As John writes, "Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth" (1 John 3:18).

Continuing Recovery in Carolina

Our teams are continuing to work hard to help those affected by Hurricane Helene. During the past few months, we have been joined by tens of thousands of volunteers who have been able to help over 6,000 homeowners in addition to providing food, water, and other basic necessities for thousands more. Most importantly, we praise God for the nearly 350 men and women who received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior!

However, there is still so much to do in the hills and hollers of North Carolina and Tennessee as residents are just beginning what will surely be years of recovery. This month Samaritan's Purse is jump-starting a program that will rebuild and repair stick-built houses to help families who lost their primary residence in the storm. We will also be replacing hundreds of mobile homes lost in the flooding. This is a slow process with many hurdles, so we would be grateful for your prayers.

Across the area, we also continue to find ways to meet immediate needs. To help bridge the gap for some homeowners who lost everything, we are providing campers as a temporary place to live. We recently delivered one of the first units to Howard Ray, a firefighter near Burnsville, North Carolina. Howard and his wife, Lisa, were in their family's mobile home when it was swept away by the Cane River. After floating hundreds of yards, they miraculously escaped through a hole in the structure, grabbed onto some barbed wire, and eventually crawled up a nearby riverbank. The couple and their children were grateful to receive the camper on New Year's Eve, thanking God for His faithfulness through this ordeal.

We will be busy rebuilding houses in many counties across the Blue Ridge of North Carolina and Tennessee for years to come. We need volunteers who can help with this work; please prayerfully consider responding. You'll have plenty of time to plan ahead, because we will be scheduling far in advance.

Please continue to pray for our response and new opportunities to minister as we help this region recover.

May God bless you in this new year!

Sincerely,
Franklin Graham