Adventist Mission

Showers of Blessings

Christy Shank is an Adventist physician serving at Malamulo Hospital in Malawi, West Africa.

Rainy season in Malawi yields fields of bright green maize. It also brings malaria and suffering. Our pediatric department is often filled with anemic, convulsing children. We average 55-65 inpatient kids per day during the wet season, but one day a clinical officer and I admitted 41 children in 10 hours! We routinely run out of blood from the transfusion service in town, so guardians are asked to donate. In efforts to control the hospital mosquito population, we just bought 100 bed nets.

We spent two days moving every single patient out of the wards in shifts so we could spray the interior walls with DDT. I wish you could have seen all the children sitting out on the lawns in their mothers’ laps, IV lines hanging from the trees. Thankfully we didn’t have anyone in labor during the time we moved our maternity ward or any emergency surgeries.

As I work, I find myself comparing how things were a year ago. And the result is encouraging. The hospital has paid off about $50,000 in old debt this year and still been able to purchase the medicines and supplies we need to care for our patients. We’ve had great volunteers from Malaysia, Romania, the UK, Mexico, Brazil, and Loma Linda University, including two big groups of students who bring wonder and enthusiasm to our everyday work. An advisory team from the General Conference was hugely supportive, both in evaluation recommendations and funding for specific projects. And Malamulo has been included in a large U.S. grant to upgrade our lab services over the next 5 years.

So I find much to be thankful for. I ask that you continue to pray for me in my role as medical director, that I can help make wise decisions for this hospital and that we will experience God’s peace and joy amid the everyday drama.

~Christy

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