“Can you help my daughter?” the mother asked me with pleading eyes. The village nurse was away, so she’d come to us.

I invited the lady and her little girl to sit on our veranda so I could assess the situation. After asking a few questions, I learned that the girl’s name was Nancy. A month earlier, she had been running along the road when she tripped in a hole, fell and scraped her leg. In the tropics, untreated wounds can quickly become ugly infected ulcers, and that was exactly what I was looking at. I washed the wound, dressed it and then prayed for Nancy. I knew that healing for this type of wound would not come easily without divine intervention. Since then, Nancy and her parents have been returning morning and evening to our veranda to have the sore cleaned and redressed.

My treatment of Nancy’s wound had a magnetic effect. Soon, it seemed that everyone with a sore was coming to me for dressings. Seyawa, one of our friends, brought his son who had fallen into a fire and received a second-degree burn on his chin.

I soon discovered that taking care of the medical needs of the Gogodala had some side benefits for me. Because people were initiating contact, it was an easy way to meet them. As I treated their sores, I developed a closer bond with them and a level of trust that may open them to spiritual truth in the future.
One day as I was changing the dressing on Nancy’s sore, a number of people were gathered on the veranda next to us, watching what was going on. As Nancy and her family were leaving, I noticed a small boy, Charmas, sitting on the bench holding his thumb. Charmas and another boy had been cutting branches in a tree when the other boy’s knife hit Charmas’ thumb and cut him deeply just below the nail. This was an injury that needed more than a band aide! I didn’t have the appropriate suture for a small thumb, but I cleaned the wound and told Charmas that he needed to go to the Balimo hospital. Steve had planned a trip to Balimo the next day, so I offered Charmas a ride in our dinghy. I splinted and dressed his wounded thumb and told him to bring his parents back with him to make final arrangements for the trip.

Finishing with Charmas, I turned around and saw an old lady sitting on our bench holding a rag over the bottom of her foot. Auwa (a respectful Gogodala term that means grandmother) had tripped and accidentally stepped on her bush knife, making a three-inch cut across the bottom of her foot.

So, just minutes after my first knife trauma, I was faced with a second one, and I wasn’t sure I could take care of it. However, because of Auwa’s age and the type of injury, I knew it wouldn’t do to tell her to go to Balimo for treatment. The suture needles I had were the right size for this job, so I prayed and then prepared to sew up the wound. As I worked on Auwa’s foot, I found out just how tough the soles of Gogodala feet can be! Walking barefoot all their life must have something to do with it. Believe me, it took a lot of muscle to push that needle through! Twelve stitches later, the wound was closed up.

This was not a clean, quiet operating room, either. Our veranda was more like a circus. As I tried to maintain a sterile field, people surrounded us and pressed in to watch and translate. At the same time, about 25 kids were playing games in the front yard. They made such a racket that I had to tell them to move their game elsewhere.
I finally finished bandaging up my patient and sent her home on the back of one of her grandsons. Since then, I have followed up with visits in her home, and her wound has healed up nicely. Praise the Lord!

Nancy continued to come twice a day for wound care. I made charcoal poultices to draw out the infection and had her drink charcoal slurries. It took longer than I thought, but the wound has begun to heal. Through this ordeal, she faithfully kept her appointments and always had a smile and a handshake for me. A friendship has developed between her family and ours.

Providing medical care to the Gogodala is boosting my knowledge of the language. Also, I’ve made some friendships that may have taken much longer to gain under normal circumstances. I thank God for using me to help these people and for blessing me with new friendships and insights into the language and culture.

The Gogodala have many unhealthy hygiene habits that negatively impact their lives. But the most important habits for them to learn are those that impact their eternal destinies. Jesus said, “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28). As important as medical work is, our focus as AFM missionaries is on the souls of these people.

I believe God will use us to reach Gogodala hearts if we remain faithful to Him. Please pray for us as we continue learning the language and seek to understand the Gogodala ways.

• Twitter