In his narrative, Dr. Michael Wolani recounts an eperience he had during the medical mission trip to Messamena where a heart was won.
During the health outreach in Messamena, one experience immediately comes to my mind. We received a lady in her sixties for a dental consultation one morning. She presented with a cheilitis and had been suffering from it for several years. Her attempts to remedy the condition had been in vain. To cope with the situation, she convinced herself that someone had done it to her using black magic. Her case was so uncommon that it put the entire team on the move.
After her dental consultation, she was sent to the lab for some workups, and from there she was directed to the medical team for further investigation. All these led to the prescription of the needed medication for her condition. The only immediate act the dental department could pose was oral cleaning given that her oral hygiene was compromised. Even so, it was not achieved given the pain she felt during the process. She finally left with her drugs being the only thing she could show for.
Later, on the last day of our program during the Sunday church service, I was marked by the lady’s participation in activities. She sang, prayed, and even danced like someone without any issues. Given that she sat close to the medical team, I had a chance to observe her, which I curiously did (while participating of course).
At the end of the service, she rushed towards the medical team and with a beautiful smile, greeted each one of us. When it was the turn of the dental team, guess what happened? She hugged each of us so warmly. That was when I remembered that despite all the struggle we had with her during the medical outreach, here she was, calm and relaxed as though we had won her over to the peace of Jesus.
That morning, I was convinced that though we had not completely won the battle against her condition yet, we had won her heart.
Dr. Michael Wolani
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