LAMB NEWS – JULY 4TH, 2010

This newsletter is simply a report about one of our community chaplains.

One day earlier this year the chaplain was on his way to one of the LAMB community clinics when he saw a large crowd gathered at one of the intersections. He stopped and tried to see what had caused people to stop. In the middle of the crowd was a man. He was in a bad condition, had long, unwashed hair, dirty finger nails and torn clothes. He seemed to be mentally ill and did not speak clearly. The chaplain saw a big wound on his shoulder, which looked infected.

In his heart the chaplain felt that God gave him courage to help this man. He asked the crowd ‘Where does he come from? What happened? Has he eaten?’ No one could answer his questions. ‘Does someone have water and soap? The chaplain asked. The people didn’t seem to know what to make of his questions. No one wanted to touch the man or even come closer.

The chaplain gave some people money to get soap. And after some time a lady brought a bucket of water. The chaplain and some others washed the man from top to toe.

And then it was amazing: someone got a barber to cut the person’s hair and trim his beard, another brought a nice pair of trousers and yet another a Punjabi shirt. The fingernails were cleaned and cut and after a short while one could hardly recognize the man.

The people asked the chaplain ‘Why do you do this? Is he a relative of yours?’ ‘No’, said the chaplain, ‘I just know that this man is God’s creation. God loves him. God wants us to see people through his eyes and he wants us to help those in need’. And he quoted verses from the Qur’an and the Bible. Everybody was listening.

Later the chaplain got some medicine from a pharmacy for the man, while one of the onlookers took the man into his house to feed him.

The chaplain was still beaming, when he came back to tell us this story.

This could have happened in many countries around the world. It is reported here, just to show another of the differences that LAMB is trying to make.

LAMB NEWS - MAY 21ST, 2010

LAMB NEWS – MAY 21ST, 2010

Apologies for missing two monthly newsletters. It has been a bit busy at LAMB.

The full rainy season is getting close – the more than 5 months of dry season came to an end with a bang a month or so ago. Huge spectacular thunderstorms over three nights, and very high winds killed about 150 people across a narrow strip of India and Bangladesh. LAMB was lucky. Serious damage was limited to our telephone system hit by lightning – about US$ 3,000 worth of damage

The hospital is mainly fine, but we are now without a general surgeon. The LAMB surgeon for the past 6 years – an outstanding surgeon, and also a great Christian teacher and mentor with a long life of missionary service behind him – is back in the US . We still have consultants for Caesareans and gynaecological operations, but the broad range of work that the general surgeon did – including such things as appendectomies, burns treatment and skin grafts, cleft lip and palate repairs, amputations and tumor removals – we cannot do. LAMB has been in this position before, but it is obviously not welcome. We are looking urgently both for short term cover and for a long term replacement.

Last month we had a big consultation session with representatives from communities that LAMB serves. Clearly they think that we are very competent – they would like us to build a Medical School to train doctors (which is truthfully way beyond us) - but they also gave us some ideas for non-medical improvements. What we have been doing, and will continue for a while yet, is to try and reduce registration waiting times, provide more seating, provide more information and help, and generally make their time at the hospital less hassle. LAMB is already quite good, but we know we can do better.

The Training Centre – freshly painted – is now overflowing with trainees, and two rooms in another building are now also in use for trainee accommodation. A very large proportion of the training at LAMB is maternity focused, and the huge need within Bangladesh can be judged by the fact that less than one in five births takes place with a trained person in attendance. With this great need, it is easy to understand why there is a lot of encouragement for LAMB to build a third floor on the Training Centre.

LAMB seems to be becoming a little better known. An article about LAMB, written by a medical student who came to LAMB for experience last year, has been published in the DFID (the UK equivalent of USAID) development magazine. One of the donors to the LAMB disability program has also asked for an article for their annual review. LAMB also now seems to be increasingly a potential partner for work programs because of the Training Centre, the research unit, and the community and hospital programs. We wait and see how far these interests develop, but it is a very active time.

This newsletter started with an apology for missing monthly newsletters. What has been keeping us busy? The hospital has been very busy. The Training Centre is overflowing. For the Community Health and Development Program we have needed to submit two - new for us - project proposals. We are developing plans for a Nurse Training Institute, for an extra floor on top of the Training Centre, and for a new housing block. The school is pursuing registration under the Bangladesh Government system. At the same time, we are finding out information for a major look at the future.

And at the same time as trying to serve the people better in all the above ways, we are also very actively looking afresh at what we should be doing as a Christian organization. We have been blessed with lots of talent and support and we feel we should be making best use of all that we have been provided.