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Blogging from Bolivia
Sunday, November 29, 2009
By: Michael Nyenhuis
More Than A Band-Aid Approach
MAP International President Michael J. Nyenhuis is spending the week
in Bolivia reviewing the organization’s programs there, with a special
focus on efforts to combat Neglected Tropical Diseases. He will update
this blog, Facebook page, and Twitter account as often as available technology will allow. Check back all week.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
I am on my way to Bolivia as I write this. A week visiting MAP International’s programs there will do two things for me.
- Force me to confront again the reality of genuine poverty and the
struggles of children and families who live a life so different than
mine.
- Marvel again at the strength of the human spirit to not only survive in difficult circumstances, but to thrive.
On the one hand, I will be depressed by the conditions I will see,
conditions of poverty faced by so many people in our world. On the
other hand, I will be encouraged, awed and filled with a sense of
wonder at the work of the MAP team, our community health promoters and
others who make life better for so many. They are the front line of
bringing health and hope to a hurting world. They really are doing what
Christ taught us by caring for one another.
I know I will return more encouraged than depressed. That happens every time I make such a visit.
A key goal of my visit this trip is to see the success of our
program to combat Chagas disease, one of the “Neglected Tropical
Diseases” that are the focus of MAP’s special campaign this year. (See
our special website at www.neglectednomore.org). We have made the disease almost non-existent in the areas we work. I want to understand how our team has done it.
I know this: they have done it by getting at the root causes of the
disease. That is what is special about our Bolivia team. They can put a
band-aid on when they need to, but mostly they are addressing illness
and disease by attacking the social, political, environmental,
emotional and spiritual reason the diseases exist in the first place.
You will see what I mean as I share stories this week.
Michael
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