Zambia – Fifty-year-old Robyn had been in excruciating pain for nearly two months. She had tripped and fallen one day while walking down a steep hill, and now she could not put any weight on her left leg because of the pain.
In the area of Zambia where Robyn lives, there is a free clinic that serves several surrounding villages, but the clinic is not adequately staffed, and they have very few resources with which to treat their patients. Robyn visited this free clinic several times seeking help for the pain in her lower leg, but each time she was told that it was just a sprain and was sent home.
Rest did nothing to ease the pain that Robyn was in, and even if it did, she didn’t have time to sit around with her feet up – she had to work so she could eat! She was desperate to feel better, to be able to walk properly again, and to be able to work and go to the market for herself.
Finally, she made her way to a hospital that actually had an x-ray machine. The doctors then determined that Robyn had been living with a fractured bone in her lower leg for the last 6 weeks, and scheduled her for surgery.
Unfortunately, like many other health facilities in Zambia, this hospital was also resource poor. The surgeon had run out of surgical dressings, and medicine was also in short supply – the antibiotics that Robyn would need post-surgery to prevent infection were out of stock. Robyn’s surgery would have to be postponed.
But God provided a miracle for Robyn. A medical mission team from the U.S. was visiting a nearby mission clinic and had brought a variety of medicines and health supplies from MAP International. Staff at the mission clinic heard about Robyn’s predicament and volunteered to share the resources they had just received from MAP, so that Robyn could have her surgery.
Because of MAP’s donation, the mission team was able to provide the antibiotic and the dressings that Robyn needed post-surgery. This generous gift gave Robyn the ability to not only walk again, but also to provide for herself.
To give more people like Robyn the chance to experience health and healing, and the ability to live life to the fullest, visit map.org.
