Dr. Bill E. told us about a man he met living in a very remote village in the southern Siberian wilderness near the Mongolian border. There is no road to this village and it is only accessible by way of a river. The village has no electricity, no running water and no indoor toilets. To get there, the team flew 4 hours from Moscow to the nearest airport (about 1,900 miles!), then drove 2 hours to the nearest town, then drove 2 more hours to the entry point of the river, and then the team paddled for one and a half days down river to get to the village.
That evening our Agape team went around the village to tell everyone that doctors had arrived to help them with their health needs. One of the locals, Sergey, couldn’t wait to see a doctor because his eyes were badly irritated. He made his way down the narrow footpath from his house toward the river bank where the team was camped. Half way there, he became fearful and started back up the trail to his house, but something nudged him to keep going. So once again he trod down the footpath and this time made it all the way to the camp. Dr. Bill E. tells what happened next.
“We invited him to tell us what was bothering him. He related that for the past month his eyes had been red, sticky with pus and irritated. It was clear that he had a bacterial conjunctivitis. Now in Canada this is an extremely simple problem to treat. The doctor writes a prescription and the patient goes to the pharmacy, often in the same building, gets the antibiotic eyes drops and starts the treatment. But for Sergey this would be a big problem. He would have to retrace our travel a day and a half up river to get to the nearest road, and then it would be another 2 hours by car to the nearest town with a pharmacy. Not only was there a distance problem, there was also a money problem. Sergey is retired and has a very limited income. For him it would be very expensive to get to the pharmacy and then he would also need to buy the medicine.
“When I went over all this in my head, I realized that it would be very unlikely that Sergey could get the medicine he needed. I had brought an antibiotic eye drop just in case I needed it. I got it out of my bag and showed him how to put a few drops in each eye and gave him the bottle to complete the course of treatment. Now he was even more grateful.
“Then we gave him a Gospel bracelet and began to share with him about how much God loves him. We talked about having a wonderful life with Jesus for now and eternity. Moved by the Holy Spirit, he repented and received Jesus Christ as his Savior. We talked with him about praying and reading the Bible regularly. On reflecting on how he came to see us, he said, ‘Now I know it was God who brought me here!’”
That evening our Agape team went around the village to tell everyone that doctors had arrived to help them with their health needs. One of the locals, Sergey, couldn’t wait to see a doctor because his eyes were badly irritated. He made his way down the narrow footpath from his house toward the river bank where the team was camped. Half way there, he became fearful and started back up the trail to his house, but something nudged him to keep going. So once again he trod down the footpath and this time made it all the way to the camp. Dr. Bill E. tells what happened next.
“We invited him to tell us what was bothering him. He related that for the past month his eyes had been red, sticky with pus and irritated. It was clear that he had a bacterial conjunctivitis. Now in Canada this is an extremely simple problem to treat. The doctor writes a prescription and the patient goes to the pharmacy, often in the same building, gets the antibiotic eyes drops and starts the treatment. But for Sergey this would be a big problem. He would have to retrace our travel a day and a half up river to get to the nearest road, and then it would be another 2 hours by car to the nearest town with a pharmacy. Not only was there a distance problem, there was also a money problem. Sergey is retired and has a very limited income. For him it would be very expensive to get to the pharmacy and then he would also need to buy the medicine.
“When I went over all this in my head, I realized that it would be very unlikely that Sergey could get the medicine he needed. I had brought an antibiotic eye drop just in case I needed it. I got it out of my bag and showed him how to put a few drops in each eye and gave him the bottle to complete the course of treatment. Now he was even more grateful.
“Then we gave him a Gospel bracelet and began to share with him about how much God loves him. We talked about having a wonderful life with Jesus for now and eternity. Moved by the Holy Spirit, he repented and received Jesus Christ as his Savior. We talked with him about praying and reading the Bible regularly. On reflecting on how he came to see us, he said, ‘Now I know it was God who brought me here!’”
