Medical Missionaries October 2023

Rwanda: Judy Corcoran, NP is a long-time volunteer with Medical Missionaries. The Manassas team helped Judy pack up medical supplies for her recent trip to Rwanda in Central Africa. Here is her story:

Our team consisted of nine people from the US, Rwandan medical staff, lab technicians and pharmacists. Additionally, five Rwandan medical students served as our translators.

Once in country we traveled 4 hours outside the capital of Kigali to the village of Nyamagabe, which is located 6,000 ft. in the mountains in the Southwest sector of Rwanda. A substantial portion of this village’s population suffered and died in the 1994 Genocide and remains one of the poorest regions in Rwanda.

A government health facility provided our team with six rooms so that we could focus on providing care in Pediatrics, Women’s and Men’s Health, Laboratory, Pharmacy and Triage.

Every morning 200-300 villagers were waiting to be seen. While they were waiting they enjoyed worshipping in song, word and faith. Each villager was followed up by a visit from a local Pastor. While they enjoyed both music and preaching, team members would greet them. A chart would be developed for each person so that they could be triaged and then assigned to the appropriate clinic area that could address their needs. In 5 days of clinics, our team assessed and treated over 1,149 people.

I served in the Pediatric Clinic along with another Nurse and our Rwandan translators, Grace and Bella. We saw high numbers of skin diseases including tinea, scabies, fungal infections and amoeba intestinal parasites. Several significant health issues were observed including Cerebral Palsy (attributed to trauma at birth), abandoned children and Downs Syndrome. We transferred critically ill children to the local hospital for further testing, evaluation and treatment.

In a show of support for our work, village leaders such as the Vice Mayor and the Director of Health visited our clinic.

The week was awesome! I loved working alongside our Rwandan colleagues and seeing lives transformed, both physically and spiritually. I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity which only became reality because of so many who prayed and provided financial support and other gifts and supplies. Thank You!

MESS (Medical Equipment and Support Supplies) Ashburn, Va, ECHO and the Knights of Columbus, St. Veronica’s Church in Chantilly, Va. came to the Manassas office with medical equipment and supplies, including food from ECHO.

Rocklick Food Pantry, Grundy, Va: The Medical Missionaries truck, fondly known as the Beast, drove to Roanoke, Va. on October 17th to meet the folks from the Pantry. The trailer was packed with non-perishable food for the Rocklick Food Pantry and gifts that we have been collecting for the Grundy Holiday Gift Drive.

We are very thankful for friends such as Debra and her women’s group, Carolyn L, Desi and George, Dan, Bill and Sherry and so many others who stop in to bring items that the Rocklick Pantry needs. We are also grateful to volunteers like Jonathan, Bob and Justin who helped packed the Beast for the trip.

Local Community: The Manassas office is open six days a week. Everyday cars, vans and trucks stop by to bring us medical equipment and supplies, which are used for the local community as well as for shipments to other countries. Our donations for local people in need has increased. These supplies come in at a steady pace, are packaged, labeled and stored for distribution. But our most critical need continues to be non-perishable food, for the Rocklick Food Pantry.

Community Volunteers: We are very grateful for the volunteers who help us keep the office open and busy. A special welcome to Desi and George, who are helping with the Grundy Holiday Food canned ham donations and have offered to drive the trailer to Roanoke for the Rocklick Pantry run.