Yesterday afternoon I went out with two new health building trainees, Lully and Claudine from Eastbury Baptist Church, Phoenix. Lully is a 49 year old woman whose parents were missionaries from India to South Africa, and Claudine is a young mother of two girls. Last week they learned the skills of blood pressure determination, central obesity and body mass index determination, and teaching and encouraging people with these problems, as well as referral. They are in a class of six, all capable of carrying out this ministry. We are getting them out quickly into the field for practice in combining evangelism and practical health outreach. Class runs from 0830 to 1230, and the afternoon and evening are open fro screening and outreach. These past two afternoons have been interesting. How much can be uncovered by even beginning health builders is amazing.
Among the people that were screened yesterday included three members of a Moslem family. The father S. is 44 and drives a bus, a stressful occupation here in South Africa. We stand in the front doorway of Claudine's apartment, with the smell of marijuana (commonly smoked by blacks and Indians here) in the air. S. flicks a cigarette and tells me about his work, as we look out at his blue bus parked in the grass in front of the row of tenements. Both he and his wife are overweight, and Claudine measures them carefully and demonstrates their waist to hip ratios and body mass indexes to them. The wife wants S. to get his pressure checked, and he is reluctant to have this measured. "I know it is normal, when it is high I feel weak and then I take a pill." We measure his pressure and it was in the high normal range. He was relieved to know this, and then told me that four years ago when he was 40 he suffered his first heart attack. He was supposed to have an angiogram after he was in the hospital for a week, but never followed up. Also, he is supposed to be on pressure and cholesterol medication, but does not take these. He is a smoker. We have an excellent interchange and he will be back to have his cholesterol and sugar tested when the ladies have learned these skills next week. Interestingly, he did not want any records recorded of this visit, as is our standard procedure. I wonder if he fears that his heart disease if known to the authorities would cause him to lose his bus driving license, and his livelihood. We will have much to address with him in future visits.Later, his 18 year old daughter came in for screening and asked how her dad was doing, and what his pressure was. We are teaching our lay health builders about confidentiality, and Claudine tells the daughter that he is doing fine but that she would have to ask him about his pressure herself. I learned today that S. uses his bus to drive people to a large praise and worship service on Tuesday nights, and that this Moslem man actually attended the service on occasion. He told his daughter that he liked the prayer in the service. Claudine plans to join this group on a Tuesday night. The Lord seems to be preparing this family for a closer encounter with Jesus, and our ministry of health building can be another means of making this connection real.
Yesterdays screening also turned up a severely high blood pressure in a 76 year old Hindu woman who has a popular prayer altar at her home. She was referred to her doctor and accepted our Christian prayers for health quite graciously, which was a real surprise for Claudine, the lay health builder.
Anita was screening with the health builders Kathy, Eva, and Maliga at the Phoenix Baptist Church clinic yesterday. They discovered a Hindu man with previously undiagnosed diabetes and elevated blood pressure. He was prayed for and referred for further care.
This afternoon we had an outreach at the home of Natalie, a fifty something year old "colored" woman who is from Eastbury Baptist Church. The coloreds are a group of people who are essentially mixed between European, African, and Malay ancestry. They are most common near Cape Town, but they sometimes married Indians, even though this was illegal under the apartheid system. The segregation of those days often placed Indian and Colored families near one another. Natalie is married to an Indian man.
Of the three men we screened this afternoon, all had elevated blood pressures. Two were previously undiagnosed. One was a 51 year old Hindu man, RR, who owns his own business. He appears strong and healthy but for a moderate paunch, but this belies his blood pressure. It was severely elevated at 188/112 and he was planning to jog 10K after this visit. He tells me that he knows that stress is causing this, and relates to me some of his business problems, which include fraud and deceit by others. I have no problem believing this earnest appearing man, and have seen my share of fraud and deceit in two years here in South Africa as well. He agrees to walk his 10K instead of running it and will be seeing a doctor tomorrow to check into this blood pressure. He accepts prayer in the name of Jesus Christ for his health and business concerns, despite the Lukshmi band about his wrist. This band signifies devotion to Lukshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth, very popular here in Durban.
Tomorrow I will be screening with Siyabonga, a young Zulu man who cleans the church and just lost his dad at age 71. When his father died of a stroke two months ago, Siyabonga inherited his job. This is a tradition in South Africa when a black domestic worker dies of AIDS or other causes. He has been a good student so far. He speaks quietly and has obviously suffered much in his life. His face and arms bear the traditional scars of initiation into Zulu manhood.Since his father has died, he is now in charge of the family, and is the only one working. Cleaning the Indian church is not a high paying job. He reads well, understands the use of tables to determine body mass index and waist to hip ratios, and takes blood pressures with confidence. The other health builders are scared to have me go to his place in the township of Mobeni, as the Indians are in general afraid of the Zulus. I don't want to miss the opportunity to share the gospel and screen these people with Siyabonga. The Zulu are mostly a lost people. I will go by day and pray that the Lord will keep me safe with Siyabonga.
As a missionary, it is always nice when the locals accept you and your work. Here is a note that we received today:
Dear Rick
Thank you for the wonderful Ministry you and your good wife are doing in our church. The group can't stop talking about you two. I have not seen such enthusiasm and zeal in those ladies ever, until now.
Rick, what you are doing is so needed in our community. Heart disease, high blood pressure, sugar diabetes is so common in our community, and your ministry is so needed. Thanks for the time and sacrifice you make for our church. We all pray for your Ministry and pray that it grows from strength to strength.
Richard Nathaniel (Pastor, Eastbury Baptist Church)
Well, we give all the glory to Jesus, who died for us. And we want to share his Gospel with people while they are alive to receive it. We would like to see them refreshed by this Gospel. We would like to keep them alive longer and healthier. We are seeing that Jesus through his church will bring healing to the lost, and we are his hands and feet here in South Africa.
Yours in Christ,
Rick Gutierrez