"Wait for the Lord"

Psalm 27: 13, 14

I am still confident in this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

It was a wonderful affirmation of the Lamjung District Community Hospital, a ministry of Human Development and Community Services (HDCS), and the outstanding work of the hospital's staff.

First, in early June, Tirtha Thapa, Executive Director of HDCS, made a presentation about Lamjung Hospital (LDCH) in a seminar held by the Ministry of Health for its senior staff.The day after his presentation, part of the seminar participants took the 6-hour ride out of Kathmandu valley up another mountain range to the hospital. The group spent Tuesday afternoon and all day Wednesday at the hospital, viewing its operations, talking with staff, moving about the community and meeting with community leaders and others. They left on Thursday to go visit another hospital. Later each group member wrote up an individual report. Then the group met together and produced a group report. The following week the seminar participants gathered together again and the various sub-groups reported to the seminar.

The report by those who had visited Lamjung had both positive and legitimate negative things to say. The important thing, though, was that all of the report was on first-hand observation, on what individuals had seen with their own eyes and heard first hand from people in and around the hospital.

When the report began to praise LDCH, what it had to say was simply amazing.For instance, it reported that there was absolutely no discrimination on the basis of religion. This is actually an outstanding compliment, for discrimination based on religion, caste, gender, wealth, or even skin color is the norm in Nepal. It is simply the way society works here. But, if at the hospital, Christians, a minority, had been discriminating against Hindus, a majority that would have been intolerable, even though the opposite is often tolerated. In the Nepal context, the amazing fact was, though, that no discrimination whatsoever was found in the hospital.

Another observation was about the 30-minute devotions that the Christian staff of the hospital holds before work every morning.Anyone is welcome to attend, but no one is required to attend. For outside observers, though, the optional nature of attendance was hard to believe. Yet when the non-Christian staff was asked if they were required to attend devotions, they answered that, no, they were not required to attend. But they wanted to go anyway! They said that they found that the morning devotions inspired them to do their work well.

A third observation came from a research project, so to speak, of one of the group. He reported that he had asked the cleaners whose hospital LDCH was. He was expecting the person to reply that it was the government's or the district's, as LDCH is the district government hospital. Or maybe the individual would say that it was HDCS'. But, much to his shock, the individual said, "It is our hospital." "No wonder, then," the report went on to say, "that the individual did such good work cleaning the hospital. He had the lowest of jobs but he did it with excellence because he was, in a way, working for himself."

In his closing remarks of this meeting of 150 people, which included the Minister of Health and World Bank leaders, the highest-ranking police official said that, "truly HDCS operates LDCH by its specific vision ‘to be living witnesses of God's love.' As parents love their children so God loves His creation. And the hospital staff shows such love and care to the patients."

All of these observations were a great affirmation of the work of the staff at the hospital!

Then, on Sunday, August 20th a terrible thing happened – a patient alleged that a hospital employee raped her. The next Tuesday, angry rioters stormed the hospital and broke windows. First the Out-patient Department (OPD) and then the whole hospital had to be closed. With tears in their eyes, the Japanese missionary doctors later reported to the Kathmandu HDCS staff that they had to send some very sick patients back to their homes. Confusion, misinformation and lack of communication followed for a few days.

Tirtha and others went to the hospital by helicopter Wednesday, having been prevented from reaching there in a car by some of the local people the previous evening.While awaiting medical reports of what actually happened to the patient, Tirtha and the others met with the family of the patient and the alleged staff member. Meanwhile, the hospital board had to come to some kind decision to try to bring reconciliation to this situation. Back in Kathmandu, HDCS headquarters' staff set aside a day for prayer and fasting.

Slowly God's goodness began to shine in the darkness. The local community came together, including the highest police officer, and helped clean up the hospital. Some townspeople signed a statement to defend the hospital. The emergency room re-opened on Friday and the OPD, on Sunday, one week after the alleged attack.

God's goodness continued to shine in the darkness in that two of the first four patients to be seen in OPD on Sunday were a man and his wife. They had accidentally ingested poison. It turned out that they were the father and mother-in-law of the first young man to throw a stone at the hospital on the previous Tuesday. The value of the hospital to the community was reaffirmed.

God's goodness continues to shine as a group of people representing some of the groups of rioters came to the hospital and informally apologized for attacking the hospital.

The final chapter hasn't been written yet. We are still waiting for the long overdue medical report from another hospital on what happened to the young woman. We are waiting for a resolution of this matter. We will have to wait to see how this situation could possibly affect the renewal of this year's one-year extension agreement into next year for HDCS to manage this hospital.

The Psalmist's words from 27:13, 14 bring hope to me, Carole:

I am still confident in this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

I am claiming this promise of God for LDCH, the staff, and all those involved there—that the goodness of the Lord will be seen and that we all can be strong, take heart and wait for the Lord to finish the work in this situation.

Please join us in prayer:

• for emotional healing for the girl who said she was attacked,
• for the man alleged to have attacked her,
• for the staff of the hospital and the community;
• for the Christian staff that they may be the light through this darkness;
• for God's goodness to be seen in this situation.