Lifted Out of Sickness

Written by: Celesta Bargatze

Esther, Celesta’s firstborn, accompanied her parents to Kenya as an infant. Celesta spent her time educating mothers how to prevent sickness from the home. The result: an entire year of health — the first in their lives.

One of the most powerful drivers in the cycle of poverty is disease or lack of access to health care. Even with access to health care and health insurance, illness and injury can set individuals and families back in every way. For those already struggling to survive, poor health can mean death either literally or the death of any semblance of a meaningful existence. I understood this reality on a new level when my husband and I lived with our 9 month old daughter in Africa for three months in 2007. When she developed bronchitis, a common childhood ailment, instead of paying more to go to the exclusive private clinic in the city, we took her to the same small clinic as our friends. Unlike my African friends however, this was something I chose. As we sat waiting in an impossibly long line—a line that I knew would not all be seen that day by the one doctor present—my heart broke. Not for my own daughter, but because of the despair I saw in the other mothers’ eyes who were waiting with babies too thin and listless to cry, who would probably be back again tomorrow.

Giving what little money they have to pay for treatment - only to forego buying food/vitamins/medicine for the rest of the family, thus leading to more malnutrition and more sickness - becomes an inescapable loop for families in poverty. Sitting there for hours in the hall of that small clinic on a wooden bench surrounded by people with no other options for care, I was reminded of Jesus’ admonition to care for the sick. On that day, holding my coughing and feverish baby daughter, all I could do was feel the weight of their pain and vulnerability. I would spend the rest of our time in rural Kenya teaching basic health care principles, nutrition, sanitation and childhood illnesses to the mothers I was staying with. A year later, they told us that this was the first year of their lives they had gone without illness.

There are varying reasons that our cooperatives in El Salvador fall ill due to migraines, and we are working to help them preventatively. With the Migraine Management Seminar that we led in November, It was important to us that we provide short term solutions to this issue along with long term ones. Here we were teaching them stretches and massages they could benefit each other with regularly. They loved it!

Jaimee Arroyo and Darby Sangrey, Family Nurse Practitioners at Hopewell Family Care, also acknowledge Jesus’ example of lifting up the poor and sick. Before Thanksgiving, they traveled to a small village in El Salvador and spent days teaching and caring for the community there. They gave the kind of care and attention typically available only to the wealthy. Listening to the struggles and common problems, they then taught seminars on common issues like migraines and gut health. They equipped attendees with ways they could prevent and treat themselves. Their listeners were ecstatic to be empowered to experience better health without feeling a dependency on overcrowded and distant clinics. Similar clinics have been held in our other three regions, with topics ranging from Reproductive Health to Dental Care. In following trips we have seen the fruit of these educational efforts as the poor have been able to thrive.

Jesus gives us many examples of healing the sick. Sadly, we often get lost in awe of the miracle of it and miss his surrounding actions. He touches them, he instructs them, he calls one daughter—education, empowerment, a sense of belonging are all part of Jesus’ healing. The people he healed experienced not only a momentary cessation of symptoms, but were lifted out of sickness to experience a restoration of life.

As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, let it be an impetus for us to remember his life. May we be just as moved by the plight of the sick. Enough that we are willing to give what it takes for them to be freed from the daily clinic lines and constant sickness. May Jesus’ light live in us as we follow his example bringing hope and healing to those most in need.