On this our last clinic day of the Joy India 2006 Mission, we reshuffled the teams as three of our physicians had already departed the group.   Dr. Satish Rao, who practices in Delhi, was our organizer.   He had established three locations where we were to serve the people of Delhi.    As we awoke early to prepare for the day we received the news that Dr. Sonya Merrill had fallen very ill the night before and would be unable to join the teams.  

 At this point in the trip it would have been easy to allow an obstacle such as this to dampen the spirits of the group; however, we have seen God work in some miraculous ways on this journey and this day would be no exception.   

Since the three Delhi host locations had undertaken significant preparation for our visit (erecting tents, printing banners, promoting in their communities, etc.), we needed to field three teams but how?

The team administrators and others with ideas gathered together quickly after breakfast, prayed, brainstormed, prayed some more, then decided on a plan.    Two of our able and skilled team members (who were also very willing, open and flexible) were asked to assume the position of “doctor” while Satish would plan to shuttle between locations advising and assisting.   We were not aware but in the first location with a newly appointed surrogate doctor-for-the-day, the host location had asked three other local doctors to participate so we were absolutely fine.   

Satish was able to make his rounds to all of the clinics and we wrapped up the Joy India 2006 Mission seeing record numbers of patients and allowing God to prove to our team that He is sovereign and in control just when we are out of it!  

Today was a travel day from Bangalore to Delhi where the team has one more day of clinics planned. The team bid farewell to our wonderful hosts in Bangalore and departed in the early morning for India’s capital city and the home of our local team member, Dr. Satish Rao. On arrival we checked into our hotel and embarked on a 3-hour whirlwind tour of the city, taking in sites including Parliament, India Gate (a monument to British and India war dead), a shrine to India’s father Mahatma Gandhi, and the Fort in historic Old Delhi. Some chose to spend their evening shopping in Janpath, a bazaar near Old Delhi, while others returned to the hotel to rest in preparation for our final day of clinics on Friday.

The teams operated independently again today.  Three were based in Bangalore with Pastor Moses’ slum churches; these teams saw nearly 400 patients, many of whom were very poor. At one site they encountered a young boy whose entire family had perished from tuberculosis; one of the local churches has taken him in and is committed to providing him a Christian home. So many similar stories could be told; even though Bangalore is now an up-and-coming city with a booming information technology sector, the standard of living of the vast majority of its residents leaves much to be desired. Coexisting with $600-a-night luxury hotels are slums where families subsist on meager annual wages averaging $200.

The fourth team visited the Asian Christian Academy in Hosur, located about 90 minutes away in the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu. ACA is a theological college that was founded in Bangalore in the mid 1970’s by a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, Dr. Isaac John; after his untimely death in the 1990’s the school moved to Hosur under the direction of Dr. Joy George, also a DTS graduate. Since relocating the ministry’s vision has increased to encompass not only a fine seminary with students from all over India and south Asia, but also a large Christian school for grades K-12, an orphanage with 29 children, and the Agape Hospital. It was at this facility—modern and clean by Indian standards—that the team set up its clinic with the capable assistance of the hospital’s own nurses, doctors and pharmacist.

We were informed on our arrival at Hosur that a 20-day-old baby had been brought to the hospital for evaluation. This child was born at 7 months gestation to a young woman who had been married only 5 months before; her husband denied the child’s paternity and forced the mother to leave the home. Only if she killed the baby would she be allowed to return. Thankfully, one of the local pastors found out about this situation and arranged for ACA’s orphanage to accept the child into its care. The child was tiny, weighing just 4 pounds, with thin, wrinkly skin and spindly limbs. However, her cry was vigorous, she had been feeding well, and our pediatrician pronounced her healthy despite her prematurity. The most heart-wrenching sight was seeing the young mother walk dejectedly away from the hospital, leaving her firstborn behind and returning to a home where only suspicion and maltreatment awaited her. The child, on the other hand, is entering into a new life, one where she will be raised in the knowledge and love of God and the warmth and affection of a Christian community. The contrast could not be starker. We were thankful for the opportunity to participate in a ministry such as this.