GO BACK

PROMOTING WELLNESS
by Mary Jo Dalton, Health Ministry Nurse
First United Methodist Church, Santa Monica, CA
www.SantaMonicaUMC.org :: (310) 393-8258 :: info@santamonicaumc.org

I am still basking in the glow of the beautiful country of Vietnam and its people. The officials who set the stage for this mission were gracious hosts and the recipients of the care were humble and appreciative. I kept your prayers with me in my Prayer Square as I helped screen the patients each day of the mission. A woman patient that I was helping seemed to convey her humanity at its deepest level through tearful eye contact with me. A man, a North Vietnamese Veteran said, “ Up until today I hated Americans, but now I see a different face of America.”

The mission was in its second week when I arrived. The team had been in small villages outside of Ho Chi Minh City the prior week. Ten physicians, two RNs and appoximately sixty others, mostly young adult Vietnamese Americans committed to helping their ancestors’ people, comprised the mission team. We were in the north just south of the China border at Cao Bang. It was a mountainous area. Rising jagged peaks covered with greenery served as a backdrop for terraced rice fields.

Using Cao Bang as our home base, we traveled up to 2½ hours (one way) to village schools where we set up our clinic and ministered to 500 patients daily. Cao Bang province is a farming area and many of its people belong to the tribal groups of Vietnam. This is one of the most needy groups of people in Vietnam by virtue of their remote dwellings and lack of supplies and medical care. These poor conditions are further worsened when the tribal people suffer from oppression spurred by myths and their ethnic minority status.

Our two dentists and a dental student attended to one of the most immediate needs which was for extraction of infected teeth. Another great need was met when many children with congenital heart disease were referred for surgery. Good Samaritan pays for the surgery of these children and flies them and a relative to a hospital in Hue or Ho Chi Min City.

I fell in love with the Vietnamese people and was impressed with their kindness to each other. Many of them walked several kilometers to the clinic each day. This may have been the first time a missionary group was in this remote area. As a thank you for our work, the people entertained us with cultural songs and dances of their people.

Meanwhile, back in Hue my husband along with ten other specialists were connecting with their Vietnamese counterparts and much information was exchanged. There was an exchange of gifts as well. Medical equipment was given to the Vietnamese Medical School and in return the people presented our doctors with crafts and artwork of their country.

The mission was a success in many ways. Needs were met, emotional wounds were healed and a spark was ignited for peace and justice in the hearts of the missionaries who so generously conveyed God’s love to the people of Vietnam.