PRAYER FOCUS SPRING 2014
Week Commencing 2 March Mphatso Nguluwe, Director, Livingstonia Synod Aids Programme (LISAP), Malawi We give thanks for the successful launch of the Mziche Project. The efforts have been well received by village leaders, local churches and other organisations and many of them are now participating in the project through regular stakeholder meetings. In the first three months of the project 10 mother buddies were trained, and were able to support 42 pregnant women. Give thanks for all their efforts and pray for the mothers they are helping. Training of mother buddies continues and we thank God for those who are willing to be part of this work. LISAP has developed its plans and budget for 2014 during the annual planning and evaluation process. Pray that God should grant us the wisdom and means to fulfil these plans. Most of the communities where we work are in hard to reach areas and often vehicles get stuck, leaving staff stranded. Pray for their safety and protection, particularly when travelling at night. This is a lean period, most people are hungry. It is difficult to see them in such a situation, particularly as people living with HIV are worse off as food is a prerequisite to taking their drugs.
Week Commencing 9 March Andi and Sheba Eicher, Jeevan Sahara Kendra (JSK), India For praise: Thank the Lord for our first batch of young people from families affected by HIV who have successfully completed the 15 lesson Character Development / Life Skills course. This interactive course comes from our friends at Shalom Delhi who have developed it and trained our staff in it. We are grateful that the long-running renovations at the JSK Community Care Centre in the old Lok Hospital building are finally complete! Thank you EMMS International for helping us spruce up the building in such a wonderful way! Thank Jesus for each member of the JSK staff team. They so often have to see some of the worst parts of people’s lives – and yet each one of the team continues to press forward out of love for Jesus and for their neighbours, especially those with HIV/AIDS. For prayer: We continue to seek out God’s appointed nurses to help us make the best use of the wonderful inpatient facilities that we now have. Pray that we will see a breakthrough and be able to have 3 well-trained and godly nurses join us soon! Our work with very sick people with HIV means that we are increasingly coming in contact with people who are infected with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis . In January, we cared briefly for a young woman with extreme-multidrug resistant TB. Please pray for protection for our staff and for breakthroughs in healing for our friends suffering from these complicated forms of TB.
Ask the Lord to keep helping us improve our Positive Friends adherence to their AntiRetroviral Therapy. We want to see a dramatic increase in adherence rates – but it is hard because many of our Positive Friends struggle with issues like alcohol addiction. Pray that God will use JSK to develop good, simple ways of improving ART adherence in the community.
Week Commencing 16 March Joe Cooney, Office Manager, EMMS International
“See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.”
Song of Solomon 2:11-12
“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.” - Rachel Carson (US Conservationist) EMMS International supports several Palliative Care projects in India and Malawi. For us Palliative Care is the accepted norm but in India and Malawi it includes ensuring that people die with dignity and pain-free. The obstacles to be overcome include superstition and prejudice, difficult transport links, poverty and lack of painkilling drugs. Please pray for everyone involved in providing support within this area of work. The Trustees of the Board of the Directors of EMMS International meet regularly throughout the year. Give thanks for the members of the Board and the important work they do in governance of the organisation.
Week Commencing 23 March Lakhnadon Christian Hospital, Madhya Pradesh, India For praise wWe w praise God for the new water tank on the campus, which solved the water problems in the hospital, as well as in staff residences. wWe w praise God for His guidance and protection throughout the year 2013. w w We praise God for enabling us to carry forward even in the midst of ups and downs of the hospital. wWe w praise God for successfully guiding us through legal cases. wWe w praise God for providing us funds through well wishers from U.S. for a new dental chair along with the X-ray machine. For prayer wWe w need more committed doctors to join the hospital. wFor w pending court cases. wFor w hospital boundary wall to be constructed so that we can more easily maintain the campus and security. wWe w need funds for purchasing medical and surgical equipment so as to provide more facilities for patients. This would prevent patients having to travel large distances to other hospitals. wThe w glory of God in community through the hospital services as well as through project work being carried out in the community. wFor w pending hospital registration and drug license. wFor w the spiritual growth of all the staff.
Week Commencing 30 March Madhipura Christian Hospital, Bihar, India We pray for the staff of Madhipura Christian Hospital. We give thanks for their dedication to care for the local community. We recognise their sacrifice; many of them are living in substandard accommodation - putting their own health at risk to serve others. We pray, Lord, for the new project with EMMS International to build new and renovate current accommodation for the staff of Madhipura. This accommodation will give the staff a place of comfort, rest and security that they so desperately need. We pray that, through this, more staff will come to work at the hospital, and that as a result the hospital will be able look after more people. The hospital currently has only 25 beds, with additional staff we hope to double that. We give thanks for those who work so hard at Madhipura hospital, and we pray that many people would give and pray sacrificially for these essential improvements to be made.
Week Commencing 6 April Col. Boby Joseph, Duncan Hospital, Bihar, India We pray for the communities that we serve, and we seek to engage with them, in order to tackle the root causes of hospital admissions. In particular we pray for: wAn w end to domestic violence. wFreedom w from alcohol addiction. wImproved w social status of women and an end to child marriage. We also pray for the hospital staff as they go about their work. We think especially of their safety as they travel around local villages and stay in remote areas.
We pray that obstacles would be removed in order for us to be successful in our work. We ask for the necessary resources and positive relationships with local official which are essential to our work. Currently roads are very bad, and so we pray for an improvement in the local infrastructure so that people can get access to the healthcare they deserve. We ask that corruption would no longer prevent the relief of suffering for people in Bihar.
Week Commencing 13 April Mulanje Mission Hospital, Malawi We give thanks for the continued work of Mulanje Mission Hospital. Give thanks for the many volunteers who help to care for people in the surrounding villages. Long serving volunteers had a refresher course so that they can deliver more effective care to patients. 74 people have been trained so far. The 120 remaining volunteers will be trained soon. Pray for these volunteers, that they will be encouraged by their training to persevere in this essential work. Nutrition is key to good health, particularly for people living with HIV. The team have been carrying out cookery demonstrations and community garden training to help improve nutrition. Pray for those attending the training that they will take what they have learned and apply it for the benefit of themselves, their families and their communities.
“ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.� 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Week Commencing 20 April Saira Paulose, Shalom Aids Project, Delhi, India For prayer: wThe w upcoming evaluation of Shalom (28th April to 3rd May 2014) wPray w for Sapna, who is attending church along with one of our nurses. wThe w church volunteer mobilisation programme. That the churches will be open to caring for the marginalised groups in Delhi and other parts of North India. wThe w training scheduled for this quarter. For praise: wPraise w God for the life change in Sapna and for her enthusiasm to read the Word. wFor w the adolescent boys and girls who graduated from the Life Skills education and Character development program and also for the testimonies they shared, along with their parents, about the positive impact the program has had. wFor w the eagerness of the six churches to learn about and get involved in social development activities in their neighbourhood.
Week Commencing 27 April Student Elective Bursary Programme We give thanks for the recent growth of the SEB grant system. EMMS International offers bursaries to assist medical, dental, nursing and therapy students (e.g. physiotherapy, occupational therapy) who are wishing to undertake an elective in a mission hospital overseas. Give thanks for the valuable work that these students do while on placement. We pray that the staff and patients at the mission
hospitals, as well as the students, benefit from each placement. We pray for students preparing their applications for summer placements, for the hospitals that they will visit, and for wisdom in adminstering the grants.
Week Commencing 4 May Dr Ann Thyle, Palliative Care Service, Emmanuel Hospital Association, India 1. Pray for the new palliative care (PC) service at Prem Sewa Hospital, Utraula, Uttar Pradesh started in October 2013. We need another committed nurse. Pray for Roopsari, the nurse who is presently heading the team as she is expecting a baby in June, for her protection and safety. 2. Pray for progress in implementing a palliative care service at Chhatarpur Christian Hospital, Madhya Pradesh; for enough personnel and their training. 3. Praise God that Nurse Leela has rejoined the PC team at Harriet Benson Memorial (HBM) Hospital, Lalitpur, Uttar Pradesh after completing chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Pray for her continuing good health.
4. Pray for the PC and Kanti Care Centre teams at GM Priya Hospital, Dapegaon, Maharashtra where work has increased considerably after re-opening the care centre for HIV positive patients. In the first month they had 78 out-patients and 40 in-patients. 5. Praise God for completion of the renovation of the 104 year-old mission bungalow at HBM Hospital, Lalitpur, Uttar Pradesh that will now be a comfortable and attractive training centre. 6. Pray for those who travel extensively to mentor, encourage, monitor and evaluate all the palliative care services. In particular, please pray for our safety and much discernment to guide wisely.
Week Commencing 11 May Catherine Rawlinson-Watkins, Director of Fundraising, EMMS International EMMS International invites you to pray for those suffering from incurable diseases. The nurses and doctors in our palliative care services bring care to individuals and families when they are at their most vulnerable. This week we ask you to pray: wFor w staff, that they have words of kindness and wisdom as patients question the meaning of life and death. wFor w families, that they are supported in caring for their loved ones. wFor w those who are bereaved, that they find comfort. wFor w our Director of International Programmes, that she is guided in her conversations with partners, ensuring that we can reach out to the most vulnerable of people and be as constructive as possible. wFor w our palliative care pilot project in Malawi, that it is fruitful and leads to solutions for thousands of people who suffer in pain.
wFor w EMMS International, give thanks that we are blessed by working with the poor and the suffering across the world and have the opportunity to represent His love and tenderness.
Week Commencing 18 May Dr Jaishree Chouguley, GM Priya Hospital, Dapegaon, Maharashtra, India We praise God that funding for Kanti Care Centre (KCC) arrived and we have been up and running from 1st of January this year. Please pray that the government will allow the registered anti-retroviral treatment centre medical officer to refer patient’s to our KCC. We have sent a letter of request to the government and await their reply. Pray that the many people in need of care in our community will get to know about KCC so we can offer them the help they need.
Week Commencing 25 May Savita Duomi, Shalom Urban Development Programme, Delhi, India Please pray for Shalom’s Urban Development programme, working with local churches to help those in the poorest parts of Delhi. wPray w that the social outreach programmes started by the churches would run effectively and meet the needs of many people in their community. wPray w that we would be able to help the self-help groups started by the churches to develop income generation projects. wPray w for the young children from the churches who have been trained as peer educators as they plan to start character development programmes for their friends. wPray w that there would be more volunteers from each church who would be willing to get involved in serving their communities.
“If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 4:11
7 Washington Lane Edinburgh EH11 2HA Tel: 0131 313 3828 Email: info@emms.org www.emms.org
EMMS International is a charity registered in Scotland No SC032327. A company limited by guarantee. Registered in Scotland No SC224402.