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Mission to Afghanistan
Practicing medicine in the 18th Century
member of Northwood Church in Keller, Texas
Have you ever wanted to step back in time and perform modern-day medicine in the 18th or 19th century? Have you wondered what you would discover? Medical teams from Keller’s Northwood Church leave every month for Afghanistan—the land of Gunga Din, the Kyber Pass, and the Silk Road—and bring medical and dental care to ailing people in outlying villages.
These teams treat patients who never have seen a dentist and handle medical problems viewed only in textbooks. They treat rickets, scurvy, and other ailments that can be cured—and some that cannot.
It’s difficult to believe that C-sections are performed without anesthesia, and umbilical cords are cut with dirty sheep-gutting knives, but it is all too true. As a grandmother of five and a former labor and delivery room nurse, my aim is to teach women sanitary birthing techniques to improve the 25 percent death rate of mothers and their newborns. The Afghan culture dictates that women must travel with each team in order to treat the females.
The need for medical workers is desperate. Twenty-five percent of all Afghan children die by age four. There is one doctor for every 50,000 people, and 65 percent of them never receive health care.
In the seven villages Northwood has adopted, volunteers work in a first-rate mobile medical clinic that has a fully equipped pharmacy, dental room, and eye clinic stocked with 5000 prescription glasses. An additional goal is to provide $25,000 per community so each village can build a clinic and schoolhouse. Three are now funded. The tribal elders have promised that 25 percent of students will be girls.
Northwood has the active support and cooperation of the Bush administration and the United Nations. The Pashtoon people want us to come, but we cannot do it alone. This is medical care at its most appalling, and we need your help. As one tribal leader said, “Allah is with the poor people, and you [Northwood] have come to serve the poor.”
If you are interested in assisting but can’t leave your practice for two weeks to help, tax-deductible contributions are much needed. Each team member supplies $2500 in travel expenses. For more information, contact Sandra Millett at SMillett@aol.com or 817-430-0687.
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