A baby bilum outside the church
Papua New Guinea (PNG): Tui is 18 months old and like most 18 month olds, he takes naps during the day. In PNG, not every child has a crib or pack-n-play…in fact, hardly any do, instead they have a bilum, a string bag which moms use to carry their children around. If they don’t use a bilum, sometimes they just use a sheet to have the child sleep in. Most houses in PNG are just thatched roof, dirt floor houses. Moms don’t always want the children sleeping on the floor, so sometimes they hang them up on a post or hook, in the bilum or sheet, for them to sleep.
Tui was placed in a sheet and hung up to nap while mom went away to the river to wash some clothes. When she got back, Tui wasn’t sleeping in the sheet, he was hanging from the sheet being strangled. Mom ran in and got Tui down and brought him to the Kujip Nazarene Hospital Emergency Room.
When I saw Tui laying on a bed in the ER, he was seizing and posturing. Tui’s mother was visibly upset, feeling horrible for what happened. I wasn’t sure I had a lot of hope to give her, it looked pretty bad. I admitted him and we prayed that God and his youth would help to save this little boy.
Tui and his mother, leaving the hospital.
The next day, when I visited “A Ward,” Tui was awake, feeding and talking to his mom! I couldn’t believe it, God had saved this little guy! The following day he was sent home, even walking out with his mom.
This had the potential to be very very bad but praise God, the outcome was very very good. It isn’t everyday that we get to have such a happy ending to stories like this, but I am sure glad this one ended this way. – Dr. Erin Meier – Medical Missionary.
Please continue to pray for your medical missionaries in the highlands of Papua New Guinea as daily, they are presented with challenges where only God can make a difference…and in times like these…in answer to their prayers and yours…HE DOES! Pray also that through these opportunities, God will receive the glory and that lives will be won to the Kingdom as they see first-hand the God of miracles!
