At one point in the meeting Billy asked if he could tell us an amazing story. The background for this story involves a little bit of explanation about Union Biblica.
Union Biblica is a faith based organization that has worked in Peru for over 50-years. They are involved in a number of programs and projects. From schools outreach to medical missions - they have a wide variety of ways that they are making a difference in the lives of some of Peru's poorest citizens.
Their medical work is strongly based out of the jungle and the city of Iquitos. They operate two medical and dental ships, decommissioned navy vessels from Scotland. They use the ships to bring health care services to isolated communities along the Amazon River and the tributaries of the Amazon.
A couple of weeks ago one of the ships was out on a campaign. The captain of the ship noted a small village along the banks of the river and asked the program director if the ship could stop in the community. The director informed the captain that the community was not on their schedule and that they had a full itinerary of communities where they were needed. For whatever reason, the captain persisted in his request for the ship to stop. The director conceded and the ship moored to the banks.
Within minutes of docking a small child was brought on board. He made been bitten by a very poisonous snake. A snake with such ferocious venom that Peruvian doctors report that a human being only has 48-hours before they will succumb to the poison if an antidote is not administered.
As luck would have it, the ship had two anti-venom vials on board. The anti-venom is very expensive and it was quite unusual for them to have two vials, the exact prescription needed to save the life of this boy. Thankfully they were able to administer the medication and stabilize the young child's life before transporting him to a hospital in Iquitos.
As it turns out, the woman that brought the boy on board the ship was not his mother. She was not a relative of any kind. She was a person who saw a need and responded to that need.
Apparently, the boy had been bitten by the snake some 36-hours before being brought to the ship. The boy, an orphan in this small indigenous village, had been abandon by the village. Fearing, I guess, that there was nothing they could do to help the child, the villagers had transported the boys body to an area in the jungle outside of the small town. This woman, the good Samaritan who brought the boy to the ship, happened upon the boy.
It was by pure fate that the ship pulled into this small village at that exact time. Today, the boy is living in one of Union Biblica's homes for abandon children. This story, and the power of the "unknown" (of fate) to overcome all of the seeming obstacles, is truly profound.
This is story is representative of the miracles that happen everyday.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment