COMPASSION INTERNATIONAL

It seems that my calling for this particular deployment is one of social work in addition to the "other stuff" we do. At times I seem to be the only one who cares about the people and not just what we can milk out of them. I know that's not the case for we have people who care but I think they are guarding their heart so to speak. We can understand that as Christians, and it is scriptural too, except in order to share Christ's love we must be willing to be some what vulnerable. It is threatening to leave yourself vulnerable. As long as what someone is doing is within the structure of scripture God will take care of children as they go forward into threatening situations. Threatening both physically, spiritually and emotionally. Deb and I have lived this many times before, and God has always been faithful. I only wish I had a camera for some of the occasions we came into OTW. As we waited to hear news from Dr. Gaffney regarding Abdalla, God has used us in more areas of need. Funny thing is, meeting the needs of the people we run into OTW isn't really our job or objective. We are not a "humanitarian mission" although we fulfill that mission more often than not. How can we not when you meet people who have need? What kind of heart, what kind of person, can just turn away without feeling compassion for hurting people?

Not too long ago we visited a village where the Sheikh had asked for help regarding several children ages 7 to teens both boys and girls. The complaint was vision trouble. I called my friend at the medical clinic to see if I could barter and impose upon them to see some kids. He said yes but no more than three because of a full day. So we called the Sheikh and I told him to only bring four kids (yeah I know, but would you expect anything else from me? LOL). We gave them the time and location to meet us. By the way, this is unprecedented for our unit (would you expect anything different from me? LOL) so we are blazing new trails. After all of the arranging and these people traveling with their kids to be examined, I received a late email stating "plans had changed and the kids could not be seen that day due to a DV surprise visit". Unfortunately, the patients were already there, over an hour early and with eight kids instead of four. Well, one thing I didn't know was how Iraqis interpret things. I was pan icing at this point because of the ramifications of this change in plans. So I called the only person I could, our Air Force doc. Dr. Hook is "off the hook"! He dropped everything and agreed to help us. Not one to take "no" for an answer, off we went. And there we were, greeted by many smiling faces except for my clinic friend who cancelled us. So with hat in hand and kids tagging along (it helps to have props during times like these) we went into the clinic. Since I brought an 0-5 LTC Doctor with me and Dr. Bunning is a retired AF 0-6, I knew it was in the bag. The clinic doc was running around like crazy because of the change in plans but when he saw Doc Hook he asked the million dollar question, "what do you guys need". yeah, that's what I'm talkin about! So we told him and he graciously obliged us, button holing Dr. Hook of course to lend a hand and examine a few other patients as well. Too funny! What goes around comes around I guess. So there we were, with eight kids and over two hours of exams.

The other patients were one 7 year old boy with a bad skin disease that caused blistering of about 90% of his legs and some of his arms. Another case was a boy who was shot in the face. They had to reconstruct his jaw with hip bone so he walked with a limp. The sad part is he has no lower lip and he has been that way for a while. Dr. Bunning is going to help put him back together.

We found out during our patients exams they have a genetic disease that if untreated will cause blindness. Four of the kids already lost vision in one eye and it cannot be reversed. Luckily, the docs are going to help them with treating the other eye so they can at least maintain vision in one. Timing is everything it seems. If they waited too much longer they would be totally blind. The other kids are beginning to show signs of losing their vision. It appears they will be okay. Doc Bunning is scheduling an Opthomology team to visit the clinic and he will have the kids return for treatment and most likely surgeries. At the end of the day, thanks to Deb and my brother George, we had soccer balls to hand out. One kid quipped, "we will kill four lambs for you" thank you for the footballs." Funny little dude! No doubt though, when my counterparts return to their village they will be welcomed with open arms. It always seems to be true, if you take care of people who have serious need, you win a friend for life. All the soccer balls and cases of water in the world cannot replace saving someones sight, healing someones child, rescuing someone from a life of suffering. We will never know how far a little compassion will go, covering my counterparts and other coalition forces from harm. Thank God for Doctor Hook and Doctor Bunning. They saved lives that day.

A second village we visited the same day we met the kids with vision trouble, I was approached by one teenager. He showed me his foot which the skin was cracking to the point of bleeding and his feet were in bad shape. The foot was infected and he needed treatment. Most of these people especially the kids either run around barefoot or with sandals. Man that has to hurt! These kids have the toughest feet I have ever seen and they are huge too. Iraqis seem that have the biggest feet in the world. The boy's father, who happens to be the Sheikh's brother, told us the boy has diabetes. Not a good thing as I guess you can imagine. I always carry a first aid kit with me and replenish it regularly. I gave the kid some gauze, a bandage and antibiotic cream. This was the second visit to this village. The first visit by another team did not receive a warm welcome. We told them we would call them with information about visiting the clinic. I contacted my friend who arranged for the boy to be seen. A couple of days later we met them at the clinic and the docs (yep, Doc Hook went with us again) examined him. This time we went into the surgical area. What a setup. And I found out that Matt Roloff from Little People Big World was there several months ago with a kid from Baghdad who was a dwarf. An Army guy who also has a child back home suffering from dwarfism and the medical ramifications of such a condition, came across this family while on patrol in Baghdad. He befriended them, contacted Matt Roloff and the next thing they knew, Matt was in Iraq, just down the road from where I work, helping this child. The child, thanks to Dr. Bunning, received a much needed surgery. And of course, the Soldier who made the connections is a Christian. Interestingly enough, due to Abdalla's condition he is stunted in growth and I guess could also be considered a "little people". However, the docs say once they do the surgery, his legs may grow and he could sprout up quickly. That's a good thing and a bad thing. Once he begins to grow the plates will have to be adjusted which means more surgery and more rehab. Eventually he will stop growing and hopefully can then sustain a somewhat normal life. Anyway, I thought that bit of info might be of interest.

The next case which came to us in rapid succession was a young adult male, the son of a village elder, who is suffering from cysts on his liver. We were having a fairly nice meeting but the village elder, who I had met before, was frustrated that other villages were receiving the much needed water tanks and purification systems but his village has not for several years now. The last visit to the village I did not go but one of the bosses did. He brought back a list of things the village needed in order to enhance their quality of life. One of the things was a request for assistance obtaining 1000 feet of water hose. Hmmm, water hose in Iraq? It's not like people are going to go to the local Home Depot and buy garden hose to water their rocks. They have no lawns here. At least in this part of the country. Determined to change the minds and eventually the hearts of those in that strategically placed village, I and our admin person, set out on a mission to hunt down water hose. And we ran into brick walls every time. No one anywhere had any hose. But then, we got lucky. We stopped by our CE/Suppy folks and ran into the NCO who just happens to run the shop. We told him what we needed. Nope, no hose sorry. That was a last resort. Except that he remembered our request and when he received a shipment of hose from an order placed a year ago, he gave us a call. "I have the hose you requested." So off we went to pick up our hose. The only problem with that, he thought we meant one 50' hose. Hmm, okay, only 950 feet to go! When we told him how much we needed, the look on his face was priceless. So after some begging, (this guy is actually pretty cool and he gets it) he gave us a box of 6 hoses, that's 300 feet! So, only 700 feet to go. We visited him again a couple of weeks later to give him an OSI challenge coin for all the work he ahd done for us, above and beyond. And yep, I was able to score another case of hoses. Now we have 600 feet. Sweet! SO I jokingly asked the admin person if we could try and get another case, knowing all too well I was pushing the limit with her. After all, it was her reputation that was on the line and I didn't want to subject her to problems down the road. So a few weeks went by and we were preparing to take the village the 600 feet of hose, better than nothing I guess. So in the mean time, the village elder brought his son to the clinic and yep, Doc Hook and I met them there. Dr. Bunning examined the son and diagnosed that the son's condition was potentially life threatening. He scheduled a follow up exam for three days later. They returned to the clinic three days later and Dr. Bunning did an ultrasound and looked at some old xrays. The son does have cysts in his abdomen and at least one small one on his liver but not as critical as first thought. The son had a huge scar across his stomach from a previous surgery. He complained of some abdominal discomfort. All in all, Dr. Bunning felt the son was not in any immediate danger as first thought. They received dis-information from an Iraqi doctor that had them very worried. They were relieved to find out the son was in no immediate danger. And of course I told the village elder we scored some hose for them, which would be dropped off at their village in the near future. But the story does not end there.

I felt compelled to give our friend at CE/Supply an OSI coin I had brought with me which was purchased online about a year and a half ago. I ordered a few of them but had only one left. The middle section was our badge on one side and the Air Force emblem on the other and you can spin it around, which makes it very unique. Believe it or not, we had no intention of asking for more hose. Once I gave him the coin and said goodbye since I was preparing to go home (this was just a couple of days ago) he was elated to receive the coin. It turns out, his best friend back home is an OSI agent. So guess what, he gave us a third case of hose! Now we have 900 feet of hose and it is being delivered by my old team even as I type this blog entry. Awesome stuff! God is good!

My last OTW mission was to a Bedouin Camp. We have visited there several times before. This time, the husband was not around. He had a stroke some time ago and has a weak left side as a result. He was in Nasiriyah when we stopped by, getting treatment at the hosopital there. So we were met by the wife and several children. The wife complained of leg pain after doing the yearly walk to Karbala, which is a Shia Muslim ritual. Usually Muslim women will not talk to strangers especially men. But Bedouins are an exception and they kind of do what they want. They are the down cast of this society. But they choose to live the way they do. very simple but harsh lives living in tents and rasing animals. I gave her a cold pack and some over the counter pain reliever with strict instructions and told her about Mittica, the saving grace of an ailing people.