None Of Our Angels Had Wings!

On our recent trip with the Missions India Team, we visited Karunya Balabhavan in Orissa.  (Boys kneeling in prayer.)

                        He Who Called You Is Trustworthy!

we are honored , privileged and excited to to share our mission experience with you. We are like Apostle Paul, who when writing to the church in Corinth wrote; "when I came to you ..... I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling" We pray our testimony will glorify God and will nudge some one to feel the Holy Spirit nudging him/her in the right direction.

When we both decided to go in to retirement from our 32 years of medical practice here in South Louisiana, it was a time for reflection. A time to reflect on the wonderful ways in which God sent his angels to direct, guide and protect us in our life’s journey. We started counting men and women who helped us to become what we are today. They were there in India where we grew up, they were in Tanzania, East Africa, they were in New York city and sure many of them were in Louisiana. While growing up we had Christian parents and older siblings, sunday school teachers and wonderful school teachers, missionaries and preachers and good christian friends. 

In 1972 when we moved to Mwanza,Tanzania, we were amazed by the number of men and women whom God had already arranged there to help us. Among them Dr. Kimati, a Tanzanian doctor and Professor of pediatrics who took me under his wings to train me in pediatrics. He was there to give us a ride to and from the hospital every morning and evening until we were able to get our own car. There was Dr. Evans, a OB/GYN specialist from the UK to take care of me in my 1st pregnancy and delivery, there was Dr. Myrtle Keller, a Gynecologist and a nun from PA to care for me at a time we needed medical care, there was Dr. Magda VanHoyweghen, a nun and surgeon from Belgium to train KE in surgery and later on  be instrumental in obtaining a position for him in residency in surgery in mid town Manhattan. There was Dr. Monach from the Netherlands who introduced us to the Anglican church in Mwanza and there were two Baptist missionaries, Jack and Don to lead us in Bible study on a regular basis. There were several other  men and women God ordained to help us in various ways while in Mwanza. 

His helping hands continued to follow us to New York City where he had arranged Ms. Delia, an elderly Irish lady to take care of our daughter while we both were busy in residency training. So many in the South Louisiana community helped us. 

 The  list of His angels that He sent on our way is pretty long and there is no way that we can ever pay back to even part of the favors that they did to us. Some of these men and women have passed away and some are continents apart. The only practical thing that we could and we should decide to do was to "pay forward" in other words do the favor to some one else that God brings to our path. Going for short medical missions gave us a chance to give back some to God’s children in need. 

In addition to the patients we see at clinics or hospitals, often we encounter people in need during these trips. 

There was a young lady helping us in our apartment when we did a short mission at Oddanchathram in India last year. This lady was a single mom whose daughter was in my clinic with acute leukemia. Even in that mission hospital, the cost of chemo treatment is prohibitively high for that poor lady.

At Tenwek Hospital, during our last visit we were assisted at our guest house by a Rowandan refugee. Her story was heart wrenching. She witnessed the killing of her parents and siblings and ran away from her country. She and her husband settled in Kenya and was raising their three daughters, when her husband was diagnosed with cancer of esophagus and he died. This young lady is struggling to keep her children in school. We met her beautiful children. intelligent and hard working, one wants to be a lawyer and another a doctor. Our God who takes care of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field still cares for Cecilia and her children. We were glad to help them as we could and the smile on their faces and their promise to keep praying for us is more than enough as reward.

Be on the look out. God will sent people in need on your path.    (Leya and K.E.Mathew)

2012 is almost gone!

December 26, 2012

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to one and All!

2012 happened to be flying by, 2013 is at the door. Here at the Mathew family just had our Christmas Celebrations with all the kids and grand kids. We have a brand new addition. Maya and Chris gave us another grand child, the fourth.Baby Jacob was born on August 19 2012. 

Maya and Chris with Joshua, Madison, Caroline and Jacob will be leaving for Tanzania for a three year long Medical Mission assignment on January 24 2013. They gave up their practice in Greenville, SC and downsized their possessions and are ready to move on.

Maggie graduated from Smith College in her Masters in Social Work and are on the look out for a suitable job. Michelle completed her graduate studies in the American University in Paris in Islamic Culture and Middle Eastern studies. She too is looking for a job that suits her qualifications and training.

2012 was the first full year of retirement for Leya and K.E. In January we went on a five weeks vacation to India. While Leya made a side trip to visit her sister and family at Khariar Road, orissa, K.E made a two weeks long Medical Mission trip to Bomet, Kenya. This was his third such trip to Tenwek Hospital about 140 kilometers away from Nairobi, Kenya. 

Attending Michelle’s graduation in Paris followed by a two weeks tour with her to parts of Europe was the highlight of the year for Leya and K.E. Visiting Paris, Rome, Florence, Antwerp in Belgium were all memorable events. Meeting Dr. Magda Wan Hoyweghen in Antwerp and spending three days with her stays fresh in our minds. She was the missionary Nun in Mwanza, Tanzania whom we met in 1972 and who helped K.E in surgical training. Later on she was instrumental in securing a position in residency training for K.E in New York.

K.E had his dream come true in publishing his first book, “I Don’t Want My Mom to Pray for Me.” in July.

The book is available in hard cover/ soft cover and also in E book format from Publish America.

Leya and K.E along with Michelle attended the graduation ceremony of Maggie at Smith in August. Maya was ready to give birth to Jacob and Leya and K.E were able to be of assistance to the young family during this time.

A tour of the mission fields in North India with the organizers of Missions India was in planning for a long time. K.E. and Leya was able to be part of the fourteen who made that tour in December. After the tour they had a few days to visit the siblings in Kerala, before returning home to be here with the rest of the family to celebrate Christmas.

Sincerely yours

Leya and KE Mathew

               A VIEW OF THE GREAT PYRAMID AND THE SPHINX IN GIZA, EGYPT.

The three pyramids at Giza remain most famous of all other pyramids, beacuse of their superior construction, scale and accessibility to Cairo. This is one of the seven nwonders of the ancient world. These pyramids are the tombs of pharaohs. The great pyramid rose to 481 ft and contained 2,300,000 blocks of stone. Its four sides, each 700 ft long, are aligned exactly on true north,south, east and west.
gangs of 100,000 men rotaing in shifts of three months each, toiled for twenty years building the great pyramid. The pharaoh was thought to be the Son of Sun, who had taken human form to lead he people. He will continue to assist themin the Next World. no wonder the peasant farmers were gladly contributing their hard labor to the building of the tomb for the pharaoh.

Like in all other tombs for the pharaohs, this graet pyramid also contained a lot of jewellery, furniture, boats and all sorts of grain and articles for food. Egyptians beleived in life hereafter. The spirit always returns looking for the body. They want to keep the body from decay and keep all necessary items for the pharaoh to have a good time when the spirit returns to the body! The elaborate decoration of the walla and ceilings as well as the meticulous and detailed art work of the tomb tell us how strong their beleives were. Often as soon as the pharaoh takes the throne he starts planning and working on his tomb!

In front of the great pyramid is a huge sculpture of a lions body with the kings head, representing the mighty King Khafra.

Realization that I was walking through this place with history dating back to BC 2000 brought goose bumps.

Unusual causes of blockage in the path.

UNUSUAL OBSTACLES ON THE PASSAGE.

As we were preparing to go on medical mission trip someone commented: "expect the unexpected". Tenwek Hospital in Bomet, Kenya was the same place where we served a short term in 2009. The place and most of the people who work there were already. Familiar to us. We landed in N air obi on the second of September and the following morning we were on our way to Bomet by car. Samaritan's Purse had arranged for this road trip for us. The highway from Nairobi leading to Bomet is pretty good indeed. It took about two hours to cover the approximately 150 kilometers, climbing up to this city about 8000 feet above the mean sea level.

Traffic jam is nothing unusual or unexpected for any one from the developed or developing countries. It could be an accident on the road blocking a lane of traffic or it may be some strange thing on the side o f the road making people to slow down and stretch their neck to have a good look at it.We call it "rubber necking". As we got close to the county of Bomet t he traffic almost came to a stand still. We could see the welcome sign to Bomet just ahead. A large herd of donkeys were filling up alll the lanes ahead of us producing the obstacle to our passage. Each one had a heavy load on it's back- the provisions from the market- carrying it to it's masters home. Saturday was the market day in Bomet. These beasts of burden for Kenyans are what pick up trucks are for people elsewhere. We had to patiently wait for them to slowly move away from our path and then to proceed on our way to the hospital just five kilometers ahead.

Seven years old boy was seen in casualty department (that's what we call the Emergency department here) with acute small bowel obstruction. He never had any previous surgery and the cause for his blockage was uncertain. He was taken to the theatre(operating room). At surgery a large soft mass was encountered in the mid portion of his small bowel. A small incision was made in to the small bowel and hundreds of round worms were pulled out from the lumen. They had tangled up there and blocked the passage: an unusual sight for a visitor but not for the long term missionary surgeon or the theatre crew!

Nine years old Masai boy was admitted to the pediatrics (that is how we spell it here) ward with several days history of abdominal distention,pain, fever and deepening jaundice. He sure was sick looking and had an enlarged and tender liver filling up his belly . Ultra sound study revealed a large cystic mass on the top of the right lobe of his liver filled with multiple smaller cysts. Rest of his liver contained numerous small cysts. At surgery the large cyst was excised from the liver after instilling diluted formalin inside the cyst to kill the live parasites in it. Lot of "daughter cysts" were seen inside the large cyst when we finally oped it. Hydatid cyst is nothing unusual among the Masai tribe. Parasites blocking the passage of bile! An unusual case for the visitor, but not for anyone else in the theatre!

Ten years old boy was scheduled for placement of a ventricle peritoneal shunt for relieving his hydrocephalus. The normal passage for the C.S.F was blocked from the tuberculous meningitis that he had few years ago. Tuberculosis is wide spread in whole of Africa, children are not spared from this dreaded disease. Blockage in the brain from tuberculosis? An unusual cause in the developed countries; not so in Kenya.

Twenty years old Kenyan was recovering from his surgeries following a fight he lost to the large obstructing creature on his passage one evening when he was returning home. Neither the elephant nor the man really wanted to yield .our patient lost the fight sustaining multiple large wounds. He was gourd on the left chest, broke the ribs and tore the lung, heart and major vessels were spared. Had a deep wound on his right groin but the femoral vessels were intact. Deep gaping wound on the right side of neck, carotids soared. a large gaping wound on the back of his head; will need a rotation flap to cover it. I am still wondering who was obstructing the passage: the elephant or the man!

Stay tuned; more to come.......

reflections: A CME Conference in beautiful Victoria,BC

reflections: A CME Conference in beautiful Victoria,BC: This was going to be our final CME conference prior to retirement. We chose a three day conference in Victoria,BC at the Empress Hotel on ...

St.Johns,NL

This was our long awaited family vacation. Following retirement, we had planned for time with children and grand children for rest and relaxation. St.Johns, New Foundland, Canada was selected not only for its natural beauty and cool weather in July, but also because that was the place where a forst cousin to our children was getting married on July 16 2011. This time we decided to delegate each of our three daughters with special resonsibilities. Michelle was in charge of arranging for accomodation, Maggie for activities and Maya for transportation. Michelle did an excellent job in picking a hotel near St Jons air port for our stay for the first night, a beautiful furnished house on the ocean in Ochre pit cove for four nights' stay and another

hotel in St.Johns for the three days. Maya made the reservations for the van and Maggie had all activities for us adults as well as children all planned.Unspoiled natural beauty of this part of Canada was astounding. Blue ocean with whales showing up while we watch them from our break fast table, miles of winding roads along the ocean front, lots of mountains and peaks with paths for hiking and small houses , shops and churches all adding to the beauty of Newfound land. People were so friendly and hospitable. It sure is a place I would like to go back for vacation!

A CME Conference in beautiful Victoria,BC

This was going to be our final CME conference prior to retirement. We chose a three day conference in Victoria,BC at the Empress Hotel on a topic that we hope, will help us in our future medical missions in developing countries. This conference was on infectious diseases for tprimary care doctors.

Getting away from the steamy summer weather in south Louisian to the gorgious Victoria with the temperatures around upper sixties was a welcome change. Our youngest daughter Michelle was able to accompany us during this trip. Conference schedule gave us ample time every afternoon to roam around the island and enjoy the sight and sounds of this beautiful part of British Columbia.

The Empress Hotel is so elegant and beautiful. The hotel is facing the ocean and is surrounded by perfectly manicured lawns and gardens all around. We were able to stroll through and enjoy the beauty to the fullest.