January 21, 2005
by Les Dr. Leslie Y. Morgan
Christian Mission Hospital
Rajshahi, Bangladesh

RAJSHAHI - One of the hardest things about being a missionary is that I don't often get to see the results of my efforts. Although the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) invests a lot in sending me here to advise health programs and treat the sick, it's not always clear in the end if the church's efforts actually affect people's lives in a long-term, sustainable way.

Occasionally, however, God shows us that what he has called the church to do is indeed worthwhile. He encourages us by giving us a glimpse of the fruits of our mission.

God gave me such a glimpse a few days before Christmas when a young man named Milon Hasda dropped by my home in Rajshahi to show me his new sewing machine. He had brought it on the bus from Savar, where he had just graduated from a two-year training course in tailoring at the Church of Bangladesh Nazareth Centre Trade School. Each student who finishes the course receives a brand new manual sewing machine.

Since Milon was an orphan with no family support, his new machine and the skills he had learned at the Nazareth Centre were the means to his future livelihood. As he was on his way back to his rural village of Komlapur to set up shop, he stopped in Rajshahi to tell me about his accomplishment in becoming a tailor.

I first met Milon when he was 14. He had just been admitted as a patient in bed five in the male ward at Christian Mission Hospital in Rajshahi. Tuberculosis had destroyed his left lung, and he was about 30 pounds underweight. Although the hospital is not free - it has to charge fees in order to pay staff salaries, purchase medicines, and pay its electricity and other bills - Milon's poor cousin had sent him anyway, with hope that the hospital could help him.

Milon doesn't remember his father, a landless peasant who, when Milon was an infant, died from diarrhea, a preventable disease easily treated if proper care is available. But he does remember his mother, who died of tuberculosis when he was eight.

He then moved in with his cousin and continued going to school, but he had to quit after fifth grade in order to work as a day laborer in rice fields. That was the only way his cousin could afford to feed him.

So, at 14, Milon was an orphan, out of school, impoverished, and dying of tuberculosis and malnutrition.

God has called the church to care for persons like Milon. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has tried to be faithful to that calling by harnessing its resources of people, money, and know-how; working cooperatively with indigenous churches in other countries; and reaching out to people in need.

As a medical missionary working on behalf of the church, I have opportunities personally to care for sick people with special needs. I took responsibility for managing Milon's care, because I knew he needed special attention in order to survive. I arranged for him to receive all the medicines and nutritional supplements he needed, with help from the hospital's Malakar Memorial Fund. Individuals and congregations of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have contributed money to this fund, designed to help sick people who cannot afford the medical care they need.

Milon recovered from his tuberculosis, gained back all his weight, and then kept growing as a teenager. He came to me regularly to complete his TB treatment, and then I continued to see him on my occasional visits to his village near Rajshahi.

As his lung condition did not allow him to do the vigorous work of rice farming, he needed to learn a trade that was physically less demanding. So I helped arrange for his admission to the tailor's training course at the Nazareth Centre, about 120 miles away in Savar.

He became one of their star pupils, and he was proud to show me the new sewing machine he received upon graduation. I told him I would enjoy helping him get a table for the machine, as he was eager to start his own business and begin supporting himself.

Even though the results of mission work are not always evident, the fruits are real. When the church uses its gifts to reach out to others, it can change their lives. And it changes ours as well.

Once when I was attending a large church fellowship gathering in a neighboring district, Milon traveled 40 miles to attend with a group from his village. As the nearly 300 people chose their places on the ground for the initial worship service, Milon came over and sat next to me. God had given him to me as a friend, and as a brother in Christ - one of the greatest fruits of our mission.

I am grateful to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for the opportunity to receive those fruits - God's gifts of goodness and love, even to me.

Information about Presbyterian Church (USA) mission personnel around the world as well as correspondence from them about their ministries can be found on the web site: http://www.pcusa.org/missionconnections/.

Presbyterian News Service