Blog
Malaria Season
Malaria is a serious disease. It is responsible for millions of deaths annually. The mosquito carries this disease that results in high fevers, sweating and no energy.The outbreak of malaria is seasonal. In the remote Northern Indonesian Island of Halmahera it is now malaria season. Nearly everyone on our base has had malaria–many have had it several times.We have been out of communication for about a week due to the shutdown of our satellite connection. The last word I received was a number of children had malaria. Viktor who is five...
read moreLife at the Ends of the Earth
I-phones, email, blogs, twitter, cell phones, texting and My Space are words and communication systems that we have come to use. These words were hardly known ten years ago. I am still not on My Space or twitter. I guess I am out of touch or just too tired to get on one more new system–by the time I am figuring it out, the train has already left the station with the next new thing to replace twitter or My Space. I will just be that much further behind. It seems like trying to catch up to Michael Phelps with my best dog paddle stroke....
read moreUpdates
Indra the child who had the hole in his heart is now in Jakarta. He was scheduled for surgery but his condition was classified as unstable. He has some swelling in his lungs. His surgery has been set for two weeks from now. This will be a major surgery to fix the hole in his heart. Thanks to the generosity of some amazing people he is able to get this surgery to change his life. He is only four years old and has a lot in his future.Kate and Kori made it to Indonesia. They are visiting friends in Java. They had a long flight and train rides...
read moreReceive Compassion
I just got home form a number of days on the road. I met with a dear friend and his wife. They are great supporters of our efforts. IFC has some great supporters and friends. This is what makes this work so amazing–we have partners who lovingly give and stand with us. We have some who have stood with us from the very beginning.I am writing today to ask for your prayers for the wife of Pastor Barry. I was scheduled to spend an afternoon with him. I got a call from him where he reported his wife had initially been diagnosed with cancer....
read moreKori and Kate
Kori and Kate are full of enthusiasm and hopes for their stay in Indonesia. Kate is a medical student who will spend the summer at our base gaining experience in tropical diseases. Kori is a certified teacher who will be teaching English to our staff. Kori will be staying a year at the base as the English teacher. She is also gong to be going to Australia for the English as a second language course. Kate will be coming back in time to attend college in September.We met together tonight–this was the last meeting before they depart for...
read moreAnother Viktor
Victor came to our clinic when he was seven months old. He was very malnourished and had sores from head-to-toe. He was is very bad shape. It took a lot of round-the-clock care for him to turn a corner. He became such a loving and sweet little boy. Viktor is almost five years old now. He is bi-lingual and loves everyone.Peter just sent a note from the medical base and said we have another Viktor. His name is Yoshua and he is badly malnourished and covered with sores. He is 10 months old now and weighs 11 pounds (5 kilos). He was born at...
read moreBillie is Improving
Billie is the four year old boy who went in for emergency surgery at a Manado Indonesia Hospital due to an obstruction in his bowel. He had come to Portland, Oregon when he was one year old for the needed surgery to save his life and now he was facing the same emergency. So many of you prayed and gave to help him in his latest chapter. Liz Wood made a valiant effort to organize help and monitor his care long distance. She advised the IFC medical staff and organized financial support for his medical expenses. Esther Scarborough reported...
read moreStanding On Our Own
We have been involved in relief work in North Indonesia for nine years. The heart of the work is providing free medical care to the poor. The cost of staff, facilities and medications is substantial. We plan to turn the work over to the nationals. There are 15 staff who are in accredited medical and nursing programs. These Indonesians have been selected for their compassion, academic abilities, and commitment to the future of IFC medical work. Peter and Esther Scarborough have led the selection and development of staff. They have led with...
read moreListari’s First Birthday
Listari has had a couple special days in her short one year of life. The first special day was when she was adopted by Epen Akay. Listari was abandoned at birth and Epen’s heart went out to her–he believed he could give her a good life. Epen has never been married but he is a great father. He gives her a father image and lots of affection.Listari just turned one year old recently. This was another special day for her. She is happy and loved. Listari means beautiful in Indonesian. She is a beautiful child and has only a bright...
read moreHolding Our Breathe
We are praying and holding our breathe following Billie’s most recent surgery. He came out of surgery very well and was looking good. The pediatric surgeon removed 15 cm of his intestines. The next days seemed fine but then he started to struggle. His stomach distended and he had no bowl movement or passage of urine. His parents were very concerned as he was not improving.He has made slight improvements this week by passing urine. There are a lot of decisions to make by the family and our staff. He could need another surgery if his...
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