This month: Moss - gathering her thoughts - Hagen’s hospital help - Diptipur’s Christian hospital

Moss - gathering her thoughts

Having now left Nepal to continue my work and studies in the UK, I would ask for your prayers in a number of areas - for:
The country of Nepal
     * a peaceful resolution to the conflict
     * the government forces and the Maoist rebels
     * civilians caught up in the conflict
     * friends that I have left behind, especially those that don’t yet know the Lord - that God will send others to draw them closer to him.
The church in Nepal
     * strong, wise leadership
     * continued growth in the church, both in numbers and maturity
     * the witness of the Nepali church to their own neighbours and friends in times of uncertainty and fear
The International Nepal Fellowship (INF)
      * the ten Nepali members of the new INF board and for its executive director, Dr Dipendra Gautam
      * the registration of INF, the signing of INF’s agreement with the government and the issuing of visas for INF personnel
      * the daily witness of INF workers in and through the work they do
Missionary children and Primary Study Centres (PSCs)
      * the staff and pupils of the PSCs as they prepare to downsize and move the Pokhara PSC later this year
      * the continuing provision of teachers and visas to enable all the study centres to continue to operate
      * families in Nepal in locations where there is no study centre, as they undertake home-schooling
       * the Christian witness to non-Christian families within the schools
And, for me:
      * that I will be guided by God as I speak to churches around the UK
      * to be able to readjust to life in the UK, including a diet with a lot less daal bhat!
      * to find a suitable job from September and then a new home, church and friends

By Rachel Moss, our former BMS link missionary.

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Hagen’s hospital help

It is now five months since the fund for donations in memory of the Rev Geoffrey Hagen was opened.  So far, the fund has amounted to nearly £1,200.
Our family are so grateful to the many friends who have given a gift in Geoffrey's memory.  The money is to be given to cancer research and to buy equipment for the Christian hospital in Diptipur, Orissa, in India.
Diptipur Hospital serves a very poor rural area in the state of Orissa which, itself, is one of the poorest states in India.
Geoffrey and I worked in that area for five years, from 1960 to 1965.  At that time, the small hospital was doing a magnificent work; its doctors were of the highest standard, and would-be patients came from far and wide, walking to the hospital.
Eye treatment was an important part of the hospital’s work.  This high standard of medical help has continued from that time and the hospital’s impressive reputation has spread.
Geoffrey and I visited the hospital 11 years ago and found that the work was flourishing under the care of Dr. Dalaganjan Suna.  He had been a medical student when we first started our work in Orissa. When he finished his training, he moved to Diptipur Hospital, where he gave many years of devoted service.  When we were there, he was just beginning to think of retirement, although he told us that he intended to carry on providing free treatment for the poorest patients.
Some five years after that visit we were shocked to be told that Dalaganjan had been killed in a jeep accident.
The hospital struggled on for two or three years but, eventually, it had to close because of a lack of skilled and dedicated staff.  Then in 2003, a 70 year old Indian doctor - with the help of his American wife who was at Language School with us in India in 1961 - re-opened Diptipur Hospital.  These days, the hospital needs some tender loving care on its buildings and equipment.  There are two young and dedicated doctors on the staff, as well as the older consultant, and they have great plans for the work.
Our son, Paul, with his wife, Jo, visited the hospital for four days over last New Year and they brought back a list the equipment that the hospital needs.  Deciding what we can do in Geoffrey's memory, we would like to raise more funds - and visit Diptipur Hospital as we are able.
So, thank you to everyone who gave a gift to Geoffrey's Fund - and thank you, too, from the villagers who live in and near Diptipur and who benefit from the hospital’s services.

By Aileen Hagen.

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Diptipur’s Christian hospital

     Not long ago, a 47 year old mission hospital, started in the middle of nowhere and sustained by visionary missionaries, experienced a mid-life crisis.  It had no doctors, no salaries and no patients.  It was time to shut the hospital.
     But then someone takes a stand.  Patients begin coming back.  The staff make sacrifices to keep things going.  And life begins again.
     This is the story of Diptipur Christian Hospital.
     Back in the 1950s, India was basking in its newly acquired independence but parts of India’s western Orissa were far from free.
     Responding to this situation, the Baptist Missionary Society in Bolangir decided to develop an ‘island of mission’ for the region - providing health, educational and agricultural services.
     The initial forays were undertaken by two missionaries - the Revs Eric Payne and Franklin White.  Many local Christian leaders, including the Rev J K Mohanty, the Rev Dr Benjamin Pradhan, Rai Bahadur, Samuel Das and the Rev Samuel Choudhary were also involved in the initial phase of development.
     Land was bought on the State Highway in the wilds of rural western Orissa, 50km from the town of Bargarh and some 100km from Sambalpur.  The new village of Diptipur was born.
Mrs Payne and Mrs White, both trained nurses, along with a Mr Snehalal, started clinic work there in 1955.  In 1957, Dr Detweiler became the first missionary doctor at Diptipur, while the Rev White supervised the construction of the hospital buildings.
     However, in 1963, when Dr Detweiler returned to the USA, the hospital had to close down.
     Then, in 1965, Dr Sukant Singh - a native of Orissa - joined the hospital staff, staying in Diptipur until 1968.  In that year, Dr Dalaganjan Suna came to the hospital as its medical superintendent.
     He developed an eye care centre and ran ‘eye camps’ in the neighbouring districts and states.
     Electricity arrived in Diptipur in 1975.  An X-ray machine came in 1980.
     However, when Dr Suna retired in 1996, there was no one ready to take over.  He decided that, if no organisational solution could be found, the least he could do was to go and sit in the hospital and start seeing patients.
    The electricity had been cut off and the telephone had been disconnected but the 70 year old surgeon made his stand - and his point.
     Thankfully, Dr V K Henry, supported by his wife, Nancy, then took on the task of reviving the hospital.
     Word got around and patients started arriving.  The operation theatre was re-opened and some major surgery began to be done.
Neighbouring mission hospitals supplied skilled staff as required, and doctors from Bissamcuttack came to provide short term work cover. A young doctor, Supriya Sen, came to run the hospital, along with Dr Henry.
     Mission partners in the USA agreed to help with some of the outstanding bills.  The seemingly impossible had happened: the hospital had been revived.
     Seeing the efforts being put in to save the hospital, the staff unanimously decided to forego 15 months of their unpaid salaries as their contribution to the revival campaign.
     By May 2004, a new leadership team was in place. Dr Rajnish Samal completed his studies in Vellore and joined the hospital as its acting director.  Another doctor from Vellore - Dr Deeptiman James - arrived in March 2005.
     Friends in the USA donated money for an ultrasound machine - and the hospital’s daily income grew to be enough to cover salaries and repairs.
     According to Dr Samal: “There is a great deal of illiteracy and poverty in this region - and this area is prone to diseases such as malaria, sickle cell disease, malnutrition and gastroenteritis.
“I hope that we can develop this into a multidisciplinary hospital, providing high quality care to rich and poor alike without distinction. But, to do this, we need your continuing prayers, help and support.”

Abridged by Robert Little from an article by Dr Rajnish Samal which was published in the Christian Medical Journal of India, (Volume 20, No. 2, April - June 2005).