“The ground ate men’s blood and was never satisfied.” This was how the men at the Kuldamung groundbreaking ceremony described the land upon which they were standing. During a five-year tribal war in the late 90’s between two small tribes, 26 men died fighting over this land. They were killed in close hand-to-hand combat with … More The Bloodthirsty Ground
James was on a trajectory that had become all too familiar, and it was not good. Due to an overwhelming number of cases in New York City, Samaritan’s Purse was battling COVID-19 in a tent hospital in Central Park. Available treatments were limited and were not well researched. Along with teams in the wards and … More A COVID Survivor
To those without names, You were not supposed to come so early. You were in your mother’s womb only 14 weeks when her water broke. Your mom traveled two days to get to Kudjip. By the time she got here, she was septic. I looked at you on the ultrasound machine. You were so tiny. … More To Those Without Names
Pregnant with her fifth child, Esther was referred to Kudjip Hospital from a small aid post for possible twins. Her second baby, a girl, had died soon after birth. She had left her other three children, all boys, at home. Esther and her husband had already agreed this would be their last child and she … More Anything but Routine
At the exit of the “hot zone” at the Samaritan’s Purse Field Hospital in Central Park sits a bell. An old-fashioned cow bell. As patients were being discharged after days and sometimes weeks of battling COVID-19, they rang the bell. It was a scene of pure joy. A deathly sick man or woman was now … More The Bell
(Written by Tammy) As we travel around the States speaking in churches, we are often asked what our greatest need is. While there are numerous needs depending upon which aspect of serving in PNG is being discussed, our current greatest need in our missionary community is for teachers for our MKs (missionary kids). Please take … More Our Greatest Need
“Mi pilim ai raun” (I’m feeling dizzy), J said as we loaded him on to the aircraft. That was the telltale sign that his heart was about to stop. Don’t stop yet, I thought as we were now so close to getting him to the lifesaving procedure he desperately needed. J, an educated and athletic … More Staying Alive
I was awoken from a dead sleep by a phone call: “Dokta, mipela nidim yu long A ward. Pikinini i no pulim win.” Translated: “Doctor, we need you in Pediatric ward. A child has stopped breathing.” It was a Saturday morning at 2 a.m. during my third month at Kudjip. I was the only medical … More Not to Us
As I rushed into the emergency room, I faced a chaotic scene. The center bed held the lifeless body of the middle-aged man the nurse had asked me to see. He was the only patient in the ER, but the room was bursting with people and buzzing with noise. The multitude of visitors stretched out … More Unrecognized
Like many hospitals in the world, Mondays are typically the busiest here. It makes it even busier when a 25-seat public vehicle carrying 12 passengers and 60 bags of Betel Nut collides with a tractor trailer on a bridge near Kudjip (pictured above). This was an opportunity for our hospital to show its true quality. … More Mass Casualty
