INTERCEDING TOGETHER

1. Pray for the doors to open for foreign passport holders who are waiting to return to their sites in mainland China.

2. Pray for those who are working from their home countries to have wisdom to leverage and overcome the difficulties of working from afar with those on-site.

3. Pray for the approval of MSI Sichuan’s 2018-2019 annual financial report, and the wisdom to prepare the 2021 annual plan and budget for submission to the INGO office.

4. Pray for the Lord’s provision of professionals to offer online training. Pray for strength and wisdom for our colleagues who support the ever-increasing demand for online trainings.

Neonatal Service in Honghe
Audrey Chan (Short-term Team Leader)

“What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.” (1 Corinthians 3:5)

MSI’s paediatric and neonatal service started in Honghe since 2013. In the past 7 years, we witnessed the development of the paediatric unit especially in neonatal care through the joint services of 3 long-termers and many more intermittent short-term teams. The unit slowly but surely expanded the scope of its paediatric care from sick new-borns to premature babies to its current status of being accredited as a county level neonatal centre.

This acknowledgement excites and encourages both the local team and our MSI team. The department is deemed the smallest unit in Honghe hospital, yet it is the first among all hospital specialties to be considered for accreditation. Furthermore, neonatal service could obtain a sizeable fund upon successful accreditation.

The unexpected COVID pandemic threw our 2 planned Honghe on-site neonatal trainings this year into total disarray. Following an online meeting between our Yunnan office, Honghe hospital leaders and Honghe long-termer, we decided to organise monthly online training to keep pace with the local team in their preparatory work for accreditation.

In addition to an ongoing WeChat support group for the consultation of cases, Dr Wendy assisted us to kick-start monthly online training in early August. In our trial run, we prepared a patient case on a baby to share with the local team. Their response was enthusiastic, and they raised questions on cases that they were managing. The format for our subsequent classes (we just finished the fourth training in November) was interactive. The local team needs to propose the topic and present patient cases for discussion. The aim is to prepare them for their unit’s accreditation audit. We are still at an exploratory phase.

Our Lord is faithful! When we were worried about recruiting sufficient neonatologists to sustain the monthly class until the time we could have on-site trainings again, MSI mobilisers in Taiwan and Singapore mobilised teammates to form an international short-term team. We continue to pray for more teammates! May our Lord’s light be shone in places that are in need!

New Project from an Old Friend
Patrick & Clemence Tsui (written in September 2020)

In the middle of 2019, we received an invitation from the first director of the Zhaojue Youth Centre. She invited us to start embroidery training for the Yi women at Puge County. Actually we had already made plans for our next stage of life, so even if we agree to help, we can only offer six months of involvement. Nevertheless, this old friend did not give up. She expressed her passion for this work and asked for our consideration. After much prayer, and with peace in our hearts, we accepted her invitation.

This friend works in the government’s tourism department. She hopes to incorporate Clemence’s experience in embroidery training, to promote this kind of training course for Yi women. That way they will be able to produce ethnic hand-crafts, and the Yi culture would be preserved. Selling of embroidery products at tourist sites will improve the livelihood of women. Indeed, we could kill two birds with one stone!

When we first arrived at this small town, there was nothing but three empty training rooms. We spent more than 10 days placing online orders, including equipment like furniture, sewing machines, ironing boards, cutting boards, tools, material, etc. We had to follow up on our purchases which required methodical piece-by-piece checking. With the help of some young local staff, we assembled the furniture and equipment.

It was not until July that we actually started the training, and 12 ladies from nearby villages joined; most of them have not received any sewing skill training at all. As Clemence taught them with great diligence, the ladies picked up the skills in just 6 short weeks. The first session went well and these ladies were able to produce quite a number of quality pieces featuring the Yi heritage. In a little over 2 months, the ladies went from scratch to marketable hand-crafts. The director was very pleased to see the outcome and the first batch of graduates. We held a simple yet significant closing ceremony to celebrate their achievements and each woman received a certificate of completion.

Our plan is to hold three sessions, and during these sessions we hope to train up a local assistant who can continue to train more workers. Our commitment and task will be completed by the middle of December. We hope the Yi embroidery business will continue to grow, and that their cultural heritage can live on through this endeavour.

Yiliang’s Medical Project
Susan Huang

In September 2020, Yiliang county hospital was busy with two assessments for the hospital grading review and the emergency centre for pregnant women. The assessment officers suggested forming a quality control circle to improve the hospital’s quality of care.

We were delighted when the director of the emergency department invited them to assist in setting up this quality control circle. Actually, we had conducted a quality control circle seminar for the emergency department in July 2019. However, hospital colleagues did not feel it was necessary at the time. Now this piece of work is restarting at the suggestion of the assessment officers. Our help comes from unexpected places!

Although overseas short-term service teams could not provide on-site services in Yiliang due to Covid-19, God’s compassion and work never stopped! Thank God for leading us to use our professional skills to interact with our Yiliang counterparts to advance the quality of local health care.

Action in Love – Summer Camp in Meigu
MSI Editor

Amidst the pandemic challenges, the Meigu team was able to hold the children summer camp, we are thankful to our gracious God! Our colleagues, together with the local volunteers and the helpers from our school assistance programme spent three happy and healthy days with about 100 children.

The emphasis of this year’s camp was on health. The teachers would check the temperature of each child and teach all of them how to use sanitiser to clean their hands; lining up outside the classroom, the children must wash their hands before and after every meal. All children had a chance to try putting the mask on by themselves and they learnt to pay attention to personal hygiene and environmental sanitation.

Things went really well on the first two days of the summer camp; then came the challenge on the third day. Our colleague found out that landslides blocked the road back to the village. As we got closer to the site, we realised that the situation was indeed very serious. We needed to come down the hill, wade across the stream to find transportation to enter the village. Nevertheless, we decided to support each other and move forward. The guys in the group displayed their serving spirit to the fullness: some of them carried the supplies on their shoulders, others helped the ladies to cross the stream and some even carried the timid ones on piggyback and waded across the stream. Thank God that the water was just below the knee. Everyone was able to get to the other side of the stream safe and sound.

When all the teachers arrived in the village, the children were earnestly waiting for them. Together they shouted out their appreciation to the teachers; immediately all the hardships vanished into thin air! When the teachers blessed the children with songs, tears ran down everyone’s cheeks. All the children and all the helpers experienced an extraordinary love in those three days. May He plant the seed of His love in their hearts!