Last Luampa Letter

Re: LAST LUAMPA LETTER

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NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT SEND ANY FURTHER EMAIL FOR SIDNEY WU TO
luampahospital@compuserve.com. For urgent/emergent communication, you may email him @ echzgo@zamnet.zm or call the Lusaka ECZ office, only up to 10 pm Pacific (American) time Sat, May 13
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written 2 May 00

Greetings, All!

How're you doing? Again, it's hard to believe that my time here in Zambia, & thus in medical school, will soon be over. By the time I get back to Calfornia (since I'm taking a side trip to see my sister & brother-in-law in Geeooooooorgia) in fact, graduation will soon be upon us, so pls. consider this my formal invitation to you to attend my graduation ceremony, if you are able. It'll be held @ the big lawn outside the Chan Shun Pavilion @ Loma Linda University @ 9AM (I think it's 9) on Sun May 28. You may call my parents for directions @ (***)864-****. I'd really be honored if you could attend, but pls. don't fee that you have to.

This, in fact, will be the last email I'll be transmitting from Luampa since I'm trying to visit a SIM (the mission I'm working with) missionary doctor who's also a medical school professor in Lusaka (Zambia's capital). I was actually quite pleased when I heard of such a missionary-doctor-professor, b/c for some time now I've been thinking abt. doing just that in the future: working as a missionary/professor @ an overseas medical school. I hear Dr. Jim Jewel is quite a nice man who became a Christian in his adult years, so I'm looking forward t meeting him & talking with him abt. how God gave him such an opportunity.

For abt. a year now, I've been thinking abt. being a missionary professor b/c I enjoy both medicine & teaching, so this seems to be a good combination. Also, God has blessed my LLU years with such mission-minded professors (sounds like "absent-minded professors," but they're certainly not) as Drs. Harvey Elder, Yang Chen, & Evert Bruckner, so I feel it be a bit of a God-given legacy to pass that on to other students.

Here @ Luampa the weather has been getting significantly colder (as it does these months in the southern hemisphere); I imagine Southern California conversely has been warming up a bit.

Things I see in the hospital are still quite alarming, although considerably less alarming than when I first got here. Children die with regularity for several reasons: they're often brought in too late for any treatment we offer to be effective, they are often given traditional "medicines" which many times do more harm than good (they're either real medicines that're given in doses dangerous for kids, or are a form of witchcraft), & nutrition is generally low while diesase is generally rampant. I've already told you abt. the terror of maaria (according to my old biology text, the mosquito IS classified under the Kingdom Animalia, by the way =), but in case I haven't shared it with you before, HIV/AIDS is also quite rampant, & as it lowers its victims' immunity, has led to the resurgence of many other diseases (like tuberculosis). Zambia is one of the hardest-hit countries with regard to HIV/AIDS, & to put it into perspective, according to a 1999 UN report, there are more orphans per capita in Zambia than anywhere else in the world. 1 in 3 children has lost at least one parent, & 1 in 6 are complete orphans! This puts considerable burden on surviving relatives (even many hospital employees are taking care of deceased relatives' children) & the church. Pls. pray for this whole situation. The Evangelical Church of Zambia (which operates Luampa Mission Hospital) is soon holdinga conference on the church's response to HIV/AIDS after I've gone to Lusaka, & there's been some organizational confusion, so pls. pray that God would unite the leaders & people to make the conference a successful one, that the church's response to HIV/AIDS would be bold, compassionate, & effective.

I hope I'm not making Africa out to be a bleak, hopeless place. Despite its problems, I've seen some of the biggest smiles across people's faces here. There's something abt. a place where there is little to no advertising media, that makes its inhabitants surprisingly content. Some of the long term missionaries have actually shared with me that they're grateful their children are growing up here rather than amidst the predominant culture of the "West." Plus, it's beautiful; the sky actually looks BIGGER than any I've ever seen.

Again, I'd like to thank you for your continued prayers. Just to update you on the requests I made in the last email,
- I'm completely over the mild viral illness & currently show no signs of malaria or TB
- recent conversations/interactions with co-workers have been smooth & encouraging, as well as enlightening
- it's hard for me to gauge how the Thu PM Bible study & last Sunday's testimony-giving went, but they didn't go badly. Pls. pray that God'd bring to people's minds only that which was from Him. I still have that Sunday PM chapel service to speak @, on I Peter 1:22 -2:3. You could pray for that, too.
- time with the "Boyz In the Hood" (neighborhood kids) has been fun, though I haven't really talked to them abt generosity as I'd like to yet. I think I'll talk to them abt. how God so freely gives us gifts & how we ought to share them, when I give them the tennis balls & football I brought. You could pray for this, esp that I'd have time to play with them @ least once more, as I'm on call this weekend.

Anyways, I'll soon be home, God willing, and will be able to talk face-to-face with most of you. I'm looking forward to that. I guess you could pray for my trip to see Dr. Jewel (that God'd make clearer to me what His desire is for my future) & for traveling mercies in general. Maybe, as you pray for the physical & spiritual needs in Zambia, God'll make clear to you, too, that He wants you to do mission work. What a neat prospect, should God lead me to team up with some of you on some future mission trip!


Safe in One of the Creases in God's Very Big Hands,
Sid Steve


PS's:
Ruth & Eric: Just a reminder: my flight (South African Air #211) will be arriving in Atlanta from Johannesburg @ 8:20am May 16 (Tue). If I'll need to bus into Savannah (which I still don't mind!), pls. email me so @ echzgo@zamnet.zm before the above-mentioned time. Thanks! See you soon!

Dr. Elder: ever read "The Search for Signficance" by Robert S. McGee? It seems to go right up your alley of spiritual experience, as you've shared of your life. Very helpful to me re: where I get my feeling of self-worth.

Moses: wow! Thailand? What're you doing there? I guess I'll soon find out. BTW, the propensity to tell stories comes from my parents!

Anneta: Praying for your class' Sea World trip; make sure you get adequate sleep! Pls. pass along a "Happy Anniversary" (belated) to your parents for me. Nice to hear abt. your bike & bikestand; let me know if you'd like help putting it together. Thanks again, BTW, for the going away gathering; I want to see those pictures.

EFC Men's group: Praying for you guys, for the things you emailed me abt. Spent extra time today in prayer for our Lord's Riverside bride. You could continue to pray for the things I asked for in the last email, and for being home alone. Please also pray for the remaining time with Chimbali, our housekeeper; we've had a similar experience with relationships, & I shared that with him. Pray that God'll show him (& me) to be to trust & obey Him completely. Pls. forward this email to Kevin & Tom, as their accounts don't seem to be working.