If you would like to donate to support the mission described below, please click on your choice here.
Last Monday, a man named Jeremiah wandered over to Lea’s house in search of some pain medications for a wound on his feet. He had heard that Lea dealt with snakes and snakebite, and wanted to see if she could help him. Jeremiah told Lea that he had been cutting down maize (corn) on a farm in 2018, and as he did, he felt like his foot was suddenly slashed or cut. He looked at his leg and had a 1.5 cm cut in the location that later became an open wound. He experienced lots of pain and swelling. He tried to get some treatment for the wound in 2020, but because of the cost of getting the wound treated and cleaned properly, he failed to do it. Now there is a wound where the bite occurred, and a much larger wound on the opposite side. The dead flesh has turned black and is peeling off, and the wound stinks like rotten meat. This is a pretty sure sign that he now has gangrene in that area. If you press on the flesh near the wound it is “mushy” inside and there is a fluid discharge. Do we know for sure this was a snakebite? No, because he never saw the snake. But it sure looks similar to others I have seen.
Ok, I know that was gross, but it was important to convey that this man deeply needed help. Lea took Jeremiah to the sub-county hospital but the doctor was not available to see him until the following week. They took an X-ray and found that he had an infection in the bone (osteomyelitis). The wound was cleaned with a process called debridement and bandaged, but they asked him to have this done again every other day at a nearby clinic. The cost of doing this would be too high for the man, so Lea decided to do something about it herself. I was able to help her get the supplies she needed so she could change the bandages and clean the wound herself (she does have some first aid training). So every other day for a week, Jeremiah shows up at Lea’s house and she cleans and bandages the wound, even though it is terribly hard to look at and smells terrible, and dead skins comes off when she wipes the wound with iodine.
Lea prays for Jeremiah regularly when he visits. As she cleaned the wound and re-bandaged it on Jeremiah’s first visit, Lea noticed he had tears in his eyes. He said, “I am amazed at how a complete stranger would clean my wound for free.”
And there it is … extending the hands and feet of Jesus to help someone in a lot of pain and suffering from a snakebite. Taking seriously the command to serve others and wash one another’s feet. This is why we do what we do. To treat others the way we want to be treated. Loving God and loving your neighbor.
Tending To the Garden 
Leave a comment