To all of you who have prayed so quickly and faithfully for Gift Mulelekwa's daughter:
Praise the Lord Jesus for His mighty power. The day we left Gift and his children, two days ago now (Monday), Elizabeth's hand was looking much better. I can't help but think that this 'crisis' seems so small in comparison to my friends Todd and Amy Damotte and their daughter Gretchen who is still fighting for her life. Nonetheless, to Elizabeth, her father Gift, and the rest of the community there, this was and continues to be a big deal. So thank you for praying for us and for her. I am including pics and details for those medical people who will want to know. For the queasy people, just disregard!
On the day we arrived, Gift told us that his daughter Elizabeth (Lizzie, as we call her now) had suffered a pretty bad puncture wound about a week previously. She had been away at school staying with some relatives who had forced her to pound corn into cornmeal for making beer! That’s when the accident happened. Needless to say, Gift was NOT happy about that. When I first examined Lizzie’s hand it was swollen about one and a half times normal size. It was extremely painful, hot, and oozing pus. Thankfully it did not stink. And she had no red streaks up her arm (it is possible to see veins on her dark skin) and no fever.
Gift’s mother is a practicing witchdoctor. She had insisted on treating the girl’s hand using her own traditional methods (witchcraft / magic charms). Gift vehemently resisted and said, “Absolutely not.” He told me later that the people worship an infected body part as if it were some kind of god. They believe that a ‘special’ spirit has taken up residence in the infected part and that the
spirit had to be worshiped and appeased so that it would heal the infected part. Gift said that if the person survived at all, the appendage was most often rendered useless and lame.
I told Gift that the most important thing to do for her was to soak the hand in clean, pre-boiled water. His mother was appalled and told Gift, “You can’t treat that sacred thing (the hand) like that! You’ll see; she will lose her hand.” Gift’s wife, the mother of Lizzie was away in Lusaka to care for her father so the grandmother was the only other person around who could help Gift in caring for Lizzie’s hand. And she refused. So it was up to Gift (and to me) to soak her hand and wrap it.
So that first night, we soaked it for about 30 minutes. I cleaned it with peroxide and scrubbed it (which was quite painful), applied some triple antibiotic ointment, bandaged it all up, wrapped it to keep it clean, then gave her some children’s Tylenol for the pain. Then we both prayed for Lizzie that God might work on our behalf for this little girl and show that He is mighty and powerful and will prove that He is to be trusted over witchdoctors and Satan. That night I talked to 
Steph on the phone and asked her to consult some doctor friends / brothers of mine, which she did. Both said to continue the soaking up to five times a day for 30 minutes each time and try to squeeze the pus out. Wow. That was gross and painful for poor Lizzie. But Gift was an attentive father and did exactly what I told him to do while the grumpy grandmother sat back and watched (and stewed).
After the first full day, Lizzie was all smiles and said that that the pain had gone away. The next morning I cut away much of the dead skin around the wound and I got the first good look at the wound. Between her second and third finger there was just a black hole going deep into her hand. It was too late for stitches and nowhere to go anyway. (the nearest clinic is Sesheke). I stuffed gauze as gently as possible down into and on top of the hole hoping it would draw out pus. Gift was busy with us during the day so unfortunately Lizzie only soaked her hand in the morning and at night (because the grandmother refused to help us). But over the next two days the swelling went down, the hole began to close up and the skin looked pink and healthy (like raw chicken). I am just amazed at how God has designed our bodies to heal themselves.
By day four (Sunday), the grandmother finally gave in. She could see that God was healing Lizzie’s hand and so she agreedto soak it. I think she soaked it all five times that day! I am disappointed with the close-up photos of Lizzie’s hand because they’re blurry. But anyway, those pics were taken Monday morning just before we left them. Please continue to pray for the grandmother that God will bring her to her knees in surrender; in repentance and faith, and that she will bow her knee now before it’s too late.
Healthcare in rural Western Province, Zambia is appalling. But I am seeing that God is using this lack to display His mighty power to save. Gift’s faith is being strengthened as it is tested before the rest of the village and he chooses to remain steadfast in the Lord rather than giving in to the pressure from everyone to go to the witchdoctors. On a final note, Gift was fascinated by what I was doing with Lizzie. He asked me for a copy of “Where There Is no Doctor – a village 
healthcare handbook” and I told him I would get him one. The more the Lord raises this man up to be a leader among his people, the more they will be coming to him for help of every kind, including medical help. He told me that he sees healthcare in the same way as farming – God has given us all the resources. Now we must be faithful to use them according to what God says in the Bible. I couldn’t agree more.
