Mennonite Church Guinea Bissau Teams up with Arizonans

By Ron Pust, MD, College of Medicine, Univ. of Arizona

The catalyst for bringing together HeartBeat for Africa [HBA] based in Arizona and the Mennonite Church of Guinea-Bissau [MCGB] was a “Providential=God-directed” meeting of Community Health Evangelism/Lifewind [CHE], attended by both in search of a wider and more holistic Christian outreach in West Africa. There Ed Harrow of HBA and Beryl Forrester, Eastern Mennonite Missions country rep for Guinea Bissau were inspired by CHE/Lifewind’s West Africa director, Dayo Obaweya, to partner in Catel, Guinea-Bissau. The first step was to provide CHE training to indigenous MCGB members by Mr. Obaweya in early March, 2011

Later in March, the two Guinea-Bissau HBA Teams learned valuable lessons when we met our Catel neighbor, Dolores M and her 5 year old daughter, Katy [not actual names]. Dolores is a 33 year old Balanta mother of three and a new believer, part of the Catel Mennonite community. 

When Team 1 arrived, the Mennonite Church nurse in Catel told us about her, suspecting she has HIV/AIDS. For 6 months, Dolores had been losing weight, coughing and having fevers. A year earlier an infection in a tooth had spread though her right cheek, leaving bone exposed [cancrum oris]. Our blood test confirmed both she and Katy were HIV positive, though Katy was well and became the inseparable friend of Team II member, Chinyenye Anako. Sputum tests we did at Catel were negative for tuberculosis.

           All of us in Team II, led by Dolores’ brother Mario, traveled by local bus to Bissau, where we met Dr. M. Cande, the Cuban dentist who treats Dolores’ cancrum oris. He directed us to the National Hospital, where, despite the absence of a sign due to the stigma of AIDS, we found Dr. Candida Rodrigues, the Bissauan doctor heading Guinea-Bissau’s AIDS medical program. Later in Bissau we conferred with medical staff at the United Nations building.

          Two days later, Dolores and Katy came back to Catel with Mario. She had the latest and best AIDS drugs in the world. The medical students later raised money to help Dolores buy supplementary food. Annette Miller RN, the Catel nurse, sent us recent messages that Dolores is improving considerably thanks to her medicines and the addition of moringa to her food. Her brother Mario, a stalwart in the fledgling Mennonite Church in Catel, ministers to the church community, but most of all to his sister.

The story of Dolores inspires us to look at the many connections Christians—or anyone—must make to form partnerships in community development and evangelism. The local Mennonite Church, both Americans and Bissauans; the missionary nurse; the Ministry of Health and WHO AIDS program in Bissau--and Heartbeat for Africa, just happened to come along for a few weeks after CHE/Lifewind catalyzed these collaborations.

          Now all of us trust and pray that Dolores will again be healthy and that her lifelong supply of HIV medicines will be uninterrupted. It remains a major challenge.

           But, over the years of the future, Mario, brother in Christ and brother to Dolores will be there, being faithful daily to his calling.