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The Voice of the Martyrs Traveling on foot for three days, a laboring mother from an area of Chad where civil war has removed all missionaries finally made it to the Primary Health Care Center (PHCC) of Lohutok, South Sudan. Because of the late stage of her pregnancy and the position of the baby in her womb, surgery was needed to save both mother and unborn child after their grueling journey. However, surgical procedures had not been performed in Lohutok for more than 45 years, due in part to the civil war, during which Government of Sudan (GOS) planes dropped 50 bombs on the village. A VOMedical team, including international director, Dr. Bert, arrived two days after the mother’s amniotic sack ruptured. The Voice of the Martyrs has been supplying Lohutok with medications, medical supplies and equipment for some time and visited the village in January 2006, primarily to evaluate the medical work and assess the condition of newly donated medical equipment. Team members had not planned to perform any surgeries in the village. Because the baby was in the breech position and very large, a Caesarian section operation had to take place immediately, or mother and child would both die. Thankfully, a German midwife at the center found some basic surgical instruments, and Dr. Bert had an anesthetic with him that he had planned to use at his next stop. The unanticipated surgery quickly got under way. Even though there were complications with the uterus and placenta, calling for a hysterectomy, the operation was successful. Although Dr. Bert’s patient was unable to produce much milk for the baby because of her stress and dehydration, a missionary nurse from Corpus Christi, Texas, encouraged her to keep trying to nurse and fed the baby milk through a syringe. The appreciative mother named her daughter “Deborah,” after this kind and caring nurse. In the photo, both mother and child can be seen. Baby Deborah was weak at delivery but is now strong. The two are tangible proof God is working through VOMedical. Dr. Bert and his team performed seven other operations in Lohutok, along with seeing many non-surgical patients. Loaded with equipment, they hiked over a mountain to a nearby village and saw another 100 patients before bringing a pregnant leprosy patient back to deliver at the hospital. At their next stop in Padak, they operated on 18 patients, including 12-year-old Abraham, who received an above-the-knee amputation. For 10 years, VOM has continued to assist in meeting the needs of Christians in Sudan.

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Question: Are you buying back slaves in Sudan?

Answer: We have only been able to do this on one occasion. Buying back children raises some very hard questions. First, we do not want to create a market for the slave traders and at the same time drive up the cost, and encourage slave trading. Second, we do not want to give money to the very people we are "fighting" against and help fund their efforts against our Christian brothers and sisters. The children one VOM worker was able to buy back in October 1996 were from a village that he was visiting. The parents of these children came to him and asked for his help. They only had enough cattle to buy back one child and the slave traders had 15. He knew where the children were. He also was very careful to only pay a minimum price for the children and not establish a very high market price for them. The slave traders were asking $10,000. VOM paid $1,000. As opportunities come up again we may buy back more children. Please pray for these children and their families and pray the Lord will show you additional ways to help the suffering Christians of Sudan. VOM has many programs that are helping like our Blankets of Love, Lifepacks for refugees, Pastor Support, and Families of Martyrs programs.