When I travel to Papua New Guinea areas where malaria is known to be present, I always take up a supply of the right pills so I dont fall victim to malaria. I just read this blog post from the guys flying around the world in an Australian GA8 Airvan, the same plane used in some of the MAF programs:
“One lady told how she had lost three boys and two daughters to malaria, another man spoke of the three children that he had lost to malaria . . . the stories went on and on. One chap said that until the missionaries came to Malamaunda, they had no access to any medicine due to their remote location, and the death toll each year was in the thousands. Even now, the villages “close” to Malamaunda are a number of days walk away, and Bob Kennel told how a man had tried to bring his child sick with malaria to the village where Bob was - a three day walk. After a day’s hike, the child died in the man’s arms and all he could do was return home to bury his little child. This is happening right now. As I write this, people here in PNG are dying from malaria . . . only a very short flight away from Australia. This should not be happening . . . this must not continue to happen.”
Lets not ask “What would I do?
Ask “What can I do, now?”
Imagining myself as that father carrying his sick child rammed home the impact that malaria has.
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