wfn.org | Mobile clinic will assist Africa University health sciences

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Feb. 19, 2002 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-31-71B{058}
 
A UMNS Report
By Linda Green*
 
A mobile medical clinic en route to Africa University has moved the United
Methodist institution more closely into the area of health care and will
enable it to provide aid to the region and beyond, particularly in AIDS and
HIV detection. 

The Christian Alliance for Humanitarian Aid Inc. in Pearland, Texas, has
shipped the mobile clinic to Africa University to assist with the school's
faculty of health sciences, a new department that is being developed. 

"We feel that alliance -- and the medical clinic -- is one of those things
that will catapult us into the area of health care," said James Salley, the
university's associate vice chancellor for institutional advancement. The
mobile clinic, scheduled to arrive in late March, will be housed at the
hospital at Old Mutare Mission for daily patient examination and
consultation.

With the new academic discipline, students will need laboratory facilities,
and the mobile clinic will enable them to perform practicum work toward
their medical degrees, Salley said. The university's health sciences
discipline, which will include programs of nursing, environmental and public
health and health sciences, is scheduled for launch in 2002 and enrollment
for 2003.

The mobility would enable the clinic to be transported into the community
and into outlying areas to provide health care to citizens, Salley said. The
endeavor is part of the university's outreach into the community, and it
will help forge a closer working relationship with the United Methodist
Church's Zimbabwe Annual Conference in its health care efforts, particularly
in the area of HIV/AIDS, he added.
  
In an effort to prepare for the clinic and its mission, the medical director
of Old Mutare Hospital, also the physician at the university, is attending
training sessions at St. Jude Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.

In another area of relief and response, a second container - a feeding
station - will arrive at Africa University to be used as a training facility
in the disaster management program, Salley said. Once in operation, the
station will allow the feeding of up to 1,000 people daily. At the
university, the station will be set up as assimilation for program
participants to practice handling masses of people.

Established in 1998 at First United Methodist Church of Houston, the
Christian Alliance for Humanitarian Aid is an ecumenical group of lay people
working together to provide relief cargo to areas affected by natural or
man-made disasters around the world. The group produces medical clinics from
used 40-foot shipping containers. The clinics are designed for use in
disaster situations as well as for providing support to missionaries and
churches in remote areas needing medical facilities, said Jess Stokely,
alliance founder in Pearland. The clinics have helped meet the needs of
thousands of people affected by war, hurricanes, flooding and other
disasters.

Partnering with local churches and other humanitarian aid organizations, the
alliance gathers supplies of food, clothing and medical supplies, such as
over-the-counter products and transports them to areas of need. Mobile
medical clinic are equipped with examination rooms, sinks, lighting, a
generator, air conditioning and food. The clinics are sent by ship and
placed in villages where medical treatment has been inadequate or
unavailable. "It is a moving hospital," Stokely said.

"This is a project of love that we and the churches have put together and is
also an evangelistic mission for me," he said.  

Nearly 90 percent of the alliance's work is with Third World countries. More
than 240 types of containers - including four mobile medical clinics - have
been sent into Honduras, one of the most poverty-stricken places in the
world, Stokely said. The alliance has sent 32 containers of food, medical
and other supplies to Africa, and "we would like to do more," he said.  

The group has worked with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries to
send containers to Liberia, Angola, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda
and other African countries.  The group follows the same guidelines of
mission as the United Methodist Committee on Relief in dealing with disaster
response and relief efforts, Stokely said. The alliance draws support from
churches in the Texas Annual Conference, donations, grants, foundations and
churches of other traditions.

"One of the most important things about us is that when we grab a hold of a
horse, we ride," he said. "We don't stop and haven't stopped sending aid to
needy areas."

Stokely, a United Methodist, said he envisions having 300 truckloads into
Africa in the next five years. "I have a passion to see what I can do or how
much God wants me to do the area of HIV and AIDS, particularly at Africa
University and how it as a university can serve," he said. He is passionate
about hunger and poverty issues also, he said.

Africa University is the best project that the church could hope for in
Africa, he said, and it is ideal for the alliance to be able to ship a
mobile medical clinic there because of the university's work in AIDS/HIV
efforts. "This clinic is a response to the AIDS pandemic on the continent,
and this is our start at the university," he said.

The partnership with the university came through Stokely's relationship with
the school's development office in Nashville. He said he has a passion to
work in Africa and envisions a large relief program for the continent.  

"This is an evangelistic effort for me as a layman," he said. "When you
treat people and give them food, they evangelize easier."

Over time, he envisions Africa becoming self-supporting and in need of
little food and medical aid. But, he said, a great amount of food, water
systems and seeds are needed to accomplish that goal.

"Jess has a goal for Africa and believes in the evangelism of feeding and
providing health care before talking about Jesus," Salley said. "We are
delighted to be involved with them in emergency disaster response and a
health science facility."

# # #

*Green is news director of United Methodist News Service's Nashville, Tenn.,
office.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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