In the global fight against disease, few adversaries loom as large as malaria. This insidious parasite, transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes, claims hundreds of thousands of lives each year, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa.
However, amidst the grim statistics and the often-overlooked suffering, there lies a beacon of hope: the power of donation.
Malaria, though preventable and treatable, continues to ravage communities worldwide, particularly in regions with limited access to healthcare resources. The burden falls disproportionately on vulnerable populations – children under five and pregnant women are especially at risk. The disease not only exacts a heavy toll in terms of lives lost but also inflicts economic hardship on families and impedes societal development.
How Is Malaria Spread?
Malaria is primarily spread through the bite of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. The parasite is picked up by mosquitoes feeding on an infected person. These parasites grow and mature in the mosquito before being transmitted to another person through feeding.
Malaria tends to be found in warm and tropical climates:
“Where malaria is found depends mainly on climatic factors such as temperature, humidity, and rainfall. Malaria is transmitted in tropical and subtropical areas, where
Malaria parasites can complete their growth cycle in the mosquitoes (“extrinsic incubation period”).
Temperature is particularly critical. For example, at temperatures below 20°C (68°F), Plasmodium falciparum (which causes severe malaria) cannot complete its growth cycle in the Anophelesmosquito, and thus cannot be transmitted.” – CDC, Where Malaria Occurs
This is why it is so common in many of the areas where Mission Partners For Christ serves in Africa. The climate is a perfect breeding ground for these parasites.
What Are The Symptoms?
Malaria can manifest in a variety of ways, including joint pain, fever, and rapid heart beat.
As malaria gets worse, it can cause anemia and jaundice (yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes).
The most severe form of malaria, which may progress to a coma, is known as cerebral malaria. This type represents about 15% of deaths in children and nearly 20% of adult deaths. –
“Nearly every minute, a child under five dies of malaria. Many of these deaths are preventable and treatable. In 2022, there were 249 million malaria cases globally that led to 608,000 deaths in total. Of these deaths, 76 per cent were children under 5 years of age. This translates into a daily toll of over one thousand children under age 5.” – UNICEF Report
“The WHO African Region continues to carry a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden. In 2022 the Region was home to about 94% of all malaria cases and 95% of deaths. Children under 5 years of age accounted for about 78% of all malaria deaths in the Region.
Four African countries accounted for just over half of all malaria deaths worldwide: Nigeria (26.8%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (12.3%), Uganda (5.1%) and Mozambique (4.2%).” – WHO Report
Needless to say, malaria is a terrible disease that has impacted far too many people, particularly children.
The numbers become even more bleak when we consider that malaria also puts the infected individual at risk of developing other illnesses as well:
Mission Partners For Christ always comes equipped with medication to hand out to malaria victims at each of our free medical clinics in Africa, but it does come with a cost. On each medical mission trip, we spend $1671 on malaria medication alone. This is where you come in.
Here are several compelling reasons on how Mission Partners For Christ donors help:
Saving Lives: Every donation contributes to the provision of vital medications that can prevent and treat malaria. With adequate funding, healthcare organizations can expand access to these life-saving resources, reaching more individuals in need and reducing mortality rates.
Breaking the Cycle of Poverty: Malaria perpetuates a vicious cycle of poverty, as families grappling with the disease face increased healthcare expenses. By providing the funds needed for malaria medication, donors can help break this cycle, empowering communities to thrive economically and improving overall well-being.
Global Solidarity: Malaria knows no borders, and its eradication demands a concerted global effort. Donating to malaria treatment demonstrates solidarity with individuals and communities affected by the disease, reinforcing the importance of international cooperation in addressing health challenges.
Ethical Imperative: As members of a global community, we have a moral obligation to alleviate suffering and promote health equity. Donating to malaria treatment reflects a commitment to loving our neighbors as ourselves, following the example of Jesus.
Donating to malaria treatment is not merely an act of charity – it is an investment in a healthier, more equitable world. It is also a practical way to share the love of Jesus with others. By showing them that complete strangers loved them enough to care for their health and well-being, we are also communicating to them about the love of the God who created them.
Together, we have the power to turn the tide against the deadly disease of malaria and create a brighter future for generations to come.
Will you help us fight malaria?
Every donation counts. Whether its $1 or $100, your generosity will make a very real difference to the child who needs medication to treat her malaria
We owe a debt of gratitude to all those people who came before us in the Missions field. Their hard work has helped to set the stage that allows Mission Partners For Christ to do the work that we do. They helped to establish best practices and showed us how to properly forge healthy relationships in the communities where we do our work. Let’s take a few minutes to learn about a few of the women who came before us.
Mary Mitchell Slessor was born in 1848 in Aberdeen, Scotland, and grew up in the slums of Dundee. Mary was the daughter of a shoemaker. Her mother was deeply religious and made sure that Mary attended church each Sunday. Mary finished her schooling at the age of 14 when she went to work full-time at the jute mills to help support her family.
When Mary was 28, she decided to pursue her growing interest in missions. She applied to the United Presbyterian’s Foreign Mission Board in 1876 to work with them as a missionary. After a short training period in Edinburgh, Mary boarded a ship with her cousin, Robert Mitchell Beedie – who served as a missionary in Buchan – and arrived in Calabar, Nigeria in September of 1876.
Mary took the time to become fully immersed in the culture and language of her new home, which created trust and lasting relationships with the people of Calabar. She became fluent in Efik, the language of the local people. Unlike other missionaries in her time, Mary chose to live among the people to whom she ministered.
She was instrumental in ending smallpox in the region when she began a vaccination campaign amongst the local people groups in the early 1900s. She is also credited with ending the infanticide of twins, whom the Calabar people believed to be cursed and would often abandon to starve to death or to be eaten by wild animals. Mary partnered with a local mission to save as many of those babies as possible and ultimately chose to adopt many of them herself.
After multiple bouts of Malaria, Mary developed a severe fever in January 1915 and passed away. She was honored with a state funeral. Mary is remembered today in Nigeria as the “mother of all the peoples.”
Born Rhoda Grey in Newcastle to Reverend Maurice Grey and his wife Elsie, she would grow up attending church with her family and become known as Wendy.
As a young girl growing up in a small town in England, Wendy was constantly reading books filled with tales of missionary adventures. Women like Mary Slessor and Gladys Aylward were her role models for what a young woman could accomplish. Rogerson would eventually train as a nurse, never fully suspecting that she would follow in the footsteps of the women she had admired in her childhood.
In 1948, Wendy trained as a nurse and began a career as a midwife in the Newcastle suburb known as Jesmond.
A combination of events, such as a news article she happened to read and a talk she attended, affirmed her call to the missions field. Wendy’s path was set upon learning about Borneo’s dire need for medical missionaries. She knew that Jesus was calling her to love and care for the people of Borneo. Wendy stepped foot on that island in 1959. She served as a teacher and a nurse with a mission already established in the region. Wendy was the only trained medical practitioner for hundreds of miles, and her days quickly filled with patients desperate for medical treatment.
Three years after her arrival in Borneo, Wendy took a furlough and returned to England. It was then that she met Colin Rogerson, whom she would marry. Wendy remained in England to raise her family, yet she never forgot Borneo. She returned twice in later years: once in 1985 and once in 2003.
In 2018, she published a book detailing her experiences. The book is called “The Midwife of Borneo.”
Gladys Aylward. The original uploader was Ibekolu at Chinese Wikipedia., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Glady Aylward was born in London, England to working-class parents, Thomas John Aylward and Rosina Florence. Gladys tried hard in school but found the work challenging. She left school to start working at age 14, eventually landing in a role as a housemaid. Four years later, through the influence of her local friends, Gladys became an Evangelical Christian.
In her late 20s, Gladys chanced upon a newspaper article that discussed the spiritual state of China. Hearing that millions of Chinese people had never heard the gospel, Gladys felt a calling to go to China as a missionary.
Gladys began training for missionary work at the China Inland Mission in London. She lasted three months before being informed by the mission’s leadership that they would not be recommending her for service due to her struggles with learning the language. Undeterred, Gladys decided that she would find her own way to China.
Having heard about an older woman, Jeannie Lawson– who served as a missionary in China and who needed a young person to assist her in her work– Gladys spent her life savings on travel fare to get to China. One October day in the early 1930s, Gladys bid her life in England farewell and began what would be a long and difficult journey to Yangcheng, China.
Gladys’s travels took her from her Liverpool station to Japan, narrowly avoiding forced labor in Russia along the way. She finally reached her destination after traveling by foot, bus, and mule and met the woman with whom she would be working. Together, they set to work to create what would be called “The Inn of the Eight Happinesses,” the name references the eight virtues: Love, Virtue, Gentleness, Tolerance, Loyalty, Truth, Beauty, and Devotion.
The Inn became a central point of their ministry. They would offer safe space to travelers and share stories with them about Jesus. A year after Gladys arrived in China, Jeannie Lawson fell and was fatally injured, leaving Gladys to run the ministry herself.
In time, Gladys began working with the government as a foot inspector. The Chinese government had passed a new law forbidding the binding of feet, a common practice in which young girls would have their feet bound to keep them small, believing that large feet were unattractive. In an era where many foot inspectors were faced with violence, Gladys’s efforts to end this cruel practice were met with success.
During her time in China, she adopted five children as her own and became the unofficial mother to hundreds more.
She eventually left China for Great Britain in 1949 when the Communist army was actively seeking out missionaries. But her heart never left China. She attempted to return after her mother’s death, but the Chinese government rejected her visa application. Instead of returning to China, Gladys moved to Taiwan in 1958 and opened the Gladys Aylward Orphanage.
Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
It would seem that Dr. Scudder’s life path was forged for her generations before she was even born. Her grandfather, Rev. Dr. John Scudder Sr., and father, Dr. John Scudder, both served as medical missionaries. Coming from a long line of missionaries instilled Ida with a strong sense of what it means to foster a servant’s heart. She frequently witnessed illness and poverty throughout her young life.
Education was an important thing in Ida’s family. She attended seminary in Massachusetts, returning to India upon graduation to assist her father with his work. In 1894, she received a call into medical missions when three different pregnant women knocked on her door one night seeking medical assistance. Each of these women died in childbirth as they had no access to the kind of medical intervention they needed. Due to their beliefs, none of these women could be treated by men, and Ida did not have the training to help them (nor were female OB-GYNs accessible to women in that region). She had previously been adamant that she would not become a medical missionary. Still, having witnessed these terrible tragedies, she could not deny that she was called and needed to go to medical school.
Ida Scudder applied to Cornell Medical School and graduated at the top of her class – the first, of which, that accepted women. Before her return to India, a Manhattan banker known only as “Mr. Schell” decided to sponsor Ida’s ministry with a $10,000 grant in his wife’s name. Mr. Schell also ensured that Ida had all the medical instruments needed for her work in India.
Ida returned to India on January 1, 1900, and set to work immediately. Her father gave her a room for her small practice, but her needs quickly outgrew the space. By 1906, she was working with as many as 40,000 patients annually. In 1909, she opened the Mary Taber Shell Hospital.
In 1918, this doctor, who once could not envision herself working in the medical field, decided to open a medical school to train women as doctors and nurses. Expecting little interest, Ida was delightfully surprised to receive 151 applicants in her first year. She had to turn most of these applicants away, not having the resources to train so many people.
In 1928, she opened The Vellore Christian Medical Center, a larger hospital than her first. As of 2003, Vellore Christian Medical Center was the largest Christian hospital in the world.
Dr. Ida Scudder passed away in May of 1960 in her bungalow in Kodaikanal, India.
Amy Beatrice Carmichael, the daughter of a well-to-do flour mill owner, was born in Millisle, County Down, Ireland in 1867. She lived in an English boarding school during part of her childhood. The first few years of her life were spent in comfort, but that changed when Amy was still a young girl. Her father’s flour mill began to lose money and had to be shut down. Amy would have to leave school to help support and care for her large family.
When Amy was 16, she moved with her family to Belfast. There, Amy first felt a stirring in her soul to work with those living in poverty. She befriended a group of people known as the “shawlies”; they were so poor that they could not afford hats to protect themselves from the cold, so they covered their heads with shawls instead. Through her efforts in building relationships within the shawlie community and advocating on their behalf, she was able to build a church for them.
In 1887, Amy heard Hudson Taylor, founder of the Chinese Inland Mission, speak on missions in Asia. Then, Amy first heard her call to go overseas and preach the gospel. She applied for training and lived in London for a brief time to prepare for life as a missionary. Her health, however, prevented her from working with the Chinese Inland Mission.
She later pursued work with the Christian Missionary Society. Initially serving in Japan, Amy returned home due to poor health. However, Amy was convinced that God had called her to the mission field. She wasn’t deterred from her goals. She took the time she needed to rest and returned to work. Amy first went to Sri Lanka and finally received an assignment to the place she would call home for the next 55 years: India.
Commissioned by the Church of England’s Zenana Missionary Society, Amy found that her focus was primarily needed in ministering to women and young girls. A significant problem in India, at that time, was temple prostitution. Girls were often sold to Hindu temples by families who didn’t want daughters or needed the money; these girls were often forced into sex work to earn money for the temple priests.
In order to rescue and care for these young girls, Amy founded an orphanage in Dohnavur, where she became known as “amma” (Tamil for “mother”) and cared for hundreds of girls throughout her time in India.
In 1931, Amy suffered a nasty fall that left her bedridden, but she could not give up her work. When she couldn’t physically serve, she wrote. In her lifetime, Amy wrote close to 40 books to let the world know what God was doing through missions.
Amy Carmichael died in 1951 at the age of 83. Her body rests in Dohnavur, where she spent most of her life. Following her wishes, there is no tombstone above her grave. Instead, a birdbath has been installed and engraved with just one word: Amma.
When you hear the term, “medical missions,” chances are that you immediately think of a mission trip that includes medical professionals like doctors, nurses, and maybe even optometrists. But were you aware that we also regularly have dentists join us in the mission field?
Why Does Dentistry Matter?
Dentistry is a medical need like any other. Without adequate access to dental care, people are left vulnerable to infection and other serious health conditions like, pregnancy complications, pneumonia, cardiovascular issues, and more.
Here in the west, most of us have access to some amount of oral health maintenance; even if we’re not able to see a dentist regularly for some reason, most of us still have access to the tools needed to promote oral health like toothbrushes, toothpastes, floss, and mouthwash. Many of the patients we see on our medical mission trips do not even have these tools at their disposal.
Our Patients In The Mission Field
Most people we treat in our free medical clinics have never met a dentist or had any kind of oral exam or treatment. As you can imagine, this often leads to serious issues with infection or impacted teeth and tooth decay. Without proper tools to treat their dental problems, many people are left to try to extract rotten teeth by using the tools that they have at their disposal, such as rocks or sticks. Needless to say, this is not an ideal situation for anyone to find themselves in.
Patients Being Treated At Mission Partners For Christ Dental Clinics
How Dentists Can Bring Healing and Hope to Thousands in The Mission Field
Our dentists are a crucial part of our medical mission teams. Since many of our patients have never sat through a dental exam before, this is the first time many are also learning the basics of how to properly care for their oral health.
While our dentists are not set up for complicated surgeries, they do perform extractions when needed. This sets our patients up for success in proper healing; every tool used is specifically created for that procedure and is properly sterilized, protecting our patients from severe illness.
Our dentists also will treat abscesses and will do some cleaning.
They will also provide much needed education about how to maintain oral hygiene and will give out toothbrushes and toothpaste to those who need them.
How You Can Help Make Dental Care Accessible for Underserved Communities
If you are a dentist, the most important thing you can do to make a difference is: join a medical mission trip!
Your generous gift of your time and expertise will be greatly appreciated by all our patients, and will make a lasting impact on the lives of the thousands of people we see on each trip. God will also use your dental skills to open doors to sharing the gospel with unreached souls. If you are not a dentist, share this blog post. You never know if there may be a dentist in your network who has felt a call into missions but didn’t know how to get started! You can also donate to Mission Partners For Christ to ensure that we can provide the tools necessary to continue offering dental care during our free clinics in underserved villages. Are you a dentist who has served in missions? Whether you served with Mission Partners For Christ or another organization, share your experiences and encouragement for others in the comments!
Mission’s trips are often short-lived, but the effects are long-term. It’s been argued that short-term missions are ineffective and often cause more hurt than help. However, if done right, there can be long-term, positive effects from a mission’s trip experience.
The Global Coalition said, “When done well, a short-term trip itself is just one piece of the broader, long-term journey of learning and engagement with God’s work in the world. Through this type of transformation, churches can better share the gospel. There is no greater success than the local body of Christ—on both sides of the short-term trip equation—declaring and demonstrating the hope of Jesus Christ’s reconciling work.”
Here are three ways a short-term mission’s trip can have a long-term impact:
1. Represents the global church.
The people who volunteer on a mission trip are the hands and feet of Christ. They serve others because of their love for the Lord! Giving time and energy in service of others is a reflection of God’s provision and love for His people. Introducing others to the love of God plants seeds that grow for years to come for both those giving and receiving care. The same God that is in the United States is also in all the other world’s continents.
2. Expands one’s worldview.
When we travel, our view of the world broadens. We delve into different cultures, meet new people, and see how God’s love stretches across the world and covers all people. Though different, we can unify through faith. Our respect and love for others expands when we walk in their shoes. Mission’s trips give us that opportunity!
3. Develop a love and understanding for missions.
My first mission trip was when I was in eighth grade. My heart for missions began to grow from that moment on and led me to financially support other people’s mission’s trips, give to mission organizations, and adopt internationally. Serving can look different for everyone, but going on a short-term mission’s trip can change people’s hearts to make a long term impact and keep serving in their communities and beyond. Many missionaries or non-profit service organizations began with a short-term mission’s experience. People’s heart for other cultures grew and they saw the need for change because of one short-term experience.
The Gospel Coalition said the following about longterm effects of short-term missions: “What happens after participants return home is typically the single biggest factor in whether a trip was ‘worth it.’ We need to communicate to participants that they have a responsibility to steward the visit well. They have an opportunity to support the believers and community they visited through their long-term prayers, monetary support, advocacy, and encouragement. And they have an opportunity to translate the things they have seen into faithful involvement in poverty alleviation in their own communities.”
For those of you who have been on a mission’s trip, tell us in the comments how the experience effected your life long term!
We talk a lot about how we love partnering with organizations. So we wanted to try something new and do what we plan to call a “Partner Spotlight!” This will consist of us introducing you to our amazing partners and sharing what we love about them! Partner Spotlight #1: BeCause International
Did you know that many children in developing countries do not have shoes? We wake up, get dressed, and put our shoes on without thinking anything of it. In fact, we not only put on a pair of shoes, but we have lots of pairs of shoes to choose from. This is not the reality of people in developing countries.
Why does this matter to a medical team? Well, children contract illnesses through their feet because they do not have shoes. Over 1.5 billion people suffer from soil-transmitted diseases that could have been prevented had they worn proper footwear. These diseases can even lead to death if left untreated. Thankfully, we are able to treat many of these illness’ during our medical outreaches but, without shoes, children will likely become ill again soon. The cycle will continue to repeat itself, and they won’t receive help until our team visits again.
When children experience these preventable illnesses, it affects their growth, their mood, and their ability to attend school. The Shoes That Grow organization provides very durable shoes to children that are made from compressed rubber (similar to a car tire), antibacterial synthetic, and high-grade velcro. The quality of these shoes areimportance since the children will wear this single pair of shoes longterm.
You may be thinking, “Wouldn’t the kids grow out of these shoes in a few months?” We get it, kids’ feet grow so quickly and the need for a new pair of shoes always seems to be right around the corner! But the great thing about The Shoes That Grow organization is that the shoes do just that — they GROW! They expand up to 5 sizes so the child can wear them for several years. This is crucial for the shoes to grow along with the kids so that more shoes can be given to different kids instead of needing to replace the previous pairs of shoes that they outgrow.
The shoes come in a variety of colors: pink, blue, tan and black. The children love the shoes, and, for many, it’s their very first pair of shoes! Imagine the gratitude they feel for something that we consider to be a necessity instead of a luxury.
How We Partner: We distribute approximately 180 pairs on each of our medical mission trips. One of our trip volunteers fits the children for the shoes to be sure we provide the best options for them. Each pair of shoes cost only $20 yet they last for years! We are grateful for generous donors and partners that help us fundraise to provide the shoes for the children.
Help us obtain shoes for the children we are seeing on our upcoming trips!
You can donate now to ensure that every child we treat in our free medical clinics can have a pair of shoes.
3. Develop a love and understanding for missions.
