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RSSOctober 3, Proper 22
by the Rev. Barbara Cawthorne Crafton for ERD
10/3/2004
Habakkuk 1:1-6(7-11)12-13;2:1-4
Ps. 37
II Timothy 1:(1-5)6-14
Luke 17:5-10
"We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty." -- Luke 17:10 (NRSV)
Twenty-four-year-old Heyci Sulemia Garcia of Izalco, El Salvador has a volunteer job with some fairly routine duties that keep her busy all day several days a week: she has been trained to take medical histories, checks patients in, administer first aid and dispense prescriptions at the medical clinic which Episcopal Relief and Development built in her village as part of its extended, holistic response to the Salvadoran terrible earthquakes of 2001. Routine, perhaps, but not light: Heyci sees between 20 and 55 patients each day the clinic is open!
The clinic is rudimentary, by most of our standards—there is no surgery performed there, none of the high-priced equipment most of us would consider minimally necessary: no EKG machines, no blood lab, no defibrillator. For these things, people must go to the hospital in El Mango, a distance of several miles.
One day last year, a mother brought her sick baby to Heyci's clinic. Once glance at the thermometer told Heyci that this little girl needed more help than she could give her: a dangerously high fever had overtaken the little body, and the baby's life was in peril. The young woman gathered up her tiny patient and set off on foot. "I had to run with her in my arms to the hospital in El Mango. They were able to resuscitate her. I felt good that I had been able to help save her."
Do good for your fellow human beings. Care for one another as if you were sisters and brothers, for that is what you are. Run along a dusty road for miles, if you have to, with one of my little ones in your arms, and perhaps you will give her the chance to grow up, to become a brave young woman like you: someone so lovingly committed to her good work that she now has the memory of saving a baby's life to bring her lifelong joy.
ERD came into Heyci's life as a result of a disaster: the earthquakes that killed thousands. But the ministry stayed to help make the whole of life in her impoverished community better.
Episcopal Relief and Development saves lives and builds hope in communities around the world. We provide emergency assistance in times of disaster. When the immediate crisis is over, we rebuild devastated communities and offer long-term solutions in the areas of food security, health care, and HIV/AIDS.
