Crisis at the Medical Clinic

This has been one of the most difficult weeks that I can remember for our Karamoja station. We ask for your prayers for our Mission, particularly for the work of our medical clinic. The week began with us having to make the difficult decision to release one of our staff members. This contributed to an already present problem of shortage of staff. Furthermore, we had already been in the midst of a water crisis as a pump had broken. So we decided to close down the Clinic temporarily while working to resolve these problems.

What we did not anticipate was how strongly the community would react to the release of the employee. People gathered outside the Clinic demanding a meeting. They even blocked the main entrance with thorn branches and declared that the Clinic is closed until the problem is resolved (to their satisfaction). (This heavy-handed tactic was quite alarming albeit a bit humorous since we had already closed the Clinic for our own reasons.) The meeting was very difficult as the Mission was strongly criticized and accused of continually ‘chasing’ workers for no reason. What was particularly difficult was that the community was demanding to know the reason for the termination. Of course, we are not at liberty to publicly disclose that information.

The community is demanding that we rehire the individual. Needless to say, we cannot allow the community to force our hand in terms of employing and terminating employment of our staff. Therefore, this has become something of a crisis moment for the Clinic (as well as our Karamoja Station of our Mission). We have scheduled another meeting to include government officials of our sub-county. Please pray that God would pour out upon us His wisdom and grace that we might resolve this problem in a way that brings great glory to Him!