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Patrice Miles
Lenny
Over a year ago, while looking for HIV/AIDS resources for Spring of Life Egbe counseling center, I stumbled across a hospital in Jos called Faith Alive. What started out as a small clinic for HIV/AIDS patients is now a three-story hospital that serves over 10,000 patients a month with various medical problems, provides ongoing care for HIV/AIDS patients, provides maternity care and performs about 3-4 surgeries each day. What makes Faith Alive unique is that all medical care is offered free of charge. Dr. Chris Isichei , Founder of Faith Alive, relies on local Nigerian doctors to volunteer their time outside of their regular jobs at other hospitals. Dr Chris has been a source of encouragement and help to me in my ministries in Egbe over the past year. When I asked how could I help him, his only request was for more volunteers.
After some research and legalities I was able to establish a partnership agreement between SIM, my mission organization, and Faith Alive. Now I am able to help Dr. Chris by recruiting missionaries to come serve at Faith Alive Hospital.
My first volunteer (guinea pig) is Carman Marflak. Carman is a nurse anesthetist who has made several mission trips to ECWA Hospital Egbe and is also a member of one of our supporting churches back home in America. She was coming to ECWA Egbe Hospital for her 5th visit and was interested in seeing our ministries in Jos. I was excited to tell her about the needs of Faith Alive Hospital and she agreed to come serve!
At the time of writing this post, Carman Marflak has almost completed her 2 weeks at Faith Alive in Jos. During her time here the staff have been trained and encouraged. She has improved their spinal block techniques, taught them how to place OI needles and has started organizing the operating room (OR). Carman has also given several lectures at University of Jos to medical and nurse anesthetist students. I visited her at the OR a few days ago and the smiles and thank you’s from the staff for letting “Grandma” come were overwhelming. The staff of Faith Alive have fallen in love with Carman and I know she has fallen in love with them.
It hasn’t been easy being our volunteer guinea pig. The OR at Faith Alive is under equipped. They need a new anesthesia machine, new OR beds, running water, better sterilization equipment and so much more. Many times Carman was the only anesthetist available due to a shortage of nurses on surgery days. “Grandma” Carman has survived an exhausting but rewarding two-weeks and her experience is helping me better prepare future medical volunteers for their service at Faith Alive. We currently have 2 pre med students and 2 nurses coming to Jos in June and a general surgeon is coming long term next year!
If you or someone you know is interested in medical missions, please email us at jos.personnel@sim.org. Faith Alive is only one of our many medical missions opportunities. We also have an amazing revitalized hospital in the bush of Egbe with an eye and dental clinic called ECWA Hospital Egbe, we have an eye clinic in Kano that serves a predominantly Muslim population call Kano Eye Hospital, and the largest VVF (Vesico-Vaginal Fistula) clinic in the world located in Jos that ministers to women from the “North”. In addition we have several community health and medical outreach opportunities throughout Nigeria. If you are looking to serve in a foreign country- come visit us in Nigeria. I promise it will be a rewarding experience you will never forget!
See this latest video my husband, SIM Communications Specialist, put together about Medical Missions in Nigeria. https://vimeo.com/272002516
It’s been almost five years in Nigeria, almost one year in our new home, and I was feeling almost happy…..
Thankfully God intervened. It took time and discontent, but eventually that soft, faint voice penetrated my soul and stirred my ear. “Stop escaping, my daughter, to something that isn’t real and escape to Me”. But my disobedience continued on for months. I didn’t realize that the escaping was making me become more and more dissatisfied with all the genuine blessings surrounding me -this led to DEPRESSION!
I felt like a new person. My sense of joy and contentment was restored. Doors started opening in unbelievable ways in my ministry. Not to say I still don’t have moments of homesickness and loneliness, but I have a renewed sense of peace that transcends all understanding.
At the beginning of 2018 we made a list of goals for C.A.R.E. Africa. One of our goals was a one-week camp for our C.A.R.E. Africa kids which would focus on their walk with the Lord and provide some vocational training. We knew it would be a huge undertaking financially and strategically. First, we would have to find experienced workers to run the camp. Then we would have to provide transportation for all the workers to and from our town of Egbe along with housing and feeding them for a week. We would also need a week’s worth of food to feed the kids along with supplies for vocational studies. Needless to say, we could not fit the camp into our 2018 budget but we kept the camp on our goals list with the hope of raising funds for it later on. 
The camp theme and camp lessons focused on Faith. 
Hiraeth: a Welsh word for homesickness (or nostalgia)
Lately, I have been going through old pictures online trying to categorize them. I stumbled across a file that had pictures of the annual Polsgrove family trip to Gatlinburg. I remember how every trip resulted in a Polsgrove male breaking or wrecking something or offending someone. There were pictures of the five Christmas’s or the five hundred birthdays we attended every year due to our big, happy, dysfunctional family. I remember how Lenny and I complained about the stress it created and we couldn’t wait to get away from all the busyness and family whalla (problems). 
I grieve the loss of relationship with nieces and nephews that will not know who I am. I grieve not being there to pray with a friend and hug them when they are going through tough times. I miss those deep relationships where a friend knows when you are not being your true self. 
maybe your families ties have been broken and you miss those better times. I hope this blog encourages you to know you are not alone and that your fellow sister in Christ completely understands. Our feelings don’t mean we are weak or incapable but that we are human. We are also daughters and sons of the Most High and He is our one true home! 
Last fall, when taking my mother to the Abuja airport, I found I could not accompany her to the departure area. I was told to go talk to the front desk. What started out as an obstacle became a gift from God – I call him my “Airport Angel.” I found him at the front desk. He took me to see his Oga (boss) to get permission. The young man spoke to his Oga quickly who waved us on. I guess that was our approval?!
We are excited to announce that our C.A.R.E. Sports Outreach program started last month! What you may not realize is that before co-founding C.A.R.E Africa, Emma was in sports ministry full time and became known in Egbe as “Coachi”. The Sports Outreach program has been a dream of Emma’s since starting C.A.R.E. Africa in 2014. One of our 2018 goals was to start going into the community to find the voiceless and exhausted instead of waiting for them to come to us. We felt that a Sports Outreach program would be a way we could accomplish this.
Each quarter we also plan to host a competition between our Egbe team “The Vessels” and a team outside of and within Egbe that is not connected with the C.A.R.E. Africa Sports Outreach program. The Egbe community really loves sporting events and everyone in the town comes out to watch the game and the presentation of awards. C.A.R.E. Africa will use this time to share the gospel among those that have come to the competition.
Miles In Missions 