Saratok Medical Mission

Post mission trip, you know that it'll be just moments when the post trip syndrome kicks in. hehe. Feeling slightly light headed and surreal at the moment. The past 2 days have been eye opening and needless to say much fun. :)

Looking not so far back, I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity to join the Msian Medical Fellowship in their mission to Kuching. We visited two villages near the town of Saratok, which is about just 3 hours away from Sibu and 40mins away from Sarikei. Somehow i feel that this wasn't just mere coincidence that i stumbled upon this opportunity when Sun asked some of us if we were interested after her f6 classmate Nicky asked her.

This experience taught me several things about the way of life of the Ibans living in longhouses not far off from the small towns in Swak. the one we visited was relatively modern, being bricked walled and having electricity. i realised tho that clean water supply wasn't readily and abundantly available. the longhouse concept was still there, with one longhouse having about 20 plus minus rooms, each housing one family and sharing a common area in front. In a team consisting of medical students and doctor, we ran a health clinic with supplies of mostly OTC drugs, did simple health talks and played games with the children. So this was what I realised in hindsight of the health check we did. Most of the villagers needed a place to share their problems, be it strictly medical problems, or plain emotional ones. They are not entirely desolated, with a hospital available 1 hour away. But fact is, simple medical supplies such as Paracetamol, vitamins and gastric meds are not within reach of your fav pharmacy store. logically, Paracetamol isn't really worth travelling on a 2 hour return trip to the nearest clinic. therefore, magic PCMs that relieve the aches and pains that seem so insignificant to us city folks is a fairly big deal to them. imagine having a splitting headache and not having any painkillers around. xS

It is quite rare to pick up serious illness among them cz those who're really ill would've gone to the hospital. they're fairly compliant to their anti hypertensive meds. but having a doctor to just follow up on them and encourage them to reassure them that they're doing fine and doing well by being medically compliant is a boost to them. things like sleeping problems that you know you can't really treat come up in the conversation. you know you can't offer definite solutions, but at least you can hear them out, ask them if they're stressed out, listen to their problems and offer a simple prayer. it's the psychological aspect that makes the bigger difference here. this is where human touch does wonders that the most intelligent robots cant.

cute children :P

I also come to appreciate the simple faith and sincerity they have, hosting us with amazing hospitality. had several endearing moments chatting with them. simply love the children who mostly have large curious eyes (oh so cute). plus the cats there are really cute and clean xP i think some of my coursemates would've catnapped them back if they saw them. also sat through an Iban service and cell group and sang Iban songs. :D hehe. and not to forget the Iban dishes we got to savour. (camera's spoilt so i shall wait for pictures from the others) one of them is pulut rice in monkey cups (periuk kera). thr's also fried ginger, pucuk ubi, bamboo catfish, bamboo chicken. several others. supercalifragilisticexpedidelicious!

ah thr u go. the rice in the monkey cups. :P

on top of that I think what made the trip most memorable is the friendship made. :) most awesome fun loving teammates in this trip. honestly missing everyone already. i'm personally encouraged spiritually by the pastors in the team and teammates who are really passionate in walking the talk. in the Iban service on sun morning, a girl approached us to say that our testimonies spoke into her situation and encouraged her to continue serving Him as she takes her next step into UPSI next month. It couldn't be more mind blowing to see how God puts everything into place to encourage His children. What more can I say. Simply blessed. :)

the team with pastor and his family and church mbrs.

note: what i'm sharing is very specific to the area i visited, it probably (or most definitely) doesn't reflect the conditions of the longhouses in other areas. Swak is afterall very diversified with widespread population.

with Pastor Henli who ferried us down in the 5 long hour journey
huge thx to Xun Jin who provided great insight and words of wisdom throughout the trip, Nicky for leading the team, also bernard for throwing in Counterpain meds into the drug collection. :P

If u're interested to know more about MMF, visit their website here