Save a Life

Patients in the UMCOR-supported Samuteb Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo rest under protective mosquito nets.

Barrett’s brother saved a life last week. Driving in a fierce rain storm, he saw a car hydroplane flip over and end up in a water-filled ditch. Stopping his truck, he ran to the turned-over car and found a young woman driver hanging upside-down by her seatbelt with her head under water. She was frantically trying to unclasp the seatbelt. Kicking out the window, he crawled into the car and held her up enough to ease the pressure on the clasp so that he could set her free. No one else stopped to help.

This week I was meeting with an interagency operations task force for Imagine No Malaria. We spent a good bit of time talking about the urgency of this effort. Children and other vulnerable people are dying at a fast rate from the bite of a mosquito. Malaria is a disease only for those who live in the developing world. The question we kept asking ourselves was “Does anybody care?” I think they do. I hope you do.

As I prepare my Christmas sermon I am considering two titles. “Have You Saved a Life Today?” Or maybe, “Save a Life Today!” When I think of Jesus, a child born on Christmas day, I realize again that we are in the life saving business in the narrowest and broadest sense of the term. Will you join me?

To save a life from malaria, contribute to UMCOR Advance 982009, Community Based Malaria Control Program.

By Sam Dixon, Deputy General Secretary, UMCOR