One of the many blessing of serving as a Missionary at Kudjip is the chance to meet so many different people who come to help and serve. Through the years you meet missionaries who serve full time for years before being called home for retirement or to the next step for them, you have volunteers who come for a month or two and who keep coming back, and you have folks who come and serve with us for a shorter period of time (6months - 2 years) and then head back to a new assignment God calls them on, and many others as well.
Through God's timing and planning, we were able to welcome 5 old friends back at Kudjip about 3 weeks ago to serve with us for a period of time. Jim and Kathy Radcliffe, who served here for over 32 years, came back for 2 months to work in our surgical department and to help with our Covid vaccine clinic. Scott Dooley, who served here with his family for over 15 years, came back to help out in OPD/Medical and Covid Ward for about 3 weeks. Scot and Tyronza Pringle are volunteers who keep coming back, they started coming about the same time I got here in 2007, and keep coming back most years. Scot is an OB/GYN doctor and has helped cover our delivery ward and teach many of us OB/GYN surgical skills. Tyronza fills in however and wherever she can. This year, she is helping with our supply and medicine distributions, and they will be with us for 2 months.
With the Pandemic still affecting air travel, getting our volunteers back into PNG has been a bit challenging, especially with need to quarantine. Thankfully, Heart to Heart International, was asked to bring an emergency medical team to PNG to help with Covid teaching and relief, and they contacted us to see if we needed some help, and our friends were able to come and join us again. We appreciate all our volunteers, but there is something extra special about having former missionaries return again, having family come home again. There is less to explain, less for them to need to learn and they can jump right in because of their knowledge of the language, culture and medicine we practice here. So it has been a huge blessing to have them back.
They got here the day before our Hospital Expansion Project Mumu. Scott, in his time here, worked hard to get that project started and had a vision for what it would look like when finished, but he left before it was finished. So it was special to have him back for the mumu and to get to see the finished project that he worked hard to bring about. Scot Pringle being here is a great blessing with us having a new OB/GYN doctor in Laura. Scot is a great teacher and many of us have enjoyed having him teach us about Csections or delivering babies and we hope Laura will appreciate having him around as well. Our new doctors - Sheila and Spencer are always enjoying having him around to teach them. Jim and Kathy have touched so many lives in their years of service here, but it is especially nice for them to be back and see their kids (Ben and Katherine) and grandkids and their lives and service here.
Thankful for these friends and for all the others who weren't able to come back this time, but have been a part of this Kudjip Family through the years.
