Zimbabwe is a country of 14.44 million people — but often only one operational, surgical hospital for the general public. That hospital is called Karanda Mission Hospital. To put this into perspective, that would be like everyone in the whole state of Pennsylvania having to go to the same surgical hospital.

But Karanda isn’t just meeting physical needs. While the staff care for medical needs, they’re also sharing the Good News of Jesus. Chaplains meet with patients, preach the Gospel and offer Christ-centered counseling. Christian staff are encouraged to pray with and for the patients. A Christian radio program plays over the PA system throughout the day.

“We have the privilege of working alongside local believers to accomplish God’s good work here,” says TEAM missionary Jon Christiansen. “It is a better image of what the heavenly community will be like.”

But the challenges Karanda Mission Hospital faces are growing, like a struggling economy and difficulty acquiring medical supplies. That’s why we’re taking the month of August to pray for Karanda Mission Hospital. Will you join us? 

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1. Pray that staff will endure through hard circumstances with little compensation.

In Zimbabwe, the government sets the salaries for medical workers. But hyperinflation has made these salaries hardly livable. The hospital supplements the staff’s income with food and supply packages, but finances remain a constant concern.

Meanwhile, Karanda is a busy hospital, seeing hundreds of patients a day — while others wait in line. A limited water system requires staff to keep trash cans full of water in case they run out. Patients are often exhausted, having trekked from other parts of the country to receive care at Karanda. And after a long day of dealing with all these problems, Karanda staff come home to financial worries.

Ask God to encourage the staff in the midst of their exhaustion. Pray that He will help employees stretch their dollars farther and provide a way for them to be paid a livable wage.

2. Ask God to provide adequate medical supplies to the hospital.

Medical supplies can be hard to get in rural Zimbabwe. Yet, these supplies are essential to performing surgeries, treating wounds and many other medical procedures. The hospital has to order 90 percent of its medicine from either India or South Africa. And once they’re shipped, getting them through customs can be a huge challenge.

Doctors and nurses at Karanda Mission Hospital are top-notch, but they can only work with the supplies they have. Pray that medical shipments will easily make it through customs.

The hospital gets other medical supplies, including blood, from the nearest major city, Harare. But the trip from Harare to Karanda is not an easy one. It takes hours, mostly on a two-lane road, then on a bumpy gravel road and to top it all off, you have to drive through a river. 

Ask God to fast-track any supplies that are on their way and easily get them through customs. Pray for favor with customs officials and for all needed funds.

3. Pray that patients and staff won’t be able to deny God’s presence at the hospital.

The purpose of Karanda Mission Hospital is to bring glory to God through their work. When healings occur, it can be tempting for people to give credit to the medical practice and forget God’s part in it. But God is the ultimate healer. He is the one who brought the doctors and nurses to Karanda in the first place, and He is the one who guides their hands as they work. 

God is also at work in the lives of each of the people on staff at the hospital, including doctors, nurses and chaplains. These people are all working to heal people physically, but also to spread the Gospel to each of the people they encounter.

And on top of that, Karanda Mission Hospital partners with other programs, like AWANA and LifePump, to ensure that people have opportunities to encounter the love of God even after they leave the hospital.

Pray that people will recognize God’s role in their healing. Pray that God’s work will be so evident in staff’s lives that people will have no choice but to praise Him. 

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