WCF MOBILE CLINICS IN LEBANON
WCF brought its medical team to Lebanon to serve with our field partners where we've launched Life Centers in North Lebanon and Beirut and we now have a new partner where we plan to open our 3rd Life Center in the Bekaa. We were able to serve 508 souls on our trip.
Since 2019, Lebanon's economy has collapsed with the currency falling more than 95% and prices for basic supplies skyrocketing out of reach for most people. A government worker’s monthly wage was once the equivalent of $900 and is now $50. There are increasing shortages of essential items such as food, fuel, medicine, and electricity. Unemployment has surged, the poverty rate is now estimated to be 80% and many professionals have emigrated to other countries. In addition to the Syrian and Iraqi refugees, we are now seeing a much larger group of Lebanese coming to our clinics and LCs for help.
In North Lebanon, we launched a Life Center starting first with medical services such as Ob/Gyn and family medicine. A few months ago, we were able to move to a bigger location that incorporates the medical clinic, a dental clinic and vocational training classes. Our medical LC has had 7,500 people come through since inception.
New Dental Clinic
We served at our LC here for 2 days and had more than 150 people come through our clinics. We had heard that cholera had hit Lebanon and this is where we saw our first patients with cholera. We had brought the proper medication thankfully and hopefully we saved some lives throughout the week.
Treating child with asthma
In the Beirut area, we launched our first Life Center in the Middle East with our church partners years ago in the heart of a poor, crowded neighborhood with a large number of Syrian and Iraqi refugees. Our LC has grown dramatically with many doctors serving now and we've seen more than 9,200 people come through since inception.
Treating baby with large foot wound
For this trip, we served at this LC location and our team treated about 100 people. Among the patients were a Syrian mom and her 3 children. A few years ago, she had a son who had developmental issues so her husband didn't care much for him and the boy eventually died. She had started to attend a church small group where the members prayed with her and she felt comforted and encouraged. However, her husband divorced her and took their other 3 children away. She eventually remarried just recently, but a few months into the marriage, the ex-husband abandoned the children who ended up living in an abandoned building with no running water or heat. We are working with our friends there to get them a decent place where they can live together.
In the Bekaa Valley, we saw 121 people and they were the sickest patients. Among the cases were many malnourished children, intestinal worm infestations, cholera, women's health issues and chronic diseases. We plan to launch our 3rd Life Center in this area and we hope to open by summer of next year.
One of our last patients was a 19 year old Syrian refugee who had just given birth to a baby 4 months ago. Tragically, we learned that 2 months after she gave birth to the baby, the husband divorced her and took the baby from her and has no knowledge of where the baby is. She said that she had been abandoned because she has no education or skills. We introduced her to the ministry workers who promised to follow-up with her.
Bekaa Clinic #1 Registration and Triage Area
We served with another partner in the Bekaa who has a large community center in another area. We had encouraged their leaders to start a medical and dental clinic a few years ago and introduced them to our Beirut church partners who helped them through the process. They completed the clinic rooms and are hoping to open the clinic by 2023 so I promised to bring a medical team to serve at the clinic to introduce the refugee camps in their area to their medical ministry. We were able to do so as more than 122 people came.
One Syrian refugee patient shared with us how his home village had been destroyed by ISIS, so he moved to Damascus, but then had to flee to Lebanon. He said this all with an unusually joyful spirit and then I found out he serves at a local church. It's amazing how the faith of some people grows stronger in the midst of difficult personal circumstances.
Bekaa Clinic #2 Pharmacy Area
This Giving Tuesday and beyond, would you please help support our Lebanon Life Center projects or our Humanitarian Relief projects? We need your vital support.