Stuart and Dr. Bates sailing on Lake Malawi

Sailing in the Lake Malawi International Yachting Marathon has to rate as one of my best times in 2010.  This is the longest freshwater sailing event in Africa.

Dr. Bates, a locally based visiting CURE surgeon, and I took on the challenge, sailing a borrowed Dart 18 against 44 other boats over six legs up the lake. The winds were generally good and strong with most of the action taking place downwind as we raced to a different location each day through several check gates.

It was a great way to see a different side of Malawi, visiting some new places and appreciating the beauty of the country.

In addition to raising funds for the CURE Malawi hospital from our boat sponsorship, the Marathon as a whole raised funds. Awareness of the work of the CURE Clubfoot Worldwide program in Malawi was increased through lots of media exposure. In total more than $5,000 USD was raised.

Linda Hansen with a CURE Clubfoot Worldwide patient

My favorite CURE memory for 2010 would have to be my first week doing orientation with Andrew Mayo, CURE Clubfoot Worldwide’s executive director, in Ghana. We visited a clinic at St. John of God Hospital at Duayaw Nkwanta.

The staff had mentioned to some of the mothers that the executive director and Africa regional manager of CCW were going to be visiting and if they wanted to meet us that they should come along on such and such a date.

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Eileen Jeffrey

As I look back on 2010, it is difficult to choose just one thing that stands out as memorable.  When working for God and His kingdom, it all becomes memorable. CURE was incorporated in 1996, the U.S. administrative office opened in 1997, our first hospital opened in Kenya in 1998, and our 11^th hospital opened in Niger in 2010.

Looking at that time frame, people will often ask questions like, “How have you been able to establish so many hospitals in such a short time?”  Or “How do you get successful medical experts and executives to leave lucrative careers to serve in emerging countries?” The questions are invariably the same, but my response is also always the same: “Prayer and obedience to God’s leading.”

So for me what stands out as memorable in 2010?  The same thing that stands out every year – God’s faithfulness to CURE as we continue to humbly serve Him and the Kingdom work that He has called each of us to accomplish.

Robbie Jackson (right) and Erminis, one of the CURE D.R. staff, at the hospital's Thanksgiving celebration

Every year at the CURE Dominican Republic hospital, we work on Thanksgiving Day. Sometimes, our U.S. staff takes the day off, but I always just keep on working – and feeling quite sorry for myself.

This year, Dr. Ted and Susan Beemer (the hospital’s former medical director and his wife) had a new idea: They would give the kitchen staff a little extra money and ask them to cook a real Thanksgiving meal for our entire staff.

Since we had no in-patients or surgery cases that particular Thursday, it seemed like a perfect idea. The day arrived, and Carmen, our kitchen director, was all in a tizzy. We didn’t know what to expect, but there was lots of cooking and secrets flying about the hospital.

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Aracely with a patient at the CURE hospital

In this year at the CURE Honduras hospital, I had many special moments. But I remember one especially that fills me with lots of happiness and makes me smile.

In September we had a spiritual retreat with the staff of the hospital. We began with worship, then we had a speech, and then we had a time to share ideas and opinions.

At the end, we had an activity where the staff broke up into groups of six. These groups had to dramatize and to mime the lyrics of a song. Then they had to put their own music to the lyrics.

One of the groups decided to “rap” their lyrics. Can you imagine how it was? A bit unusual, but it was so fun.

The opposite to this was Ruth Castro’s (the hospital’s executive director) group. Her group was very in tune with the music and was very pleasing to the ears.

But all of the groups had such fun!

The purpose of the exercise was to help everybody understand the importance of working together as a team and to show how everybody plays an important role on the team.

The fun we had and the lessons I learned from that day are one of my favorite memories from 2010.

This photo of Erin has nothing to do with her favorite memory. She just likes playing frisbee, even in the CURE parking lot on a cold winter day.

After two years of working in rural Malawi on community health projects, I had a last minute opportunity to visit the CURE hospital before moving back to the U.S. in 2004. I took a tour and was amazed that such a nice facility and building existed – I had seen NO comparison throughout Malawi in all of my travels.

I was pretty convinced there was not a cleaner building, and I certainly had not seen such a child-friendly group of staff or volunteers.  While I should not admit it, I can also attest that the staff was equally as kind to me when my endeavor to watch an entire orthopedic surgery failed after about six minutes!

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