Story number 4 for 23 Sep 2002

(Papua New Guinea)–Meanwhile, Christians are helping people in Papua New Guinea see physically and spiritually. Christian Blind Mission International’s John Jeffries says there’s an incredible need for ophthalmologists in that country of about five million people. Jeffries says they like to train nationals to do the work because…”Westerners eventually leave. But, if we train national surgeons in ophthalmology, they stay. They’re familiar with the language. They’re familiar with the customs. They’re familiar with the culture. In Papua New Guinea, this is proving to be very difficult for us, because there aren’t a lot of educated people in that area.” Jeffries says the church is instrumental in making this outreach more than a health care initiative. “We always look to work with churches or mission agencies, and that’s exactly the case in New Guinea; and we find that it’s actually the local parish workers who actually go out into the highways and byways. We’re able to open their eyes in a spiritual sense and, in that sense, we say that we’re following the work of Jesus.”