We believe that prayer is the most important aspect of successful Christian activity, therefore we would appreciate your prayer support while we are away. Here are some points:
1 Pray that above all God will be Glorified in all we do
2 Pray that Stephen will be led to the work within the church that God wants
3 Pray that Karen will settle into her new and challenging role within the hospital
4 Pray for Murchison Hospital staff and patients
5 Pray for Norwegian Settlers Church leaders and members
6 Practical arrangements will fall into place, travel arrangements, accomodation, car....
7 Pray for our families back home (because they may miss us!)
Sunday, 15 July 2007
Friday, 13 July 2007
South Africa
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We are Stephen and Karen Orr and this is our blog where we can keeping in touch with everyone. We are in Port Shepstone South Africa for this year Karen is working in Murchison Hospital and Stephen is volunteering in Norwegian Settlers Church.
Have you ever walked the beach on a Sunday afternoon daydreaming about things you would love to do, other places you might serve the Lord and wondered what other plans He has for your life? As a couple we have done it many times, but it was always only a good intention, we were always too busy to do anything about it or perhaps too scared!
However the time came when we finally decided we had to investigate the possibilities. After contacting a few mission organisations and getting fairly general responses I (Karen) decided to contact the Medical Director at Murchison Hospital, South Africa, where I had spent six weeks working as a final year medical student. The response blew us away – within a couple of days I was emailed a signed contract with the dates left blank for me to choose! For us it was a clear response from God that this was where we were to go.
Murchison Hospital, Port Shepstone is about one hour south of Durban on the South Coast, in the state of Kwazulu Natal. Originally a mission hospital Murchison is now state funded but has retained its Christian ethos with fine Christian men in the most senior medical and administrative posts. It was established in 1928 by Dr. Barton who used to ride out on his horse and hold clinics under the trees in the rural villages. Since then it has become rather more sophisticated it now has 300+ beds and provides medical, surgical, maternity and paediatric services to a deprived Zulu population.
I will be working as a Paediatric Medical Officer – challenging and daunting are just two of the words that come to mind! Even more concerning is the prospect of having to cover the adult side during my on-call duties since I haven’t treated an adult in three years. Nonetheless it is with great excitement that I am looking forward to returning to Murchison, to renewing old friendships, working in a very special environment and treating patients with the most fabulous pathology who are always courteous and truly appreciative of the help you give.
For me (Stephen) I was convinced that this year was a time for me to explore something entirely different from my regular employment. At the suggestion of Dr Bill Hardy Medical Director at the hospital I contacted Norwegian Settlers Church – quaintly named because of who established the church rather than the fact that only Norwegian Settlers make up the congregation! Rather Norwegian Settlers is a nondenominational evangelical church with a real heart for the local community.
In 2001 Trevor Downham, the minister, preached a sermon challenging the congregation as to their real impact on their neighbourhood – if this church closed today would the people around us notice or miss us? As a result of that sermon and a lot of prayer the Genesis Project was born.
The Genesis Project aims to make both long and short term differences to individuals and the community as a whole. They provide hospice care for both adults and children dying from AIDs, they have an orphanage for children orphaned by AIDs, there is an adult education programme providing numeracy, literacy and IT training, community sports facilities and training programmes and they are also involved in teaching Religious Education in the local schools. I am going to work as a volunteer with the church and the Genesis Project and have no doubt that I will learn much and face many challenges in what for me is an entirely new society.
At present we continue to have lots of arrangements to make both here and in South Africa and we are looking forward to all the new experiences that the incoming year holds, however being thousands of miles from friends and family will not be easy. We would appreciate if you would undertake to pray for us throughout this year and also for those who will miss us most. Thanks in anticipation of your support, Stephen and Karen.
Have you ever walked the beach on a Sunday afternoon daydreaming about things you would love to do, other places you might serve the Lord and wondered what other plans He has for your life? As a couple we have done it many times, but it was always only a good intention, we were always too busy to do anything about it or perhaps too scared!
However the time came when we finally decided we had to investigate the possibilities. After contacting a few mission organisations and getting fairly general responses I (Karen) decided to contact the Medical Director at Murchison Hospital, South Africa, where I had spent six weeks working as a final year medical student. The response blew us away – within a couple of days I was emailed a signed contract with the dates left blank for me to choose! For us it was a clear response from God that this was where we were to go.
Murchison Hospital, Port Shepstone is about one hour south of Durban on the South Coast, in the state of Kwazulu Natal. Originally a mission hospital Murchison is now state funded but has retained its Christian ethos with fine Christian men in the most senior medical and administrative posts. It was established in 1928 by Dr. Barton who used to ride out on his horse and hold clinics under the trees in the rural villages. Since then it has become rather more sophisticated it now has 300+ beds and provides medical, surgical, maternity and paediatric services to a deprived Zulu population.
I will be working as a Paediatric Medical Officer – challenging and daunting are just two of the words that come to mind! Even more concerning is the prospect of having to cover the adult side during my on-call duties since I haven’t treated an adult in three years. Nonetheless it is with great excitement that I am looking forward to returning to Murchison, to renewing old friendships, working in a very special environment and treating patients with the most fabulous pathology who are always courteous and truly appreciative of the help you give.
For me (Stephen) I was convinced that this year was a time for me to explore something entirely different from my regular employment. At the suggestion of Dr Bill Hardy Medical Director at the hospital I contacted Norwegian Settlers Church – quaintly named because of who established the church rather than the fact that only Norwegian Settlers make up the congregation! Rather Norwegian Settlers is a nondenominational evangelical church with a real heart for the local community.
In 2001 Trevor Downham, the minister, preached a sermon challenging the congregation as to their real impact on their neighbourhood – if this church closed today would the people around us notice or miss us? As a result of that sermon and a lot of prayer the Genesis Project was born.
The Genesis Project aims to make both long and short term differences to individuals and the community as a whole. They provide hospice care for both adults and children dying from AIDs, they have an orphanage for children orphaned by AIDs, there is an adult education programme providing numeracy, literacy and IT training, community sports facilities and training programmes and they are also involved in teaching Religious Education in the local schools. I am going to work as a volunteer with the church and the Genesis Project and have no doubt that I will learn much and face many challenges in what for me is an entirely new society.
At present we continue to have lots of arrangements to make both here and in South Africa and we are looking forward to all the new experiences that the incoming year holds, however being thousands of miles from friends and family will not be easy. We would appreciate if you would undertake to pray for us throughout this year and also for those who will miss us most. Thanks in anticipation of your support, Stephen and Karen.
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