Becky Carlton is a volunteer nurse at Gimbie hospital. Her third world savvy and positive attitude is a great blessing. One morning Becky came into my office looking rather pale and shaky. She mentioned that she had given a lot of blood. The Ethiopian staff told me the rest of the story that afternoon. A patient with a ruptured uterus had been bleeding profusely for several hours. She had a rare blood type. Her husband was a match and gave all he could but the staff were unable to line up other donors. Shortly after midnight, one of Becky’s housemates came in and reported that the woman was about to die. The staff were giving her Miranda (orange soda) but she was still slipping fast. Becky has type O blood—universal donor. She jumped out of bed and ran through the compound, waking a doctor and lab tech. They rushed to the woman’s bedside. The transfusion went smoothly. Becky’s blood saved the woman’s life. The staff were astonished that a “farenji” (foreigner) had taken the trouble to save this woman’s life. After all, the woman might die anyway.
As the staff retold the story, I couldn’t help thinking of Christ’s death. His blood paid the price for our sins. He made this sacrifice knowing that many of us would refuse His offer of life. Yet we often take this for granted, and we rarely get as excited as the hospital staff did the morning after Becky’s donation.
Becky isn’t God, but her missionary attitude is spreading God’s love to the rest of the hospital. Please pray for Becky, and pray that God sends us more volunteers like her.