Br Jim Coucher CP
I worked as a missionary in PNG for 43 years. I had a variety of jobs in that time. Some jobs were more rewarding than other jobs but there was one job that stood out more than others and that was Senta Bilong Helpim. It was a job that I sort of just fell into. At the time I was involved in a building program when one of the local men, who was working as one of our electricians, asked for time off so as he could pick up his son from the hospital to take him back to the village.
I didn’t know that his son was in hospital and so I asked the worker, Harry, what was wrong with his son, Darren, and all Harry knew was that Darren’s sickness was in his head, and it wasn’t responding to treatment and so Harry was told to take him home to die. As you can imagine, Harry was very upset and asked me if I could visit his son and pray for him.
I went to the village that night and saw Darren sitting in the corner of a room, propped up with pillows. I was quite shocked when I saw him. Here was this frail little 3yr old with an enormous head which was so big that he could not even sit without support. I knew of the sickness, Hydrocephalus, but it was the first time that I had seen a case. Darren was lucky to have survived as long as he did.
Darren’s journey is a story of its own, so I will just say here that I got Darren and his dad down to Monash Medical Centre where Dr Elizabeth Lewis, (Elizabeth became a big part of the Senta) operated on Darren and then the Monash medical team looked after Darren’s treatment for 3 months. Unfortunately, Harry’s visa was running out and so he had to leave the country. Sadly, Darren was not yet walking but Harry returned, with Darren, armed with a CD showing all the exercises that Darren needs as he progressed along, and that was the birth of the Senta.
At that time there was a company of Australian soldiers on secondment to PNG Army. Six of the Aussies had their wives with them and so I approached them with Darren’s story and that he still needed A lot of work with exercises. I told them that the specific exercises were all laid out on a CD. I then popped the big question, which they could see coming, can you supervise the exercises? They were absolutely delighted as they were bored stiff with nothing to do while the husbands were at work. I told them to give me a few days, and I would tell them when I was ready.
With the help of Harry and a few of the village boys, we built a thatched roof place, about 3mts square, with a concrete floor. As soon as it was ready I told the ladies who, in the meantime, had worked out a roster among themselves and were ready to start. Those women were marvellous. They persisted with Darren for 6 months when their work was rewarded and Darren took his first steps. There were always crowds of people to watch Darren doing his exercises and the place erupted when those steps were taken. With all the singing and shouting it was not long before the whole village was there to celebrate. Word spread to the other villages and it was then that people started bringing children with all kinds of disability. They all knew of Darren, and none expected him to live, and he gave them hope with their children. In our part of PNG, a family would be ashamed to have a child with a disability and so that child would be hidden away in the house and in most cases would be neglected or, in a lot of cases, put to death and buried so no one would know. I can understand why they would do this. A disabled child is a burden on the families. The mothers need to go to their gardens every day to plant and harvest the vegetables that they need. Then they go searching in the jungle for other natural foods. They then must get home and prepare a meal for the rest of the family. That is the dilemma they face. There is no one to care for the child. The father is out fishing or hunting for the family. They can’t ask anyone in the village because of the shame involved.
Next month we will hear from Pauline McKenzie, one of the early volunteers which drove this wonderful ministry
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