Kayes, Mali
Opening of Bethesda Clinic Draws Hundreds
For the past four years Luke Society director, Indielou Dougnon, has been running his ministry from the back of his motorcycle. Attached to the back of the motorcycle is a small refrigerator holding medicines and vaccinations. The motorcycle is necessary because of the nomadic tendencies of the people he serves and the difficulty in getting to the remote villages.
God led the Luke Society to support Indielou’s work through missionaries with Christian Reformed World Missions. The missionaries have worked in Mali for over 15 years. While home on furlough five years ago, they shared a meal with Dr. Wrede and Barb Vogel one evening. Wrede asked them, “You know the Luke Society … is there anyone in your area that fit the characteristics of who the Luke Society supports?” The missionaries thought for a few minutes. They asked if he or she had to be a doctor. They knew a nurse who they particularly admired for his dedication to provide medical care to those in need and his ability to bridge tribal barriers. In 2001, the Luke Society began to support Indielou’s ministry.
In 2003, the Luke Society gave its supporters the opportunity to help Indielou build a base clinic by way of monetary donations. The response was tremendous, providing enough for building materials and basic furnishings and equipment. The land for the clinic was donated by local owners, and laborers from the village worked on the building. By the time the clinic was constructed, it was a global effort.
Dr. Vogel and his wife, Barb, accompanied the Partnership Ministry Team, Dr. Doug and Julie Van Hofwegen, to celebrate the opening of the Bethesda Clinic in December, 2004. The Christian Reformed World Missionaries were also present to celebrate. The following story is one of the missionary's impressions of the work Indielou is doing and a description of the ceremony marking the opening of the new clinic:
The three big people groups in the Aite area, where the clinic was built, are the Soninke, the Fulani and the Maurs. Even though they are all Muslims, they have not always been the best of neighbors toward each other. The Maurs conducted ethnic cleansing against the Fulani in 1989. The Soninke, who are farmers, battle the Fulani, who are herders, almost every year. The Fulani aren’t always careful that their herds stay out of Soninke or Maur fields. Some problems have to do with benign language differences and lifestyle differences but most involve intentional malice towards their neighbors.
You’d think they’d wise up, quit fighting each other and cooperate.
That’s what Indielou Dougnon’s clinic is all about. He himself is from an outside group, the Dogon people, so he is seen as not apt to favor one group over another. He takes seriously Jesus’ command to love others as he does himself. So this Christian outsider has acted as a catalyst to those three ethnic groups to cooperate about a big thing they have in common: their health care. Babies, whether Soninke, Fulani or Maur, need vaccinating; mothers of any ethnicity need prenatal care, help at delivery time and education about their own and their babies’ health; and all people need help when they’re ill with malaria, dysentery, or respiratory disease or get bit by a camel, kicked by a donkey, stung by a scorpion or fall out of a baobab tree and break a leg.
At the ceremony to inaugurate the new clinic on December 13, we saw blue-turbaned Fulani ride in on camels, white-robed Maurs follow on horses, and green, yellow and red clad Soninke children dance for joy. We heard speakers from each community thank the others for hauling sand and gravel and helping with the construction of the clinic.
We saw how they affectionately called Indielou: “Guindo” (pronounced GIN doh). “Guindo” is the generic name given to all Dogons by the majority tribes in the Aite area. It would be like if we called all Irish people “O’Malley” or all Norwegians “Olson.” This is a mild insult. But when they know someone well enough to tease him, he’s become part of them. They all tease him: Soninke’s, Fulani and Maurs alike. They bring their babies, their wives and their ill to this Christian Dogon who has helped them long and faithfully. The Soninke, the Fulani and the Maurs trust him with their lives.
What better thing for a follower of Jesus to do than to help people cooperate in building a clinic and to take care maintaining health and treating illnesses? God sent a “Guindo” to Aite to let His light shine.
This ministry is a great example of how God uses the Body of Believers to accomplish His purpose. He brought together Christian Reformed Missionaries, Indielou and his Partnership Ministry Team, three different African tribes and you, as supporters of the Luke Society, to provide compassionate medical care through the newly established Bethesda Clinic.
Barb Vogel