Cholera in Mozambique
DANGEROUS CHOLERA OUTBREAK/God's response Rolland and
Heidi Baker Maputo, Mozambique 28 February 2001
The rivers of central Mozambique continue to rise, cutting
many thousands of our own church members off from food
supplies and medical help. Upstream dams are being opened up
to prevent them from overflowing and breaking. The rains
continue, and now again Mozambique's government is helpless
without international assistance.
Challenges to our faith in Jesus do not stop. Last week,
even as we received daily reports of desperation from the
flooded north, a terrible outbreak of cholera hit our center
at Zimpeto near the capital city of Maputo. We now think the
cholera was introduced by contaminated food brought in to a
wedding in our church. The disease is wildly contagious, and
within days we had taken 70 children, pastors and workers to
a special cholera hospital in town. This is actually a big
tent, strictly quarantined, filled with "cholera tables,"
bare wood beds with a hole in each and buckets underneath
for nonstop diarrhea and vomiting. Every patient was on a IV
drip.
Many have died in this emergency hospital. Maputo's health
officials were terrified of a city-wide epidemic. Maputo's
Director of Health put her finger in Heidi's face and told
her, "You will be responsible for killing half of Maputo!"
Every day health officials came to our center, desperately
trying to identify the source of the cholera and contain its
spread. Soon the city police were involved, intent on
shutting down our entire center and ministry. For days
nothing seemed to help. We were washing and disinfecting
everything. Our trucks were making hospital runs day and
night. Our own clinic was filled with children on IVs. Our
staff was completely exhausted.
Only Heidi was allowed to visit the tent hospital. Every day
she would go in and spend hours and hours with our kids,
holding them, soaking them in prayer, declaring that they
would live and not die. They vomited on her, covered her
with filth, and slowly grew weaker. Many were on the edge of
death, their eyes sunken and rolling back. The doctors were
shocked by her lack of concern for herself, and were certain
she would die along with many of our children.
Our stress level was the highest ever. We remembered how we
had been evicted from our first center in early 1997, and we
just couldn't take that again. We had been preaching
salvation and deliverance with all our hearts to these
children we had rescued out of the streets and dump, and now
they were slipping away right in front of us. Twenty of our
pastors from the north were also in the tent and dying. Some
of our weaker pastors desperately wanted to go home, certain
that they would all die if they stayed with us. Heidi and I
were ready yet again to quit if God did not do something.
But during all of this the Holy Spirit kept falling on our
meetings. Again and again all visitors would come to Jesus
and hungrily drink in His Presence. A strong spirit of
intercession came over our stronger pastors, who would pray
all hours, not only for our cholera victims, but for the
suffering of the whole nation. Intercessory prayer groups in
the U.S. and Canada, and around the world began to pray
intensely for us.
Three days ago our entire future in Mozambique was in
question. No one had any more answers. Our weakness was
complete. Then some of our children began coming home from
the hospital, even as others were being taken there. And
then there were no more new cases. Extraordinary. And then
yesterday everyone was home! Just like that, the cholera is
gone. And Heidi is fine.
The doctors and nurses at the hospital are in a state of
shock and wonder. The Director of Health again put a finger
in Heidi's face: "You! This is God! The only reason you got
through this was God! You and dozens of these children
should be dead!" Eight of the medical staff there want to
work with us now. "This is miraculous! You know God! We've
never seen God do anything like this. We've never seen such
love! We don't want to work here anymore. We want to work
with you!" And so they will.
Several visitors to our center who came down with cholera
did die after returning to their huts and refusing to go to
the hospital. And we heard that one of our pastors had died,
but that report turned out to be mistaken. We did not lose a
single person who lives with us at Zimpeto.
So in a matter of days our worst crisis ever has turned into
a wave of peace and joy at our center. Last night we
worshiped to all hours, beholding His beauty in our hearts
and enjoying His company. Our pastors and children are
laughing and filled with excitement. What about the flooding
up north? What about our thousands who are sick and haven't
eaten in weeks? We don't know what exactly Jesus is going to
do through us yet, but our faith level has grown to new
heights. May we trust Him always, and see Him glorified with
our own eyes as we walk with Him even in the valley of the
shadow of death. May you be encouraged too, and join us in
serving the King!
In His great love, Rolland --
Rolland and Heidi Baker, Directors Iris Ministries, Inc.
P. O. Box 563 No. 654/29 Zimpeto, Av. Mozambique Km. 11
Maputo, Mozambique Tel: +258-82-303-068, +258-82-303-067,
+258-1-471-542 E-mail:
Rolland@irismin.org (Received on Tuesday March 6, 2001)
