Dr. Dodge: Passion for Health

One of Project Mercy’s graduates last year was identified as a student of promise in early 2008 when the Taylor team was at Project Mercy, and he won a scholarship to Taylor beginning in August 2008. He is now attending Taylor, and my son’s family became his host family in the United States. Students and staff at Project Mercy all remember Bedru Hassan well, and they are all very proud of him.

Bedru came from a rural family who lived near Project Mercy. The 2009 Taylor team brought letters from Bedru to his family as well as to Project Mercy. His letter to students, encouraging them to apply themselves to their studies, was well received by the students. My son, Randall, inviting me to accompany him, took Bedru’s family letter to their home. We were welcomed warmly, and the family clearly appreciated all that Randall could tell them about Bedru’s  adjustment to the United States and his progress at Taylor.

The family invited us to visit them again before we left Project Mercy, asking Randall to take their letters back to Bedru. It is truly remarkable that a student from this impoverished rural area could achieve university level status in the United States, but that is only the beginning of Bedru’s dreams. He hopes to go on to medical school, perhaps to return one day to serve as a physician at Project Mercy for his own community.

Taye Babeker is another amazing young man connected with Project Mercy. Coming from a poor family, he began at Project Mercy as a first-grader. Besides his academic ambition, he is an avid runner, having begun to run long distances seriously five years ago. In late 2008 he ran a marathon in Addis Ababa, and astonished that enthusiastic marathon-running capitol by placing third. Today he is running with the national marathon team of Ethiopia, and the world may well hear about him some day as a world-class marathon champion!

These stories are only a sample of many coming out of Project Mercy. In January 2008, a physician visiting the Project Mercy Hospital with Taylor University’s team diagnosed a five-month-old baby girl named Ruth as having severe congenital heart defects. Her one hope of survival was heart surgery that could only be done at a world-class medical center. Arrangements were made through Patrons of the Heart, based in Jacksonville, Florida, for Baby Ruth to go to the University of Florida’s center there for her life-saving surgery.

Baby Ruth’s heart defect was so complicated that surgery had to be done in two stages, requiring open-heart surgery both times. The surgery was successful, resulting in dramatic improvement in Baby Ruth’s vitality and health. While we were at Project Mercy, Dr. Jose and Hilda Ettedgui, co-chairs of Patrons of the Heart, brought her back home. We were privileged to meet them, and it was a joyful occasion for everyone at Project Mercy to see Baby Ruth again. She was a typical eighteen-month old baby, full of life and fun.

Project Mercy is also involved in several agricultural projects with interested agencies in the United States. One of these is a cattle-breeding project to improve Ethiopian cattle. Another is with ECHO, an agricultural research station based in Fort Myers, Florida. ECHO tests all kinds of plants for optimal growth in a variety of tropical settings, and shares its findings with agricultural missions around the world.

Last year, an intern from ECHO brought thousands of mango, papaya, and avocado seedlings with her to Project Mercy for ultimate distribution to rural families throughout that area. She stayed at Project Mercy for six months to ensure that the seedling fruit trees be given an optimal start in Project Mercy’s gardens. They will become an excellent stable source of food for area families. In all these ways, and many others, Project Mercy’s impact in Ethiopia will be felt for generations to come.