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Debbie
and Hugh have been working at Christian Medical College
and Hospital, Vellore, since 1999. |
Debbie is a doctor specialising in rehabilitation. Hugh, an accountant
and former Finance Manager for Traidcraft, has turned his skills to revamping
the hospital IT systems.
Here Debbie talks about God’s call and some of the results of acting on
it.
Debbie remembers always taking an interest in what was going on in different
parts of the world and seeing CMS posters in her church. At one point
she heard Garth Hewitt talking about the needs for people to go and work
in developing countries. She recognised God calling her.
‘He opened the door in very practical ways. I worked in rehabilitation
in the UK. There are not many rehab set-ups in developing countries, so
we went to visit Vellore (in south India) purely because they did have
a rehab unit. We could see it was a place we could go to and learn about
transferring my skills to a developing country situation, as well as make
a contribution. The idea was that I would learn about how it was done
there, and then be able to set rehabilitation centres from scratch in
other places.
‘The greatest encouragement has been to see the other Christians here
and their faith, like Reeba, who we got to know as we helped her with
writing up her thesis on the computer-her exuberance and commitment to
Christ.
‘One thing we have learned is patience. In the west, we want everything
to happen yesterday. God has his own timing. One of the staff here has
been looking for funding for a community-based rehabilitation project
for ten years. He had the attitude of “We’ll just carry on with what we’re
doing and in the fullness of time, God will provide.” That very much fits
with the Indian cultural attitude, and along with that we have to accept
that God’s timing is not always as we’d like.
‘My biggest challenge was being sick and not being able to work. In our
culture we are what we do-that’s how we find our identity. When that’s
taken away from you, you find that in God’s eyes, it’s not what you do,
it’s who you are that’s important. He doesn’t judge us for what we can’t
do, but looks at the heart.’
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