Dear Friends and Family:

It is the second half of March already. It is still hot, but some leaves are falling as if it were autumn. In fact, it is the beginning of autumn in this southern hemisphere. We really do not have four seasons, just two: rainy and dry seasons. We have not had rain for a while and we have used up all the rain water and are now boiling and filtering the tap water. We realize once again how precious the water from heaven is.

After receiving the three Toyota LandCruisers (African version—diesel, no radio, no air-conditioning), Simon told the sentries at the hospital how it happens in the United States that whenever we wash cars it rains immediately after. When the rain finally came, Simon was surprised to find the workers washing cars in earnest. In response to Simon's inquiry, the chief sentry replied, "You told us to wash the cars whenever it rains." We are not sure whether it was Simon's French or the ingrained idea to conserve water whenever possible. We are also getting used to the rationing of water. It seems now the entire village has found a way of tapping into the hospital water supply, and our pump capacity is not enough to support unlimited consumption. Since we do not charge for water, there is no incentive to save water. Our examination of the Ten Worst Offending Leaks account for ninety-three 55-gallon drums a day. Imagine what it would take to draw that much water from the river, one pot at a time. If they had to pay personally for the waste, they would not let the leaks go unfixed. Could it be that we are treating the gift of salvation the same way? Simon thinks it is symptomatic of the ministry of "simply giving."

We have been having another clash of cultures lately. We have a large avocado tree in our front yard. Knowing that we could not eat them all ourselves, we asked our gardener to harvest the fruit and share them with all the neighbors. There are a few left on the hard-to-reach limbs. The village children use the traditional method of throwing rocks and tree branches, hoping to fell the fruits. The only problem was that the rocks began to hit the house. Wanting to be good neighbors, we picked some fruits from our backyard and gave them to the children, asking them not to throw rocks at the tree in the front yard. Alas, now we have two groups, those scaling the fence to get the fruits from the back yard and the gang who continues to throw rocks in the front. The way it is explained to us is that they, the children, now know that we are willing to share the fruits with them—and those who help themselves have the better chance to get some—so they feel free tp continue. In a larger scale, the resources of the hospital are treated the same way, as are the national resources.

Since November of 1999 we have been experiencing a large increase of new tuberculosis cases at our clinic. We ran out of medicines and the care-givers were overwhelmed by their work load. It took a crisis for us to examine the situation carefully. When we did so, we found that all the government-run clinics in the area were closed due to lack of medicines and the patients were redirected to us. Our patient-load doubled during the past three months, and we expect a four-fold increase eventually. One major concern is that the hospital charges less than 30 percent of our cost for the treatment. At the moment, we charge $11 for an eight-month treatment regime for adults and $7 for the six-month regime for the children. The average cost for the medicines to the hospital is about $35 per patient. This doesn't include the cost of the X-ray and other tests nor the salaries and administrative overhead. We also provide malaria medicines and pain killers as part of the treatment. An increase of 600 new cases translates to about extra $15,000 to $18,000 for the medicines alone. It is such an important public health ministry we must continue, but what cuts should we make in order to support this ministry? Another consideration is whether our actions will cause the government programs to shut down permanently. We are considering selling medicines to the government clinics at well below our cost. One concern is when we sell the drugs at such a low price, will they get to the patients or will they end up in the hands of local merchants for their profit? We wanted to share with you a glimpse of the decisions we have to make in your ministry through us. In the future, we will share with you the continuing developments in this area. We are making a special appeal to friends for emergency care fund. If you are interested to know about more details, just drop us a line (e-mail), we will get the report and the appeal to you.

For this season of Lent, we yearn for a community to worship and pray together. The churches here do not seem to follow the church calendar very closely. It could be because of our inability to understand the Tshiluba language. We are reading the writing by Oswald Chambers for morning quiet time. We want to share a passage from today's reading:

"Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason. . ."
We feel a bit better for being uncertain and at times confused. Through this period of darkness we pray our eyes will be opened to see His glory, and to see His children through new eyes. Pray for us.

Our trip to the States is pretty much set. We will first go to Denver for a week (May 26 through June 4), then to Louisville for our medical exams and to discuss things with the staff at PC(USA). We will make a short visit to Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, to thank our supporters (financial and spiritual). We will return to Congo on July 4. We look forward to seeing friends and of course John and Kevin. When and where, we do not know yet. See you again at Easter.

Simon and Haejung Park

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