|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
Asia Compassion
It was April 9, 1977. Kamcindal was studying tropical medicine in Neisheinomia, Japan. Boone was in town for a gospel festival. Ever the poster child for straight-laced Christianity, Boone spoke that night about how being separated from his wife, Shirley, for a time years earlier pushed him to forsake nominal Christianity and recommit his life to Christ.
Boone's testimony struck a chord with Kamcindal, then 35. Kamcindal, better known as Dr. Dal, had grown up in Myanmar (then Burma) listening to Boone's music and attended the festival out of curiosity. He left with something more.
"When I came back to my room at the hotel, something happened inside me," Dr. Dal says. "I was only a nominal Christian for 35 years. From that moment, I became a committed Christian."
The first came one day during his hospital rounds. Patients all around him suffered, he realized, while he was a picture of health. The thought humbled him. "From that moment I decided I would become a medical doctor; but after becoming a doctor, I would not practice medicine for money's sake," says Dr. Dal, now 64. "I decided, 'I will go to the remote areas, the marginalized areas. I will go to places where many doctors don't want to go. I will go to the hills.'"
Dr. Dal would spend the next 14 years in his native Chin state, a mountainous, rural province in northwest Myanmar. The animistic religions that once predominated in the Chin region (pop. 475,000) are still practiced by some. However more than 90 percent of the province is Christian -- a testimony to the kind of missionary zeal Dr. Dal hopes will one day pour out of the orphanages ACP supports to all of predominantly Buddhist Myanmar.
In all Dr. Dal spent 31 years overseeing other doctors in public health departments all over Myanmar, eventually earning a promotion to director of the Myanmar Health Department's central office.
Dr. Dal's second big idea was to start a medical mission. He thought over that idea routinely during his career, but he couldn't afford to retire early. Even today, his monthly pension is only 5,000 kyats -- about $4 U.S. So he stayed on, retiring from his last public health position as professor of community medicine at the Institute of Community Medicine at age 60.
Then things got interesting.
40 Dollars and a Dying Boy's Wish
Shortly before Dr. Dal's retirement, his 10-year-old nephew, Mang Thawng Ngam Khai, died of an infection after surgery to repair a congenital heart defect. Before the boy died, he requested that the money friends and family had donated to him be saved in the bank instead of spent on him.
When the boy died, the family decided to use those donations, about $40 in all, as seed money to start the MTNK Foundation � the medical mission Dr. Dal had talked about for so long.
"When I retired, I prayed to God, 'I want to serve you with the medical knowledge that you've given me,'" Dr. Dal says. With the foundation in place, he already was. The foundation started work in June 2000, and began visiting seven orphanages, giving out basic medical care and simple medicines.
Asia Compassion Project brings health
care, hope to Myanmar's orphans
By Called and Sent Staff
YANGON, Myanmar -- Of all people, S.V. Kamcindal has Pat Boone to thank for putting him on the road to missions work.
By Called and Sent Staff
 |
| Dr.
Myant Mon Yee, The Asia Compassion Project's 25-year-old staff dentist,
gives a shot of novacaine to a 13-year-old boy named Joel during a
recent mobile dental clinic put on by ACP. Click for more photos |
It was April 9, 1977. Kamcindal was studying tropical medicine in Neisheinomia, Japan. Boone was in town for a gospel festival. Ever the poster child for straight-laced Christianity, Boone spoke that night about how being separated from his wife, Shirley, for a time years earlier pushed him to forsake nominal Christianity and recommit his life to Christ.
Boone's testimony struck a chord with Kamcindal, then 35. Kamcindal, better known as Dr. Dal, had grown up in Myanmar (then Burma) listening to Boone's music and attended the festival out of curiosity. He left with something more.
"When I came back to my room at the hotel, something happened inside me," Dr. Dal says. "I was only a nominal Christian for 35 years. From that moment, I became a committed Christian."
That commitment has carried Dr. Dal from a 31-year career as a public
health official and professor in Myanmar to a second career as Managing
Director of The Asia Compassion Project (ACP), a nationwide ministry
that provides medical care, education and training, dental care and
school supplies to orphanages all over the country.
A hope long deferred
That ministry was a long time coming. "In high school, I never wanted to become a medical doctor," Dr. Dal says. "My father insisted. I wanted to become an engineer."
That ministry was a long time coming. "In high school, I never wanted to become a medical doctor," Dr. Dal says. "My father insisted. I wanted to become an engineer."
Dad's idea was for his son to ride that medical career to riches. But
even before the Pat Boone experience kick-started Dr. Dal's faith, he
got two ideas that would shape both his medical career and the one that
followed.
The first came one day during his hospital rounds. Patients all around him suffered, he realized, while he was a picture of health. The thought humbled him. "From that moment I decided I would become a medical doctor; but after becoming a doctor, I would not practice medicine for money's sake," says Dr. Dal, now 64. "I decided, 'I will go to the remote areas, the marginalized areas. I will go to places where many doctors don't want to go. I will go to the hills.'"
Dr. Dal would spend the next 14 years in his native Chin state, a mountainous, rural province in northwest Myanmar. The animistic religions that once predominated in the Chin region (pop. 475,000) are still practiced by some. However more than 90 percent of the province is Christian -- a testimony to the kind of missionary zeal Dr. Dal hopes will one day pour out of the orphanages ACP supports to all of predominantly Buddhist Myanmar.
In all Dr. Dal spent 31 years overseeing other doctors in public health departments all over Myanmar, eventually earning a promotion to director of the Myanmar Health Department's central office.
Dr. Dal's second big idea was to start a medical mission. He thought over that idea routinely during his career, but he couldn't afford to retire early. Even today, his monthly pension is only 5,000 kyats -- about $4 U.S. So he stayed on, retiring from his last public health position as professor of community medicine at the Institute of Community Medicine at age 60.
Then things got interesting.
|
SO WHAT NOW?
1. Visit The Asia Compassion Project Home Page.
2. Click here to donate to ACP.
3. Pray that in the next six months, ACP can:
|
Shortly before Dr. Dal's retirement, his 10-year-old nephew, Mang Thawng Ngam Khai, died of an infection after surgery to repair a congenital heart defect. Before the boy died, he requested that the money friends and family had donated to him be saved in the bank instead of spent on him.
When the boy died, the family decided to use those donations, about $40 in all, as seed money to start the MTNK Foundation � the medical mission Dr. Dal had talked about for so long.
"When I retired, I prayed to God, 'I want to serve you with the medical knowledge that you've given me,'" Dr. Dal says. With the foundation in place, he already was. The foundation started work in June 2000, and began visiting seven orphanages, giving out basic medical care and simple medicines.
Meeting Dr. Bill
Two years later ACP got its real shot in the arm, fittingly enough from a physician.
Dr. Bill Greiser, a general surgeon from Winchester, Ky., had closed his successful practice to pursue full-time medical missions work in 1997. He wasted little time getting involved. He did disaster relief work in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and Kosovo that year before traveling to Myanmar for the first time -- like Dr. Dal going to see Pat Boone, mainly out of curiosity. There he was struck both by the kindness of the people and their tremendous needs.
"So I went with an open heart and said, 'God, help me find some field where I can engage in ministry here,'" Greiser says.
Greiser's work in Myanmar had begun in earnest in 2001, when he and Dr. Dal met at a church. Someone asked Dr. Dal to put Greiser in touch with another doctor whom Greiser was looking to partner with in medical ministry.
That meeting fell through. In the mean time, Greiser and Dr. Dal got to chatting about their individual visions for ministry, which turned out to be mutual."It was just providential," Greiser says. "We realized that our visions to care for children in crisis were parallel. I recognized that I could complement him and he could complement me. He was a [local] leader, and I able to bring in resources and training and teams."
And that's what Greiser did. After priming the pump with some of his own money, Greiser eventually attracted help from people in 10 countries. In August 2002, Drs. Dal and Greiser their new partnership under a new name, The Asia Compassion Project.
Two years later ACP got its real shot in the arm, fittingly enough from a physician.
Dr. Bill Greiser, a general surgeon from Winchester, Ky., had closed his successful practice to pursue full-time medical missions work in 1997. He wasted little time getting involved. He did disaster relief work in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and Kosovo that year before traveling to Myanmar for the first time -- like Dr. Dal going to see Pat Boone, mainly out of curiosity. There he was struck both by the kindness of the people and their tremendous needs.
"So I went with an open heart and said, 'God, help me find some field where I can engage in ministry here,'" Greiser says.
Greiser's work in Myanmar had begun in earnest in 2001, when he and Dr. Dal met at a church. Someone asked Dr. Dal to put Greiser in touch with another doctor whom Greiser was looking to partner with in medical ministry.
That meeting fell through. In the mean time, Greiser and Dr. Dal got to chatting about their individual visions for ministry, which turned out to be mutual."It was just providential," Greiser says. "We realized that our visions to care for children in crisis were parallel. I recognized that I could complement him and he could complement me. He was a [local] leader, and I able to bring in resources and training and teams."
And that's what Greiser did. After priming the pump with some of his own money, Greiser eventually attracted help from people in 10 countries. In August 2002, Drs. Dal and Greiser their new partnership under a new name, The Asia Compassion Project.
The new partnership was timely for Dr. Dal in another way. From
2000 to 2004, Dr. Dal and others locally had raised what was then
equivalent to about $10,000 U.S. However, Myanmar's financial crisis
two years ago wiped out the value of those donations completely.
Understandably the mission since has relied heavily on outside funds
and today carries a budget of between $80,000 and $100,000 U.S.
'Tools for Evangelism'
Without doubt, ACP keeps its people busy with the bevy of services it offers (see One mission, many ministries).
But that's just the beginning. Dr. Dal's big hope is that the orphanages ACP supports will become the engines of Christian growth in Myanmar.
"If you look from the Western perspective, orphanages rescue children who need food and clothing," he says. "But here, in addition to rescuing with food and clothing and education, the main thing for the orphanages under our care is nurturing [orphans] to be Christian evangelists.
"When people have an orphanage, a lot of children can be nurtured," he says. "So when they reach adulthood, they can be tools for evangelism to the Burmese community."
© 2006 Called and Sent Magazine. All rights reserved.
Without doubt, ACP keeps its people busy with the bevy of services it offers (see One mission, many ministries).
But that's just the beginning. Dr. Dal's big hope is that the orphanages ACP supports will become the engines of Christian growth in Myanmar.
"If you look from the Western perspective, orphanages rescue children who need food and clothing," he says. "But here, in addition to rescuing with food and clothing and education, the main thing for the orphanages under our care is nurturing [orphans] to be Christian evangelists.
"When people have an orphanage, a lot of children can be nurtured," he says. "So when they reach adulthood, they can be tools for evangelism to the Burmese community."
© 2006 Called and Sent Magazine. All rights reserved.