Dear friends,
Spring brings a promise of health, hope and wholeness. The season brings new life, warmer days and a joyful colouring of God’s world.
We are challenged by many factors, yet our situation is sunny and bright compared to the suffering in Ukraine. We thank all our supporters for their great generosity in equipping doctors, nurses and other health workers in supporting Ukraine people facing the destruction of an unjust war.
Over one hundred and twenty thousand dollars has been forwarded to our partners in the Ukraine Christian Medical Fellowship, see here.
We are also so grateful for the generosity of our End of Financial Year (EOFY) Supporters where monies will be distributed to the Torch of Love Foundation in Indonesia (emergency relief), Gerasa Bali (supporting marginalised women and children in Bali), Healthy Planet Indonesia (supporting dental workers while protecting local rainforests), and Health Worker training program in South Sudan. See here.
We commenced our nightly prayer meetings for the work of HealthServe Australia in the time of Covid over nine hundred days ago. Our small group continues to meet prayerfully each night. This has been a great encouragement to all as we have supported each other as we pass through the many and varied challenges of life. The words of Psalm 117 have been a recurring theme of praise and hope.
Psalm 117
1 Praise the Lord, all you nations;
extol him, all you peoples.
2 For great is his love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord.
The world is within reach of beating the Covid-19 pandemic, the head of the World Health Organization said on September 15, 2022, shifting to a more upbeat tone while urging countries to keep working to control the virus.
“We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday in a briefing with journalists. “We are not there yet, but the end is in sight.”
Thank you again for all your extraordinary contributions and excellent work support and service to the people seeing health, hope and wholeness in all our HealthServe Australia programs in the past months.
New programs are being considered in South Sudan, India and Tanzania. We are nearing the completion of our transition to a company limited by guarantee with Public Benevolent Institute status. This will allow us to support tax deductible health programs also in Australia. We have been running the race by participating in fun runs in Melbourne and in the City to Surf in Sydney. Thank you to all team members with support going to Pacific Islands Cervical Cancer Screening Initiative (PICCSI), a women’s health program in Fiji. We have run training on Preventing Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (PSEAH), Implementing Climate Care, and most recently Compassion without Burnout. You can view our recent recordings here.
All are welcome to our HSA Annual Conference on Saturday November 19. Join us to hear stories from our team and program partners from around the world. For more information and to join us online, click here.
Thank you again for all your extraordinary contributions and excellent work support and service to the people seeing health, hope and wholeness in all our HealthServe Australia programs in the past months.
Bringing health, hope and wholeness
Dr Michael Burke
Executive Officer
On behalf of all in HealthServe Australia
