On A Mission
MIDDLESEX TWP — When Christine Volk's husband called her cell phone last week, he asked what she was doing — probably not expecting to hear she was probing for land mines in the grass.
"Why are you doing that?" he asked.
"Because I'm pretty sure they're deactivated."
Although those mines posed no threat, the Pittsburgh woman and her peers found the exercise warranted: Just two years ago, one of them backed into a land mine area while trying to take a snapshot.Marcy Hefner, the amateur photographer, had been volunteering with Mission to the World, part of the Presbyterian Church in America. Hefner had traveled to Sri Lanka from her home in Leesburg, Va., to do disaster relief after the tsunami killed more than 38,000 people there in 2004.Hefner and Volk were now attending a five-day disaster relief seminar hosted by MTW, and land mines were only part of the program.
The annual training, hosted this year at Gospel Fellowship Presbyterian Church, also covered topics like Muslim etiquette, refugee camp management, emergency evacuation and food and water purification.Although trainees stayed in hotels during their initial day of classroom training, they soon set up housekeeping on church grounds: 86 acres off McFann Road in Middlesex Township.Sleeping in tents and digging their own latrine, the group implemented many of the skills they would need when responding to natural disasters.Having constructed a medical camp that included triage, a pharmacy and lab, attendees concluded their training by responding to a mock emergency with simulated scenarios and Third World diseases."I have been right on the edge of my seat for three days," said Dennis Hamilton of Harmony, who works as a dentist in Zelienople.Like many participants in the ministry, Hamilton hopes to pair his outdoor skills with a Christian desire to serve."God has been very merciful to me, and this was a way to show his mercy to others," he said.As well as responding to physical needs, cultural awareness was among the topics discussed on-site. "Some of the areas you go into, if you make eye contact it's offensive," he said, adding his surprise at risks even present in food and water.With so many countries riddled with land mines, the risks can include physical injury. As part of their presentations, speakers from the U.S. Department of Defense's Humanitarian Demining Training Center at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., showed samples of anti-personnel land mines, designed to thwart efforts to tamper with the more deadly anti-tank mines, also on display.
Divided into two groups, the 12 trainees and eight instructors were taught to use probes knuckle widths apart for detecting mines in 6-inch areas — being careful to probe at a 30-degree angle to avoid contact with the land mine's trigger.Fourteen-gauge wire was also used in searching for trip wires, which sometimes accompany mines."Don't sell a trip wire short, because they are very, very hard to see," warned military course manager Bill Earney, who explained why the 14-gauge search wire was used as a trip wire feeler."It won't apply enough pressure to the trip wire to give us a detonation."Nearby, the group also walked through an indigenous trail: a 6½-foot-wide lane resembling land with mines detected and marked by locals.Many such areas exist in Third World countries, Earney explained, emphasizing the importance of staying on paved or demined areas when possible."Human miners have to clear more than a (6½-foot) lane, but they clear based on the needs of the people, because there is not enough money to do it all," he said.Earney's advice: Stay in areas known to be free of mines, and "If you didn't drop it, don't pick it up. And if you see something and you don't know what it is, leave it alone."
Although Mission to the World was formed in the early 1970s with church planting as its primary goal, the Georgia-based agency began doing medical missions in the late 1990s as part of its disaster response ministry."It is a part of our belief that the gospel is both word and deed," said Marty Davis, communications director for MTW."And there are places where only deed can go."Sending out 3,000 to 5,000 volunteers each year to work on all types of projects, the organization does everything from hosting vacation Bible schools and teaching English to setting up camps for disaster refugees.Although medical missions are part of disaster response, the response also can include psychological counseling or building construction."It could just depend on what the needs are," Davis explained. "Sometimes we seek people in churches with skills unique to that disaster. Sometimes people that can hold a hammer can go."Always working alongside groups already on-site, MTW only enters areas where aid is first requested.In those cases, MTW will assemble an initial assessment team, then call for volunteers based on the assessment.After the 2004 tsunami, MTW sent disaster relief and medical teams to Sri Lanka and India to help with immediate response. Later, volunteer teams helped with recovery and reconstruction, an effort that is still ongoing.A group was also sent to Peru after the earthquake there last month.Locally, volunteers have done disaster relief after 9-11 and Hurricane Katrina. Abroad, they have served in Honduras, Asia, Belize, Iran, Mexico and several Caribbean countries.Since life in those regions can pose challenges, the training helps potential volunteers decide if they can weather the trips."This allows people to self-deselect," said Tom Felmley of Delmont, Westmoreland County, a consulting engineer and logistics coordinator for MTW's disaster response ministry."Some people think this is for them, then they hike, live in tents ... (before asking themselves) 'Hmm. Can I do this for two weeks?'"
Despite the lack of comfort in camp, natural disaster sites are worse."In Sri Lanka there was only one light bulb, and we had it," he noted. "And all it seemed to do was attract bugs.""It's not for everybody," agreed Hefner, who began volunteering in 2003.Since that time, she has spent three to four weeks a year away from her job as a paralegal and corporate risk manager.Like many volunteers, Hefner pays her own expenses to places like Mexico, Peru, Africa and Myanmar. Hefner says trips to those exotic places, though not vacations, are more deserving of her time."I used to go to the beach and sit with a cocktail," she said. "And that is not rewarding.""A lot of what we're doing (through MTW) is witnessing and evangelizing — showing that love of Christ through mercy ministry."As a volunteer, Hefner has worked on medical missions — helping to set up camp and making sure volunteers are fed.Her role at the training seminar included teaching about kitchen set-up, as well as food and water safety."I kind of consider the doctors and nurses as my patients," she said.Not a medical professional herself, Hefner is just one example of various skills required at camp.In the simulated emergency at the end of their training, the group responded to a recent earthquake in Peru.Translators — volunteer members of Gospel Fellowship Presbyterian — were on the scene, helping responders deal with measles, cholera, an ectopic pregnancy and an orphaned child in need of a home.Assigned the role of camp director, Hamilton was forced to deal with officials from who arrived on the scene with a political agenda.Decision-making also came into play when one character in the scenario stepped on a land mine, bringing uncertainty and havoc to an already-stressful script."They didn't teach us any protocol for dealing with that type of emergency," Hamilton said, describing how he dealt with the emergency on short notice."My first decision was to shut down all radio communication. I didn't want to lose communication with him."Hamilton then sent a member of his team, a young emergency services worker, to find the injured volunteer (played by Dan Jenny, the church member and previously trained MTW volunteer who arranged to host the camp in Midlesex Township).Afterward, the group participated in a debriefing session, evaluating their own response to the trial."I think in retrospect, the thing to do was to shut down the clinic," Hamilton said. "Clear the camp and deal with the more immediate injury."I think one of the things we learned here was to take care of ourselves."Part of that taking care included keeping people warm, safe, dry and fed — which required help from all in the group, regardless of their medical skills."God's given us all different talents, and there's a place in this particular ministry for every one of them," Hamilton said.
