Medical Clinic in Simon's Village

After all of the graduates got back to Burma, Dr. Bruce Gross initiated a medical clinic in the village of one of our graduates, Simon, nearby Tachileik. Here is his report.


Hi All,

On Wednesday I had the great privilege of working with one of our recently graduated Barefoot Doctors.  I have had a hand in teaching Simon in the program for the last 3 years.  He was an excellent student.  He lives in Tachileik, Burma, but grew up in a village about an hour away, up in the mountains.  

To get to his village, we drove for about 30 minutes in a truck to a small village.  There, about 6 villagers met us with small motorcycles and we went the rest of the way to the village on scooters.  I met Simon’s mother, his uncle, cousins, aunts ...  

 The houses were very rustic, to say the least.  The men in the village were out in the fields tending to the crops.  The ladies were busy sewing some of the native costumes that they wear for celebrations. 

First things first – sit and drink tea with the locals.  Then after a while we started the clinic.  It was great to watch Simon examine the patients.  I felt like a proud father, whose son was taking over the family business and working just like his dad.  

We broke for dinner at noon.  Simon then cleaned teeth with his Barefoot Doctor scaler machine for a couple of hours.  As you see in the video, there were the pig feeding troughs, the pigs, piglets, the chickens, and then Simon scaling teeth.  You can’t make this stuff up!  It is definitely a laid-back farming community.   

The ladies continued to sew and make panels for the roof out of thatch.  Pigs, piglets, rosters, chickens, and chicklets ran freely.  We visited the church, which was in very poor repair.  We discussed ideas to completely rebuild the church.  We talked about their poor water supply.  The needs were many.  

I was both sad and amazed.  Sad that the people were living in such poverty.  I was amazed that these same people were cheerful and greeted us with superb hospitality and gave us a meal out of their limited food reserves. 

I need time to process and pray after this village experience.  Lord, what is the best way to help this village?  The needs are so great.  They don’t need or want a hand out.  They need education, healthcare, and partners in projects.  Water projects, building projects, farming projects, and animal husbandry. 

Please join me in that prayer.

Bruce