By Grace Thornton
The Alabama Baptist
Jamile tried to go to school once when he was young, but to say it didn’t go well is an understatement.
The first time he fell on the ground with a seizure his teacher left him there — and then she told his mom to never bring him back again.
Hidden away
That’s the situation in Haiti, where hundreds of people suffering from epilepsy go undiagnosed. Voodoo is the prominent religion there, and people with seizures are seen as cursed or demon possessed. When they touch things people often take the items and burn them. They become social outcasts.
Jamile was just that — a prisoner in his own home. Children would spit at him and run away.
“Jamile was someone who was hidden away in his family,” said Jared McCrory, executive director of Children’s Hope, a ministry started in Haiti in 2010 by members of First Baptist Church, Montgomery. “His family was afraid to touch him, to embrace him.”
He didn’t have much hope — but all that changed when a medical team working with Children’s Hope came in with a portable EEG machine.
“We were able to come in and say, ‘Here’s what’s going on — it’s something in his brain, it’s not contagious, and here’s some medicine that can help him,’” McCrory said.
It wasn’t too long after that Jamile started to improve. And a team including John Bush, a member of First, Montgomery, began sharing the gospel with him.
“We got to see him go back to school and embrace Jesus as his savior,” McCrory said. “His life is on a totally new trajectory now. It has totally changed his life.”
Bush said it was a miracle — one the people of Haiti desperately need.
“Children in Haiti need physicians and they need the Great Physician,” he said.
Amazing initiative
It’s part of an amazing initiative to bring in help to the community and share the gospel, he said.
“We want to build local partnerships, and we would love for any Alabama churches who are interested in coming to use their vocation, gifting and passion to make a difference for the Kingdom,” McCrory said. “We look around and see so many needs, so many hurts, so much of a need for restoration.”
For more information about Children’s Hope visit childrens-hope.com.
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