Some weeks ago an elderly man came carrying a child that was malnourished. The little body was swollen and the skin taut; the child was suffering too much to even whimper. Out came my book Where there is no Doctor,” writes Henriette Saindon.

Henriette and her husband, Normand, serve with the SIM in the ministry called Radio Chiuanjota in Chiconono, Mozambique.

While “mama” Henriette is not a medical person, she does clean small wounds and puts on plasters for the village children constantly at her back door. “A friendly face, a demonstration of concern; and then I’ll tell them a story about Jesus, the One who knows about us and our hurting,” says Henriette.

“There was not much that I could do but tell him that the child, Juliana, would need better food. I gave him what I had: some sweet potatoes and tomatoes and beans to cook and to use as a nutritious sauce over the nshima (porridge). I also gave him some fruit out of our garden. He allowed me to pray for little Juliana. He came back another time and then stayed away for some weeks.

“Then early one morning I saw someone at the door which turned out to be the old man with a child in his arms. I did not recognize the child, until I got closer. The same little girl Juliana, not so swollen anymore and with light in her eyes! The Muslim father just came to show me that she was better and recovering, and to say thank you. Together we could thank God. Remember the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers...and one came back to thank Him? We were reminded of this when the old man came back to show us his healed baby.

“But every now and then a bigger crisis comes my way in the middle of the night, as in a child with burn wounds or a mother struggling to give birth.

“We live in a village where people do not naturally want to thank God and do not live in a culture of thanksgiving. So incidences like that of Juliana encourage us to keep running the race,” said Henrietta.

Pray for Normand and Henriette for the Lord to encourage them in their various ministries with Radio Chiunjota and with “mama’s” ministry at the backdoor.

Radio 'Chiunjota', meaning 'that kills thirst" is a Christian community FM radio station in northern Mozambique, that broadcasts in Yao and Portuguese, aiming to reach the rural and mostly illiterate Yao people with the Gospel. We pray that their spiritual thirst will be quenched by the Living Waters of the Word of God.

Learn more: Radio Chiuanjota (Project #96279)