Newsletter Articles
Water of Life-Olaf and the Well
Gregg Burch
Dr. Olaf Forster, Founder of Medical Assistance in Africa (MDH), came to the states in January to complete some medical research at Emory University. He arrived in Atlanta just before the Transformational Leader Gathering in January. At my invitation, on the spur of the moment, he came to Orlando, hoping for a chance to speak about MDH. We got him five minutes before the 195 gathered pastors and lay leaders, and a breakout session. As a result of new friends he met at the gathering, he was invited to Atlanta, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Kansas City, and Boulder to speak to churches. He now has several new ELCA mission partners for MDH.
At the end of his stay in the states, we invited Olaf to come visit us in Colorado. He's under a self-imposed deadline to finish his second Ph.D. dissertation, but he squeezed in a four-day stay at the end of March. We had a wonderful visit with Olaf. It’s amazing to watch what happens when he’s around. While he was in the States, Olaf got word that several MDH supporters had committed to fund the creation of another medical clinic in Kenya. He wants to drill a well at the site of this next medical clinic. The women now walk twelve miles for water. Can you imagine that burden?
He plans to use solar power to pump water from the well, and was quite interested in how the solar system works at our cabin. We are off the grid out here. It turned out my solar installation/repair guy called and promised to come up and do some long-needed repairs the morning I was leaving to take Olaf to the airport. I had literally been trying to get him up here for months. I wanted Olaf to be able to ask him about the feasibility of drilling a 750-foot water well, and using a solar-powered well pump.
Well, turns out the guy shows up, two hours late, just as we are walking out the door to the airport. So, we’ve got five minutes, right? I tell Ken the power man, "here’s my friend Olaf, who runs a medical mission in Africa. He wants to put in a solar powered well." Now, Ken has always seemed kind of gruff, and he's hard to get to call you back or come up. He said, "Is this a religious medical mission?" "Yes," Olaf said. "Is it Christian?" Ken asked. "Yes." Now, I worried where this was going. 90% of the people around Boulder are unchurched, and many are antagonistic. "Are you Christian?" Ken asked. "Yes", replied Olaf, at which point Ken grabbed Olaf’s hand and shook it. "I go on mission trips to Haiti and put in solar wells." I couldn’t believe it.
By the time we left ten minutes later, Ken was making plans to come to Africa in June with us to put in a well. Isn't it incredible how God provides, when you are doing His plan. And, shame on me for never having that conversation with Ken.
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