Page 4
Wednesday, September 16,1998
The Pilot
O
Mary Jones
Pilot staff
“We told them that we were
Christians and that we loved them and
that our God loved them and that this
was an outpouring of that love,” said
Doug Keene, recalling the medical mis
sion trip to the Himalayas he and five
others ventured on this August
Current Gardner-Webb students-
Doug, Dave Byers and Russ Williams,
and former students- Wade Gamm,
Clayton King, and Brian Winkler, Jour
neyed to the northernmost sector of
India. For about two of their three weeks
in India, they helped a doctor and her
assistant to bring medical treatment to
the people of Ladakh, who for six to
eight months of the year are cut off from
the rest of the world, and from medical
attention.
Photos by Dave Byers
August 3, the group left; their
destination-Delhi. In Delhi, they met
Wade, who had been in India on
another mission trip. They fly to
Lea. After landing at the highest air
port in the world at 11,000 feet, they
met Dr. Anna Perry from Baton
Rouge, La., and her sidekick Lana, a
full-time missionary in Delhi, who
for a couple months of the year goes
north with Dr. Anna to do trips like
this one.
An orientation for the teanri, let
them know what they’d be doing.
The team knew little about what
they’d be doing before they left.
Doug said, “We knew nothing-how
much food and supplies to bring. We
had so much crap, just in case.” And
so their trip began as they pulled out
in an old white ambulance driven by
Devin, an Indian man familiar with
the roads and with Tashi, his assis
tant and native of the Zaskar valley,
in which they would trek.
The region of Ladakh makes up
the greater part of the Zaskar Valley.
The Zaskar Valley slices through the
Himalayas and is dotted by small,
primitive villages. The people are
mostly farmers. They bundle in lay
ers of clothes and their priests wear
yellow and red. Some villages have
electricity, but only for a few hours
each day. “Everything in Ladakh is a
shack,” said Doug.
It was 170 km (about 105 miles)
to the village of Malbek, the first
stop, where they stayed in a tourist
bungalow for two nights. They set
up a clinic for school children and
visited the monastery in the village.
Most of the villages are Buddhist
and many had never heard of Jesus.
Unlike Muslims, they are receptive
to Christians, so the team was able to
hand out Bibles in the monastery
and sing praise songs within the
courts of the temple.
The team was in Malbek at the
time of the Buddhist harvest and
new moon celebration. There is a
1760 year old statue or shrine, called
a stupa, on a hill in Malbek, where
the people make pilgrimages and
bring offerings. The team made the
hike up the hill and found a conifer
tree wrapped in cloth and fresh foot
prints in the dust. The next day, as
part of the festival, a Buddhist priest
would climb a 60 ft. cliff to mount
prayer flags and then prophecy. At
the focal point of the city and at the
monastery, they prayed for the peo
ple.
Driving away from Malbek on
the way to Kargil, they came across
the king of Zangla, whose small
town Christians had never visited.
He was returning from the festival
when his car broke down. They
invited the man to ride with them,
and during the trip they talked. The
king, insisting that they visit his
town, left them with a letter to his
wife to deliver personally.
They continued on to Kargil,
which was often pounded by
shelling from the nearby Pakistan
border. They passed a charred gas
station that had been bombed only
the night before.
Between Kargil and the village
of Phea, the team met one of the four
candidates for the future dalai lama.
Although they didn’t know who he
was at the time, the young boy had
been selected for his devotion and
his love of the monastery. Dr. Anna
told them that the monastery had
been hostile to Christians before, but
this time they received the team,
something she had been praying for.
The young boy joined the team for a
ride to Phea.
At Phea, in the shifting shadows
of the mountains, the team set up
tents. “We all like that kind of stuff,”
said Dave, of camping out.
“Eveiyone got sick eventually.
except for Russ,” said Doug
had to rely on “superi
strength” at times to make it.
“We were dirty, tired, anc
but is was so wonderful. P(
comforts pale with everythii
see. It’s hard to complain in s
incredible place,” Dave said. “
even know if there’s a w
describe it. It’s like nothing F'
seen in my life. Huge, giant rc
up from nothing. You wake
4:30 and see the sun come o
peaks so high. You’re not usee
the sun rising like that. It’s
amazing.”
As they traveled among tl
pie they learned a lot about th
“They get up early and
until sundown. Their main w
survival. If they don’t get son:
done in one day, they don’t
They don’t worry about TV o
puters.” Doug recalled, “The
in the towns just watched u
and praise God. We played
with the kids. We played soc
We enjoyed them. We leanw
pumping water attracted al
three people, taking a bath - si
pie, and putting up tents and e
20 people.”
Russ added, “Given the ei
ment, they’re some of the phy
toughest people.” He told of
who let Dr. Anna cut an absc(
of his neck with only lidoc:
mild aesthetic.
“An American would no
sat still for what she did. We i
them as a people. They are