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#Iwitness: The Grieve Memorial Clinic—A Place of Healing in South

Sudan

Cathy Hoelzer

THE GRIEVE MEMORIAL CLINIC (GMC) is a Primary Health Care Center that serves

an extremely undeveloped region in Upper Niles State in South Sudan. As a faith-based

clinic we seek to provide holistic health care to our patients. Dr. Bob Grieve started the

clinic in the 1940s with his wife, Claire, to serve the local Mabaan population. They were

both killed in WWII when an Italian plane bombed the region.

Since 2013, I’ve been directing the work of this clinic that provides outpatient services.

including maternity care, leprosy treatment, and a nutrition village that serves the needs

of severely malnourished children. Over 50,000 refugees from the Republic of Sudan

surround our clinic, and there are another 60,000 refugees in three other camps in the

county. The majority of these refugees are from unreached people groups and this is the

first time they have the opportunity to hear the good news. I want to share just five

stories from our clinic.

Recently, a Muslim man came for care for his feet, but he also found a personal

relationship with Christ. To keep him from boredom while I soaked his feet, I gave him

an Arabic Audio Story Teller. He listened intently and even started “talking” back to it.

Soon I brou ht in Pastor Bulus our clinic cha lain to share with him in his mother

7/26/2019 #Iwitness_ the Grieve Memorial Clinic—a Place of Healing in South Sudan _ Evangelical Missions Quarterly

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tongue. When I came back to check on

them, I learned that our patient had given

his life to the Lord. He is just one example

of many who have found new life as a

result of looking for physical health. We

want to continue to offer our patients

compassionate, Christ-centered care.

An elderly woman came in with amulets

around her neck. She walked thirty

kilometers to get to our clinic for she had

a long history of not feeling well. I told her

the amulets were going to keep her bound

in illness so she asked me to cut them off.

She said she immediately started feeling

better. God is good!

We love the faithfulness of Pastor Bulus.

When he is not sharing Christ with waitingpatients, he is in the clinic praying for

patients and sharing the gospel. He has

led many to the Lord. He also uses the

Audio Story Tellers. He will set the Story

Teller in the midst of the patients and they are soon captivated by the story of God’s

love and plan for redeeming humanity. As a result, they seek him out later and ask to

learn more. We have given out hundreds of Audio Story Tellers to our illiterate patients

who never had a chance to hear the gospel. Pastor Bulus then tries to follow up with

them in the camps or villages from which they come.

There are over two million Falatas in Sudan and they are about 99.99% Muslim. We

have yet to meet any Falata who claims to follow Christ. Fiercely independent nomads

and proudly Muslim, they rarely let insiders into their tight communities. However, for

some reason we have found favor with them and they have chosen GMC as their clinic.

Recently, I had several in the clinic with their various maladies and one child of theirs

who was severely malnourished. It just so happened that I had an Audio Story Teller in

their mother tongue. When I first turned on the Story Teller, they weren’t paying much

attention to it. Then, all of the sudden, their eyes popped open wide and they exclaimed,

 “This man is speaking Falata! This is our language!” It was an amazing moment and

they were thrilled. We pray they continue to come to us for their health needs. We also

pray that as a result of hearing the good news and seeing Christ’s love in our deeds and

our staff caring for them with the love of God they will come into his family.

Even in the midst of crazy hectic days, God often brings divine appointments. This day,

in particular, we were super busy and treated 160 patients. Every bed was occupied by

someone on an IV for treatment of severe malaria. I have to say, however, that the best

part of the day was when Izaddin, a Muslim refugee, came to the clinic not because he

was sick, but because he was “hungry”—hungry to find truth. He wanted an Audio Story

Teller as he heard about them in his section of the refugee camp. He sat before me and

shared that he was searching for truth and wanted to find out more about our belief 

since he said he’d been thinking about becoming a Christian. “What?!” I said to myself.What an amazing divine appointment! He hungrily ate up the good news I shared with

him and then he eagerly allowed me to pray for him that God would help him find the

truth. We just got news that he and another young man from his tribe both are now

following Jesus and attending church. Please pray for Izaddin as he shares the Audio

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7/26/2019 #Iwitness_ the Grieve Memorial Clinic—a Place of Healing in South Sudan _ Evangelical Missions Quarterly

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  .

Even in the midst of civil war

that is raging in both South

Sudan and Sudan, God is using

it to bring glory to his name.

Those who were lost in darkness

are now finding the light of the

nations. This is an epic moment

in history.

. . . .

Cathy Hoelzer and her 

husband, Brett, are missionaries

working in South Sudan and 

have been serving there since

2006. They joined the work of 

SIM in Sudan in 2011 and in

2013 Cathy began managing the SIM Doro Clinic.

EMQ, Vol. 52, No. 1. Copyright © 2016 Billy Graham Center for Evangelism. All rights

reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from

EMQ editors.

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