Lighthouse Medical Missions is off to Tanzania at a time of terror strikes

Dal Basile and the meds she packs for shipment in the plane. She is joined by actress Katelyn Myer, who is going on the trip.

Once they almost drowned from tipping canoes trying to reach the medical clinic in the deep inland. Another time, Ebola broke out a scant couple hundred miles away from operations. Then, rockets were launched on the capital just a day before the team left on another trip.

Now, Lighthouse Medical Missions is traveling to Tanzania at a time of terrorist activities in airports – their medicines were being shipped out of Brussels and will now arrive two days late.

“We’re all ready to do our clinic and then bam! terrorism hits Brussels, and right away we know we’re in trouble because our medicines ship out of Brussels,” said Dal Basile, medicine coordinator for the team. “That’s two days without medications. So I’m scrambling around trying to see what I can send with the doctors.”

Dr. Bob Hamilton’s Santa Monica-based charity outreach to Africa has for 20 years braved some hair-raising misadventures to provide free attention and medicines to people who otherwise rarely – if ever – get a chance to see a doctor.

Twenty-six fly out today and are scheduled to arrive Sunday in Mwanza, the capital. Dr. Hamilton is a beloved pediatrician in Santa Monica. His video on how to calm a crying infant went viral four months ago because of the apparent ease of the little-known technique of folding the baby’s arms and rocking his bottom. The internet dubbed him “the Baby Whisperer.”

It seems their standard operating procedure is navigating chaos and brainstorming plan B’s based on developing risks. They’re real Indiana Jones, not in search of archaeological treasure, but the treasures of the human heart inside suffering human bodies.

“You can’t compare God-loving people to Indiana Jones. These are people who care about people they don’t even know,” Basile said. “These Americans are taking time off from work, their vacation time, to go and work. They work to pay for their time. They’re making a big sacrifice. They work their butts off. It’s hardcore.” Read the rest of the article.

100% Native American 100% Christian: Angie Behrns West Los Angeles hero

Angie Behrns at the Keruvungna Springs on University High School in West Los Angeles. She fought to save the springs.

When her sister died of cancer, Angie Behrns locked herself in the bathroom and smashed perfume bottles on the floor.

“I was angry at God,” she cried. “I said, ‘God, what did you do? Out of all of us, she was the strong Christian. She worked with underprivileged children. If You are real, where are You?’”

As she worked out her questions over time, Angie eventually arrived at acceptance – and resolved to not become mired in passivity.

“The devil took somebody who was a hard worker, who worked with the children no one wanted to work with,” she said. “I decided I was going to step up to the plate. The devil took out one soldier, but I was going to be another. What my sister did, I was going to do, and I was going to go full speed ahead.”

Angie in front of Dal Basile, her daughter, both Tongva Native Americans, both uncompromising Christians.

At 78, Angie shows no signs of slowing. In addition to leading a Sunday school ministry for years, she has served tirelessly with her Native American brothers and sisters to conserve springs in West Los Angeles where a Tongva village once sat.

For Angie, there’s no conflict between faith and heritage. “You don’t ask whether I feel more Native American or more Christian,” the tribal elder said. “One is my culture and the other is my religion. It would be like asking if someone feels more American or more Christian.”

When asked to perform blessings at civic and cultural events, Angie dons her regalia and prays like all Native Americans to the Creator – or also called “Grandfather” – whom she identifies as Jehovah, the God of the Old and New Testament.

She also doesn’t feel any of the antipathy that many Native Americans harbor towards the church. “A lot of Indians are still angry at the Church. They hate Christianity because their ancestors were beaten, tortured and killed. They were treated as slaves to build the missions. I forgive them for what they did in the past. There is only one God.”

Angie’s daughter, Dalphina Basile agreed: “We are Native Americans who love the Lord. We’re not involved in witchcraft or New Age ideas. Each time I go to the springs, my spirit begins to praise God for His provision and beauty. We become aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit.”

Angie’s faith in God began with her mother. Her father was an incorrigible drunk who hated the church but always made the sign of the cross. Read the rest of the article.

Editor’s Note: I wrote this article. So I feature it here also.

But was it smart to bring her special needs girl on medical mission?

Now Dal Basile knows for sure that it wasn’t foolhardiness to bring her special needs daughter on a medical mission to Guatemala.

Originally she worried that Michelle Villasenor, whose academic level is second grade, might could get lost in a crowd and never be found again. Dal has performed as a nurse on almost 30 medical missions, mostly to Africa, and taking Michelle was never even contemplated.

But Lighthouse Medical Missions leader Dr. Bob Hamilton prodded Dal to bring Michelle on this trip, fairly near, to Guatemala. Not too quickly, Dal acquiesced. Would the Santa Monica mom regret the decision forever?

On Tuesday any vestige of doubt about the wisdom of bringing Michelle was quashed.

That’s because Abigail Esteban appeared with heart palpitations provoked by anxiety over her own special needs daughter, a case of developmental delay fairly similar to Michelle’s.

“She broke down crying,” Dal said. “I told her I know what it’s like to have a special needs daughter, and I know that God can work in your daughter’s life. I told her, ‘God chose you because you’re a gifted person.’ I went and brought Michelle. And Michelle prayed for the woman. Michelle perked up. She relates to special needs people. She bonds.” Continue reading.