“Our child became ill 6 months ago. So, we visited the traditional healer. We lost our money and our child was no better, so we went to the closest clinic. They did tests and gave medicine, but he didn’t recover.” Thus, begins an account we hear frequently. It continues like this: “Next we went to the hospital, but were told they would do nothing more. Finally, we traveled several hours or days to reach CEML Hospital. Can you help us?”
Photographed above are the kind of patients and families who most frequently recount such stories of health lost, assurance languishing, and hope of healing. CEML Hospital is often their last reasonable hope of assistance, especially for those suffering from eye disorders, orthopedic injuries, maternal fistula complications, and more recently, cancers too. Who is CEML? In short: a ministry of the Angola Association of Evangelicals – a collation of hundreds of churches pooling their influence to create care that none could provide alone. It’s an active expression of compassion on behalf of humble country men and women like these.