From June 18-26th, CMDA Atlanta will be sending a team from the States to the Dominican Republic to serve the Haitians living and working in the "Bateyes" (sugarcane field working farms). These Bateyes are places of hopelessness and exploitation. A 7-day work week combined with low wages, long hours, deplorable living conditions, and no governmental protection, make these Haitian Bateyes the poorest communities in the nation. The need for basic medical care, coupled with the love of Christ, make these Bateyes a very necessary and strategic place for us to serve. 

Perhaps you didn't know this, but El Salvador is considered the most dangerous and violent country in the world (outside of a war zone). In 2015, El Salvador had 104 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, for a murder toll of 6,657 - a staggering 67-per cent jump on the figures for 2014 (as a way of comparison, the United States has 4 homicides per 100,000).

Twice a month, CMDA Atlanta medical students volunteer at the Clarkston medical clinic serving refugees and their families. Sarah Coyle is a second-year medical student at the Georgia campus of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine here in the Atlanta area. Sarah has not only served with us in Clarkston, but last summer she went with our Atlanta team to the Dominican Republic to medically serve the Haitian communities working in the sugarcane fields. Below is her story of how serving here in Clarkston is having an impact on her faith and on training her to become a Christian doctor.

Sometimes we have little joy in knowing Christ because we are hedging our bets. We’re willing to be brave right up to the point where we might be hurt. Our concern is with our own safety. What we forget is that our safety is already established. No one can hurt us. We have already died and been raised with Christ. Who can ultimately harm us now? Often the root of the problem is that we act more like orphans without faith in God’s providence than like sons and daughters who trust their heavenly Father.