(Feb. 5, 2016 - by Laura Rescorla and Roger Reimer)  Outside of a one-room church, eagerness fills the air as men and women vie for a place in line to see the recently arrived medical caravan team.

Women, their heads wrapped in colorful cloths, call to their children playing in the dusty field nearby and comfort sleepy babies on their backs. Old men, their faces wrinkled by sun and age, wait quietly amid the swirl of activity.

Beneath nearby trees, a group of women cook large vats of rice, readying lunch for the children in the three school buildings on the opposite side of the adjacent field.

The crowd’s eagerness was understandable. In Burkina Faso, a country with fewer than five physicians for every 100,000 people (compared to 250 medical doctors per 100,000 people in the U.S.), having a trained medical team arrive in their remote community was an exciting opportunity.

Malaria, parasites and worms, fungal infections are all common ailments and treatable if one only had access to knowledgeable medical care and medicines. That’s where a recent multicultural team—comprising missionaries and medical professionals from Ecuador, the U.S. and the U.K.—fit in, providing a valuable service. Patients sat with a caring doctor to discuss their health. Then, with prescription in hand, they received medicines and advice from a helpful pharmacist.

This medical caravan, held in two communities in eastern Burkina Faso in late 2015, was organized alongside local ministry and Reach Beyond partner Radio Évangile Développement (Gospel Radio for Development or RED). Operating eight Christian radio stations across the country, RED proclaims the good news of Jesus Christ via the airwaves. As broadcasters strive to address listeners’ spiritual needs, they seek to meet their physical needs as well.

Throughout the years, Reach Beyond has worked with RED to serve in this area: helping install five clean water wells and holding medical caravans of which this was the third.

These events “help to raise the awareness and credibility of the RED network in the area,” explained Dr. Joe Martin, an Ecuador-based Reach Beyond missionary who participated in this most recent outreach.

For Martin, seeing the high number of victims of female genital mutilation (FGM) was striking. This practice of female circumcision, imposed on girls as young as 7 to 9 years old, causes extensive scarring and can lead to urinary tract infections, pain and infertility. Though against the law in Burkina Faso, FGM continues.

Change, however, is happening, and RED is leading community education campaigns against gender abuse. A larger African-led movement is also making progress to end FGM across the continent, resulting in a decline in the number of girls undergoing FGM.

According to Martin, “Many of the young husbands and fathers [at the medical caravan] were appalled by the practice and vowed not to subject their daughters to it.”

Like those suffering from the effects of FGM, many people’s health concerns cannot be completely addressed in a single visit. But team members said they were glad to see some immediate results of their care.

One older man, for example, came with a chronic leg ulcer that had been swollen and painful for months. Reach Beyond missionary Kathy Mazzella, a nurse based in Colorado Springs, Colo., cleaned and bandaged the wound. During the group’s visit, the man came back twice for follow-up. The progress of the healing was remarkable, and Mazzella was able to leave him with additional dressings and instructions so the leg would heal completely.

Not everyone on the team was diagnosing patients, treating wounds or administering medicines. Some team members played a key role in keeping things running smoothly—organizing patient intake, guiding patients from one station to the next and entertaining and showing love to the many children.

Reach Beyond retiree Linda Braio was one of those people sharing Christ in whatever ways possible. “I am drawn to the [Burkinabe] people,” she said. “I know the love of Jesus impacts lives.”

Braio and her late husband, Andy, who died in early 2015, made annual trips to Burkina Faso for seven years. It was during these trips that she fell in love with the people.

“God kept them on our hearts and urged us to join them in ministry,” she related. During the three-week outreach, loving each person who came across her path was her response to that call.

While malaria medicine and infection control are vital, these are not the ultimate motivators for holding medical clinics. Rather, it’s the opportunity to point to Jesus through compassionate care that underpins the ministry, ultimately winning hearts for Christ.

Sources: Reach Beyond, World Health Organization, World Bank, UNFPA-UNICEF