Mennonite
Central
Committee

Indonesian Mennonites and MCC assist flooded Mennonite hospital

Tim Shenk
April 7, 2006

Tayu Christian Hospital, a Mennonite hospital in Central Java, Indonesia, was badly damaged in a flash flood on March 20.

More than three feet of muddy water and debris swept onto the hospital's first floor, destroying medical equipment and supplies and driving 66 patients into a second-story meeting room.

In the weeks that followed, a dozen groups of Mennonite volunteers helped with cleanup, such as shoveling mud out of the entrance to the emergency room.

They came from two Indonesian Mennonite conferences — Gereja Injili di Tanah Jawa (Evangelical Church of Java) and Persatuan Gereja-Gereja Kristen Muria Indonesia (Muria Christian Church in Indonesia).

MCC is providing Tayu Hospital with $42,400 Cdn., or $36,500 U.S., to replace medical equipment, including a defibrillator and two neonatal incubators.

MCC is also shipping two 40-foot containers of medical equipment to Tayu Hospital from Pennsylvania, including 50 hospital beds.

Tayu Hospital was started in the 1950s by the Dutch Mennonite Mission. It is owned by Gereja Injili di Tanah Jawa and serves a rural, predominantly Muslim community. MCC workers served at the hospital during the '50s, '60s and '70s.

 

Tim Shenk is a writer for MCC communications.