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Valuable visitors, blessed to give
By COLIN TAIMBARI
Early tomorrow morning - in what one
of my mates described as 'unholy hours' because that's when many
of us are enjoying the best part of our sleep - a family is busy
getting ready to visit the sick children of Port Moresby General
Hospital.
Every Saturday for the past 11 months John and Barbara Rubeia and
their children have without a miss visited Pediatric Ward 2A to
reach out to the sick children and their guardians and also to
share with them what little God has blessed them with.
Tomorrow at 6am I for one will miss being woken by the sweet
voices of choruses sang by the Rubeia family whose youngest child
(one and half years old) will still be sleeping on his mothers
shoulders while she graciously performs her duty to God.
It would seem ironic but the Rubeia family was inspired by God in
Ward 2A when they were desperate and on the verge of losing their
eldest son, now a healthy 15 year-old, who at the time suffered a
severe asthma attack and they had to spend 7 weeks there.
John says he was never a preacher nor a public speaker but sitting
beside his sick child's bed for those seven weeks, he started
seriously reading the Bible for the first time and began
appreciating Christ as the Lord and Saviour.
"The ward may be an unusual place and while many of us take life
for granted, you appreciate the value of life and the amount of
commitment and dedication doctors and nurses put in to save lives
when you spend time here," he said
"We (the family) now understand the pain we all in here are going
through. Unfortunately, I was only reading this book (lifting the
Bible in one hand) when I was sitting in here. That's why we have
been coming back here for the past 11 months."
John's very first sermon 11 months ago was Jesus Comes Again (John
14:3) and the family is inspired by the readings in Revelation
22:1-7 where its says those who are righteous and go to Heaven
will see God face to face.
"When Jesus comes back he will take those who are righteous to
Heaven where they will see God face to face. We want to be part of
that group and we want you to be part of that group too," he told
the sick last Saturday.
In fact, the hospital ward became a vehicle for change for the
whole Rubeia family and the children are taught about worship at
home and more importantly to give to others. Since then the
Rubeia's who are originally from Milne Bay but now reside at
Tokarara started the "Given to Give Family Ministry" in accordance
with the Bible principle that it is 'more blessed to give then to
receive' and the ministry has now grown to involve three family
groups. Said Barbara "Whatever God has given us, we must give to
others."
Many sick children and their parents who have been to Ward 2A in
the past 11 months have been touched by the Rubeia's kindness.
After about 15 - 20 minutes of praise and worship they distribute
food packs to every sick child in the 60 of so beds. Sometimes you
wonder how they can afford to do this every Saturday or afford
such delicacies as grape fruits for every sick child when some of
us consider grapes to be a luxury item. This everyday Papua New
Guinean family does it because it comes from the heart. The family
brings 100 packs of food every Saturday and each visit has a
different menu. The food is also distributed to the nursing staff
and to the patients of Mental Ward 6A. =
John is a graphic artist while Barbara is a former vocational
school teacher who resigned in 2006 after 18 years of teaching.
She now cooks lunch and sells to public servants at the Waigani
offices from Monday to Friday.
"From the sales for each week we use about K200 to buy food then
prepare them around 2am every Saturday for the morning visit to
the sick children," Barbara explained.
She said they also believe that every 10 percent from their income
should go to the church (SDA Central Papua Mission) another 10
percent as offering and the remainder goes to buying food for the
sick children.
"We are doing this so every need is taken care of so patients
won't suffer and once we leave the hospital after every visit we
feel satisfied. We will continue to do this as long as God
provides," she said.
Of course, the Rubeia's Given to Give Family Ministry is not the
only group that visits the hospital, particularly the Children's
Ward. There are many groups, in fact too many to name, including
individual preachers, children's ministries, mothers' union and
the children's favourite the Boroko Rotary Club who serve ice
cream every week.
And indeed, the hospital can be an unusual place because while
many of us see it as morally wrong to make money from the sick and
dying, others have found wards to be a brisk money making avenue
by capitalizing on others sufferings. As if they haven't had
enough with the bus stops around the city, these cunning
entrepreneurs walk the wards loaded with bags full of betel nut,
diapers, sweets, biscuits, boiled eggs and even the newspaper
seller does the rounds as well. Nursing staff's protests are
blatantly ignored making you wonder how they got past the hospital
security guards in the first instance.
But of course the good deeds should be best remembered and for my
wife Fredah and I, the Rubeia family have touched our lives for
the seven weeks that we spent in Ward 2A looking after our
daughter Chrysentia who suffered from meningitis. While she hated
the many needles that had to be poked through her veins for her
intravenous treatment she also became fond of the many sisters,
nurses and doctors at the ward. We will also miss nursing sister
Reia Weana's inspirational lead in praise and worship, especially
on Sunday mornings. And we will most definitely miss all the
babies crying during medicine times, especially annoying were at
4am. Fredah, Chrysy and I want to say thank you from the bottom of
our hearts to everyone we met at Ward 2A especially the dedicated
nursing staff and doctors who sometimes work under extreme
conditions, particularly Dr Kilalang, Dr Sobi and Dr Tosiyeru for
taking good care of our baby Chrysy until she was discharged on
Wednesday.
I was pleasantly surprised last Sunday when Chrysy and I were
alone and a couple, who looked familiar but strange, walked
straight to our bed and with a big smile presented a plastic of
fruits. It was John and Barbara minus the children and ministry
and dressed rather casually. Up until then, our relationship was
them carrying out their ministry and we just like every other
family in the ward listened and appreciated what offered every
Saturday mornings. This time, they had personally come back to say
goodbye to Chrysy because they heard it was our last weekend at
hospital. To John, Barbara, their children and the Given to Give
Family Ministry, thank you for inspiring us and for being a part
of our lives for those seven weeks. God Bless.
 
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