Communities around Honiara are receiving free health checks as part of the Solomon Islands for Christ campaign, with teams taking medical services directly to areas that often have limited access to healthcare.
The initiative is a partnership between Amazing Facts Oceania and the 10,000 Toes Campaign. Over the two-week outreach, multidisciplinary teams have been operating health clinics at eight locations, spending two to three days at each site. They offer health assessments, optometry, dental care, physiotherapy, massage, lifestyle counselling and children’s programs.
People attending the clinics are also invited to the evening evangelistic meetings and are offered prayer and Christian literature.
The outreach builds on the success of a major health expo held at Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara in May, where approximately 15,000 people attended over six days.
“At the end of the program people were saying, ‘Can we have another one of these programs before the end of the year?'” said Dr Chester Kuma, health director for the Solomon Islands Mission.
Among the busiest services has been optometry. The Amazing Facts team brought about 3000 pairs of glasses to support the outreach, responding to a significant need after the Solomon Islands has been without dedicated optometry services since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Optometrist Eric Schroeder, from Yeppoon, Queensland, said optometrists would normally see between 12 and 15 patients a day in Australia but they have been examining between 50 and 100 people daily at the clinics.
He said mostly people were long-sighted and in need of reading glasses.
“They really want to read their Bibles and they’re finding it difficult, so it’s an absolute pleasure to see the smiles on their faces when they can see,” he said.
One challenge the team encountered was a delay in the shipment of glasses, but donated spectacles arrived.
“God just provided,” Mr Schroeder said. “People turned up with donated glasses and every time we found they were pretty much the right glasses for the person we were giving them to. That was really amazing.”
Dr Joel Ten, a Melbourne doctor, said healthcare provides a natural pathway to sharing the gospel.
“Jesus is coming soon. There are so many people who need to hear the gospel, and health is the right arm of the gospel,” Dr Ten said.
“When we do these health clinics, especially right where we are going to do evangelism, it’s very easy to invite people to come back in the evening and listen to the Word of God. We’re using these health clinics as the entering wedge so people can see that we care. We are able to demonstrate Jesus’ love and we are really just following His example. He healed the people and He taught them. That’s the reason why I do this sort of thing.”
Amazing Facts Oceania projects manager Kelvin Jakes said taking the clinics into communities, rather than operating from a central location, had enabled the team to reach people who may otherwise have missed out.
“The response has been amazing,” he said. “The teams have been flat chat.”
Mr Jakes said betel nut use was a major health issue, with an estimated 80 per cent of the population using it. As a result, the outreach included a dedicated betel nut clinic staffed by a specialist from Guam.
The Amazing Facts team comprises 140 volunteers, about 85 per cent from Australia, with others travelling from the United States, Guam and Alaska. The team is not only involved in the health clinics, but some are serving as preachers while others are running kids’ clubs.
The clinics are also helping strengthen the ongoing work of the 10,000 Toes Campaign, according to Dr Kuma. He said 10,000 Toes has grown significantly across the Solomon Islands, with about 5000 ambassadors now trained throughout the country.
“We focus on local communities—people who live in rural settings—because we see that the answer to addressing non-communicable diseases, which are the biggest killers of our people, is to work with the grassroots of society,” he said.
“One of the very positive spin-offs is that as the 10,000 Toes Campaign moves into communities, we open up places [to the gospel] and people respond. Right now there are calls coming from all over the country wanting the campaign to come, and many places have opened up to the truth that we hold. In this Solomon Islands for Christ campaign there are many places that have opened up as a result of the program, so we are very excited about this.”
He said they are making headway in raising awareness about diabetes and other non-communicable diseases.
“I think we have gained a lot of ground in that area right now,” Dr Kuma said. “We are partnering with the health department of the government of Solomon Islands as well as all other church denominations in the country . . . we are living in very exciting times right now with the 10,000 Toes Campaign.
“Going forward we would really like to focus on lifestyle intervention programs, which is a big area on its own, and we would like to see that happen as soon as possible.”
