The line of patients stretches along the porch and across the lawn. Every day, more than 150 people come to be treated at the Nyakato Health Center in Mwanza, Tanzania. Denny Lofstrom, M.D., his wife Paula and their Tanzanian staff care for the sick children, pregnant women, injured men and aching elders, working long hours every day, often without electricity or sufficient medical supplies.
“If we hadn't created this center, they would not have quality health care,” Paula says.
Thanks to Denny and Paula and their nonprofit, International Health Partners, US & TZ, this community of 186,000 people will soon have a hospital, eye clinic and birthing center, in addition to the current health center.This morning, as always, Denny and Paula read Daily Word together, centering themselves in the Unity principle that has guided them for more than two decades: “Lead a life that matters.”
Their journey to leading this life of healing and purpose began in 1989, a tumultuous year for each of them.
Coming to Spirit Through Change and Loss
In the summer of 1989, 48-year-old Paula was struggling. Her marriage was over. She had quit her nursing job and moved from Waterloo, Iowa, to Kansas City, Missouri, to care for her mother, who was ill with ovarian cancer.
Her mother attended Unity Church of Overland Park, Kansas, and Paula, then a Unitarian, began going with her. One Sunday, Paula heard minister Mary Omwake say, “Start with divine elimination. The spirit needs to eliminate what no longer serves.”
Those words resonated with Paula. She was in the process of shedding her co-dependency and the pain of her past and moving toward an open and unknown future.
During this period, an old friend of Paula's, Dr. Denny Lofstrum, was also in transition. Paula and Denny had met in 1984 at a writers' conference and had developed a friendship. Paula often typed his manuscripts for him. Through the years, they'd stayed in touch.
Denny's marriage was also ending. At age 62, he worked in emergency medicine in St. Cloud, Minnesota, but he was thinking about returning to one of his lifelong passions—medical mission work.
In July, Denny came through Kansas City. He and Paula had lunch and their conversation soon moved into a deeply spiritual talk. Denny liked Paula's intelligence and exuberance. Paula admired Denny's honesty and the way he lived his spiritual principles. They decided to start reading Daily Word together every morning over the telephone.
From Basics to Life Purpose
Their brief morning conversations reminded them daily of their connections with Spirit. Paula wanted to further explore her spirituality, so she signed up for a Unity Basics class.
“Ask yourself, ‘Why am I here?'” the instructor said. “Consider that question prayerfully.”
“I spent hours walking around, asking myself, ‘Why am I here? What is my purpose?'” Paula says. After much prayer, she set her intention to “make a difference in the world.”
In February, when Denny invited Paula to join a team of healthcare professionals on a medical trip to Guatemala, she said yes. That trip was pivotal.
“In Guatemala, I worked with people who had never had any health care,” she says. “I realized I was using my God-given skills to help others.”
Returning to Kansas City, Paula continued to care for her ailing mother. She and Denny began a long-distance relationship, seeing each other several times a month. They took the Unity Basics class together. “Leading a life that matters” was a primary principle for both of them. They also joined Unity. Denny, formerly a Lutheran, appreciated Unity's positive approach. For Paula, Unity affirmed her feelings of oneness with God. In 1991, her deepening relationship with Denny and with Unity strengthened her as she grieved her mother's death.
Being part of the Guatemalan medical team gave Paula a sense of purpose and meaning. She went on nine mission trips. Working side by side with Denny, her respect for his skills, his teaching abilities and his kindness toward the patients grew even stronger. In October 1993, Denny and Paula were married and Paula moved to Minnesota.
A Brief Retirement
Eight years later, after much hard work and many adventures, including a consulting job for a hospital in Antarctica, Paula and Denny moved to Arkansas to build their dream retirement home. One evening, as Paula sat on her outdoor prayer bench overlooking a lake, she prayed, “Holy Spirit, you've given us these gifts so we can give them away. Help me see what you want us to do next.”
Days later, the phone rang and Mary Ellen Kitundu, a colleague from Minnesota and from Denny's earlier mission days, asked them to come to Iambi, Tanzania, in central East Africa, for 10 weeks to create a needs analysis for a decaying hospital.
Denny was eager to return to Africa. Paula had no particular desire to go there, but thought 10 weeks sounded doable.
Later, while sitting on her prayer bench, Paula heard a voice ask, “Are you prepared to give the rest of your life to this work?”
“I was not prepared,” Paula says.
Using Their God-Training
Once in Iambi, Denny and Paula toured the surrounding area, looking at other health facilities, trying to answer the questions: “Is the hospital necessary? If so, what does it need to function and what will it cost?"
On one tour, Paula visited the office of a public health nurse. When the nurse saw Paula, she said, “There you are! You're the one I've been praying for."
Paula then knew this was the job God had called her to do. She was prepared to dedicate her life to this work.
Denny and Paula's needs analysis was so successful that the director of Medical Services for the Lutheran church asked them to write a redevelopment plan for upgrading the hospital. They wrote the plan and the director said, “Will you implement the plan?”
“That sounds like fun,” Denny said.
“Will you finance it?” the director asked.
They spent 11 months traveling through the United States, giving talks and sharing their story. They wanted to raise $400,000. Paula's voice cracked as she told audiences, “Every hour a Tanzanian woman dies in childbirth. Every day, 140 newborns die. Hundreds of children are infected with HIV. With your help, we can make a difference.”
That first year of fundraising, they had to put their expenses on their personal credit cards. To pay off the debt, they mortgaged their Arkansas land. Although they didn't raise the $400,000, they raised enough to get started.
“God opened up the pathways,” Paula says.
Volunteer medical teams and building teams joined them. Working conditions were often challenging and included coping with limited water supplies and struggling through political and bureaucratic mazes. Within four years, the hospital renovations were complete and the locals were ready to run the facility.
“We've done our work. It's time to return to Arkansas,” Denny said.
Taking the Next Steps
It was 2006. Before they could leave, they received calls from all over the country, asking for their help. Tanzania's hospitals overflowed with patients. Many people receive no medical care. Denny and Paula knew they had to stay. Working with Mary Ellen, they formed International Health Partners, US & TZ, a nonprofit dedicated to improving health care for the people of Tanzania. They considered various locations for their next project—building a medical facility—and chose Mwanza as the city with the greatest need and sufficient infrastructure.
They successfully converted an existing office building into an outpatient clinic. The clinic quickly became too small to handle the need. So they built an additional building, the Patricia Ward, which included ten rooms. This allowed them to do surgical procedures in the clinic and have a place for patients to recover.
Since 2006, they've been engaged in creating Nyakato Health Center, which includes a birthing center, outpatient services, an eye center that will include a dental center and three other units. Every year, medical interns from all over the world come to help serve. Volunteer teams from churches, business and colleges help with building, painting and more. Medical teams volunteer their surgical and outpatient services.
“For our volunteers, it's always a life-changing situation,” Denny says.
First the Laundry Roof, Then the Birthing Center
Often, Denny and Paula face frustration, corruption and dishonesty.
“When bad things happen, your faith gets shaken,” Paula says. She's adamant about spending an hour every day in her Tanzania prayer garden.
“Doing this work is a daily test of faith. When I'm feeling desperate about something, such as money, or a patient's care, I pray hard in my backyard,” Paula says. “I usually find out later that God's already answered my prayer. I pray for money and learn that the check was already in the mail.”
Paula and Denny still stay anchored by reading Daily Word together.
“We set our intentions and God takes care of the rest,” Paula says. “That's the way we try to live our lives. We just show up for work every day.”
The work they show up for is very intense. But IHP, US & TZ receives no government funding.
“We rely on donors, most of whom pledge between $25 and $150 monthly, as well as churches, which fundraise and manage different parts of our construction,” Denny says.
One church is raising money for a foundation. Another is shipping over a container of building supplies from the states, so the Tanzanian building crew can continue construction.
All aspects of the project are intricately intertwined. They have equipment for eye surgery, but can't use it until they have a reliable source of solar power. The birthing center needs shelves and equipment. It can't open until they get the roof on the laundry facility, which also needs washing machines.
“We are already flooded with pregnant women needing our care and hope we can open the birthing center soon,” Paula says.
Denny and Paula and Mary Ellen take no salary. “We are doing this as a gift to the people of Tanzania,” Paula says.
Every so often, they think fleetingly of retirement. But the need is so great, their belief in this work so complete, and their faith in their path so absolute that they keep going. Now, almost 10 years after Mary Ellen's life-changing phone call, Paula and Denny's dedication to providing health care for the people of Tanzania shines forth throughout that country and the world.
Want to be part of making a difference to the people of Tanzania? Please join Paula and Denny in this important work and send a check to:
International Health Partners,
US & TZ
Joyce Zemel, Treasurer
1811 S. 39th St., #36
Mesa, AZ 85206
Put the word “Unity” in the memo line.
You can also volunteer or donate via their website, www.ihptz.org.
