A Clinic, Refuge, and Home

“Fatal” was the word Maria used to describe her healthcare situation back home.

In her native country of Venezuela, Maria nearly exhausted her husband’s entire paycheck to pay for healthcare as she gave birth to six children over the years. Included on hospital bills were the gloves doctors used and the gasoline in the ambulance that brought her to the facility. As hyperinflation eroded the value of Venezuela’s currency, the mother couldn’t afford to feed her family—let alone meet her medical needs.

With few other options, Maria decided to cross the border into Colombia for treatment as she prepares to have her seventh child.

A mile after crossing the international border, she arrived at a Samaritan’s Purse clinic.

“God has not abandoned us,” the 8-months-pregnant mother said. She happily visits the clinic, even if the journey is long, for quality care she never received in previous pregnancies.

“There have been times when I haven’t had the resources to get an exam, but God always does something to help me.”

Providing a Home Away from Home

The Samaritan’s Purse clinic in Puerto Santander, Colombia, has given over 12,000 women a refuge from the chaotic world around them since its doors opened in 2019. At the confluence of the Zulia and Grita rivers, where Colombia and Venezuela meet, the clinic welcomes often overwhelmed, weary mothers with the love of Jesus Christ, the Great Physician.

But care goes beyond a single consultation.

“We are not just serving a mother, we are serving a generation,” said Veronica, the clinic’s health coordinator. “Puerto Santander Clinic is life, restoration, and change.”

Expectant mothers have access to consistent medical checkups—including ultrasounds—and nutritional education, as well as multiple sessions with psychologists at the Samaritan’s Purse facility. Depending on their stage of pregnancy, women leave the clinic with a tailored baby kit stuffed full of diapers, wipes, soap, and food items for the mother’s nutrition. Given its proximity to Venezuela, the facility serves weary migrants but also Colombians who have run out of options.

Adriana was another mother who entered the clinic’s doors looking for solutions.

Only a teenager, she had struggled with the thought of terminating her pregnancy. When she found out in Venezuela the costs associated with childbirth, her hopelessness only deepened.

“I told [the doctors] I couldn’t pay, and they told me they couldn’t help me and told me to leave,” she said.

Then she heard of the Samaritan’s Purse clinic just over the border, offering free maternal care to expectant mothers.

“I had doubts about Samaritan’s Purse, but my life has shifted completely since coming here.”

Through the love of our staff and the message of the Gospel she heard while at the clinic, Adriana knows God has a plan for her and her little one.

“I feel so good about having my daughter,” she said, “and I am excited to meet her.”

Cultivating Faith

While mothers receive treatment, children run in and out of the colourful childcare centre. Crayons, colouring sheets, and toys litter the room where children draw, read, and learn about Jesus together.

Elena, the Samaritan’s Purse staff member who leads the children’s daycare and discipleship programme, says that every activity is an opportunity to teach the children about God’s love for them.

“I tell the children that, if we are cutting paper, we are going to do it well because it’s for God.”

Elena shares Scripture verses with the children as they, too, deal with the pain and trauma of leaving their communities for a foreign land.

“God placed me here to work with children,” she said. “I love serving the Venezuelan children, and now I know why God has sent me here.”

Pray for the weary, vulnerable mothers who visit the Samaritan’s Purse clinic. Pray that as our staff serve their needs in Jesus’ Name, they would see and feel God’s love for them—and for the precious child in their womb.

“’Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not me but Him who sent Me’” (Mark 9:37).

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