2023
ANNUAL
REPORT

When rockets began hitting Natalia’s small town, the shockwaves were deafening. She and her family were terrified. Before the war, Natalia and her husband had always called their village in Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast region home. The narrow streets were quiet and tree-lined, the air was fresh, and each one of the quaint colorful houses was different from the other. Their beloved town was unrecognizable after the bombing began.

Soon after the invasion, Natalia’s husband left to join the army. Alone, Natalia dreaded the dark nights, the sound of explosions, the fear in her children’s eyes. Their cries broke her heart.

In early summer, she decided it was time to go.

“I made the choice for my children,” she says. “I wasn’t so much scared for my own life, but worried for them. I knew I needed to leave to protect them, even though this meant heading for the unknown.”

Natalia now lives in Izmail, a small town in southwest Ukraine. She shares a small furnished room with her three children. The first months in Izmail were especially difficult. Flashbacks to their time in war-torn Donetsk came frequently, and she struggled with anxiety and depression.

In early November, Natalia’s life transformed when she began meeting with Iuliya, a Ukrainian psychologist who joined Medical Teams to support her neighbors through counseling. In the last year, Medical Teams has provided mental health and psychosocial support to thousands of people just like Natalia.

“I started [individual counseling sessions], and it’s been difficult but good at the same time,” Natalia says. “It’s tough to talk about my memories and it makes me cry, but it helps at the same time.”

With help from Iuliya, Natalia’s begun processing her grief and sense of loss. She wants to be able to support her children and establish a life in Izmail until they can go home.

“I know I want to get better,” she says, “and I want to make the best out of our time here.

Sydney, a mother to two adult sons, is the kind of woman who says yes to unexpected trips and knows the name of anyone she meets within minutes. Her appetite for life is inspiring. But after losing most of her teeth, she struggled to get help. Luckily, a neighbor told her about Medical Teams.

“I never knew there was something like this,” Sydney says. “I’m so grateful.”

After the terrifying attack that led to the loss of her teeth, dentures were Sydney’s best option for a healthy future. They’re expensive and not always covered by insurance, though. Sydney needed help. That’s when Medical Teams stepped in to help transform her life through dental care, just like the 12,840 other people who visited our clinics this year.

Now, Sydney regularly visits Care & Connect Mobile Health clinics for fittings and maintenance. She’s on a first name basis with the incredible Medical Teams volunteers and staff who run clinics. They look forward to seeing her and hearing stories of her life, too.

Sydney shares, “There’s a lot going on. Never a dull moment!”

Despite her challenges, Sydney lives life to the fullest. Her strength is in her ability to still find joy after experiencing so much pain. Medical Teams is a small part of her story, but it’s the part that gave her back her smile.

Stella is a woman of extraordinary strength. As she fled violence in Burundi, she was cut on the back by a machete – but she still carried on. She made it to safety in Uganda with her infant daughter, Angella.

Angella was like all six-month-old babies: sweet, smiling, and happy. So when she started coughing and vomiting, Stella was terrified. Angella had a high fever and refused to breastfeed. Stella worried that her baby would die.

Luckily, a neighbor had told her about a nearby Medical Teams clinic. Stella brought Angella in, and our providers jumped into action. A clinician tested baby Angella for malaria and treated her with anti-malaria medication. In just three days, Angella was back to her sweet baby ways.

Stella was so relieved her daughter was healthy again. Her fear and sense of helplessness was transformed into hope after she was able to get health care for her daughter. She says, “I thank Medical Teams for the good job they are doing. I feel proud of it. May they continue to offer services to sick people.”

Today, Stella is dreaming of her daughter’s future. After a harrowing journey to safety, she and Angella are able to rest now that her daughter has recovered.

“I would like my child to become a nurse when she grows up to help sick people by treating them like Medical Teams does,” Stella shares, beaming.

When Phyllis Cavens went on her first Medical Teams International trip to Thailand as a volunteer doctor, she didn’t know she was embarking on a lifelong journey with Medical Teams!

But Phyllis and her husband Travis both would go on to serve on 12 trips, together and apart. In total, they visited 16 different countries. Today, Phyllis stays connected to Medical Teams as a Love in Action donor. She’s also a member of our global prayer team and Healthy Women, Healthy World.

“From the beginning of the first trip, Medical Teams empowered me,” Phyllis says. She was motivated to volunteer after seeing a press release from Ron Post in the local newspaper calling for care for Cambodian refugees. 

“When I read the article in the morning paper, I said to Travis, ‘This is something I can do.’ And he said to me, ‘I think you should go.’” 

Two weeks later, Phyllis was on the plane with Ron and a team of 28 medical volunteers to Sakeo refugee camp to care for people from Cambodia. Phyllis describes her dedication to volunteering as an expression of both her faith and deep love for humanity. She finds joy and purpose in helping others.

“We are all God’s children because God resides in everyone as a divine spark that calls us to love your neighbor as yourself,” Phyllis says, explaining her motivation behind her lifelong commitment to volunteering with Medical Teams. “The more you’re in love with life, others, and yourself, the more you reflect the Kingdom of God.”

As a pediatrician, her heart has always been with children. An avid reader, Phyllis quotes the poet Carl Sandburg, saying, “There is only one child in the world and the child’s name is All Children.” That’s how she thinks of each child she’s cared for, and how she continues to care today.

“It’s my proudest title,” she says. “I’m a wife, a mother, I’m a Lutheran, I’m a Christian, I’m a pediatrician, and I’ve been blessed to be a Medical Teams International volunteer from that very first trip.”

Her generosity and compassion have been a blessing to Medical Teams from the very beginning. We are proud to continue serving alongside people like Phyllis, who have such extraordinary legacies of love.