Attend our Breakout Session at GMHC on Saturday morning November 11, First 1000 Days of Life - Impacting Lifelong Well-Being (in-person only). Download additional brochures at the session link, including The Heart of the Family and Community Health Evangelism (CHE) Core Values.
Medical Ambassadors International we build relationships with the world’s most vulnerable people and together we work to heal communities both physically and spiritually, from the inside out. MAI envisions a world of thriving communities where people experience reconciliation of broken relationships, restoration of hope and health, and dignity through following Jesus.
Our History
In 1975, as South Vietnam was falling, a man named Dr. Raymond Benson was on the last airlift from the roof of the American Embassy.
In the years following that dramatic event, Dr. Benson caught a vision for Christian medical professionals to establish clinics around the world. His hope was to heal people both physically and spiritually. Out of that desire, Medical Ambassadors was founded.
While Dr. Benson was correct in his assessment of the physical and spiritual needs of people around the world, he did not anticipate that the same people would keep coming back to the clinic with the same preventable illnesses. It became clear that this clinic-based curative model was difficult to sustain without helping communities address the complex, underlying root issues that affected health and well-being. In fact, we were creating a culture of dependency within the communities we were trying to help.
Medical Ambassadors made a paradigm shift and transitioned to a new model. Instead of going into a community and giving free care, we entered with the emphasis on relationship and bringing only questions, seeking to learn and empower. Instead of giving the communities what we thought they needed, we asked local leaders and community members "What strengths, experiences, and resources do you have?" and “What do you need to be happy, healthy, and thriving?" We let their answers guide our focus and started developing lessons on those topics. In time, the available lessons included far more than only health topics. Depending on what the local leaders determined their communities needed, there were teachings on how to work together and solve problems, teachings on agriculture, literacy, family relationships, micro-enterprise, coping with disability, and more. Most importantly, the lessons and tools emphasized that it was the community's ownership, creativity, initiative, and resources that would make the difference.
The power of this approach was that the education could be replicated at the grassroots level, neighbor to neighbor. Instructors teach learners who become instructors who teach learners who become instructors who teach learners—well, you get the idea. And it wasn't only new knowledge that was being transferred - relationships were being healed, new attitudes and ways of thinking were being developed, and community cohesion was being strengthened.
Certainly, there were still physical needs requiring professional medical attention—clinics and hospitals continue to be essential. However, 70-80 percent of people in these clinic lines could now be helped at the community level.
This development model became known as Community Health Evangelism (CHE). Evangelism…because seamlessly woven into the lessons of health are basic biblical truths: You can be healthy on the inside as well as the outside. You have great value because you are wonderfully and beautifully made by God. You have dignity and creativity because you are created in the image of God.
Today we partner with communities, churches, and organizations in over 40 countries and have trained and consulted with groups in another 35 countries. Our coordinators help facilitate networks of CHE practitioners in 8 regions of the world, and we are privileged to be a founder and ongoing partner in the Global CHE Network.
We are proud to be a work in progress. We are committed to learning from the communities we work with and listening to God. We deeply desire to align ourselves with his plan and power.
HEALING LIVES… TRANSFORMING COMMUNITIES
Click on the images below to follow links:
MAI Website Link:
MAI Training Schedule:
MAI/CHE Core Values:
During GMHC or afterward, you may contact Paula@med-amb.org to obtain more information and/or to set up a chat or Zoom meeting. You can also use WhatsApp for texting at +1 503-349-7231.
