FI MessiahLifeways UnscriptedMagazine Spring2025 - Flipbook - Page 36
“ I think the Holy Spirit uses
stories to encourage other
people—to plant a seed.
To change hearts.”
In the late ’90s, WHO approved this drug for
global use, and Zambia became the first country
to implement it.
“It’s amazing how well this new drug worked,”
he said, as malaria cases drastically decreased
by approximately 98%.
The infectious disease he spent dozens of years
studying, researching, and fighting against, in
collaboration with the Johns Hopkins School of
Public Health, was successfully eliminated in the
Macha area.
“Now, the community around Macha has a whole
generation of people who have never been affected
by these symptoms,” Phil said. “There used to be
more than 100 kids dying a year from malaria at
Macha Hospital, and there have been zero the l
ast four years.”
A LEGACY OF LOVE
Phil had always planned to retire at age 70, so during
his final years in Zambia, he recruited and trained
successors who would lead nearly 80 employees with
the same selfless compassion he had when it was
just a nonprofit of one, run from a basement. Today,
the Macha Research Trust studies everything from
influenza to HIV.
They once thought they would retire and spend
the rest of their days in Zambia. But in 2015, Elaine
developed severe muscle weakness—later diagnosed
as a mitochondrial myopathy—making it increasingly
difficult to navigate the village’s dirt paths in her
now-necessary wheelchair.
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