Brother Peter Bombande was my only professional colleague during most of the five years we lived in Yendi, Ghana, and he became a very close friend. He was a stalwart supporter of my work, backing my decision (against significant opposition) to write a new handbook for the village health worker training course, and putting me in charge of the village outreach clinics and of the wound care patients, who had always had a special place in his heart. His support of my dissertation research was pivotal to its success.
I was able to help Peter only a few times. In 2003 – 2004 I ran the clinic so that he could attend a bridge program for 12 months and fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a doctor. In 2006, Richard and I returned to Ghana so that I could run the clinic once again to give Brother Peter a brief respite. Characteristically, Brother Peter spent the entire week, not going south to enjoy life, but rather, working on his farm so that he would have enough food for his children.
We supported one another physically and spiritually as well. Brother Peter was a fierce ally against the forces of evil that sought to destroy the church, the clinic, and our very lives, particularly in the dark years of late 2001 – late 2003. Neither of us were diplomats, and this could cause tension at times, but we understood each other and had a great deal of mutual respect for one another. I have met many very brilliant people in my lifetime (Richard and I have been blessed with amazing connections), but only a very few can match Brother Peter’s intelligence and wisdom. He taught me a lot about health care and about life.
Peter was raised in a "Christian" (Catholic) tribe, in the conflict area of Bawku, north of Yendi. He rejected Catholicism at an early age because he found the people to be less serious about God than were the Muslims. He was a Muslim for many years, and was still a Muslim when I met him in February of 1999. By then, he was old enough to have substantial authority in an Islamic community such as Yendi, but he was very angry and troubled. However, God had plans, of the Saul/Paul variety, for Peter.
Due to an odd entanglement between the government and the Clinics, Peter, a Muslim, worked at the Clinic’s affiliate in Kumasi, which is how he became the director of the Church of Christ Mission Clinic in Yendi. The Yendi Clinic had closed after only 6 months because none of the southern nurses who were members of the church could handle working in the harsh climate and conflict area that was Yendi. Although he was still a Muslim, Peter had a servant heart and felt he needed to give back to the north, where he had been raised. So, Peter volunteered to move from the relatively modern, educated, comfortable city of Kumasi to the infamous remote town of Yendi to direct the clinic. Peter always said that having been raised in Bawku, Yendi’s conflicts did not bother him so much.
In Yendi, of all places, by God's grace, Brother Peter was touched by the lives of some truly faithful, dedicated Christians and began studying the Bible with them. Peter was an inquisitive, logical man, and as a result of the witness of dedicated Christians like Brother Samson, his younger brother Niipaak, and others, working through the Holy Spirit as they taught from the Bible, he rejected Islam and was baptized into Christ. We moved to Ghana at about that time, in November of 1999. It was a privilege to watch the Holy Spirit change Brother Peter dramatically, transforming the angry, sometimes violent, but faithful and paradoxically compassionate Muslim man into an often joyful Christian who retained the passion he had previously and added to it gentleness, kindness, wisdom, and self-control.
Brother Peter gave up SO much for Christ. He could have returned to the south and been relatively wealthy and highly respected, but he chose to serve the poor in the north despite frequently being disrespected, even by members of the church and the clinic staff. However, whatever good or bad happened in the past is gone forever now. In the end, all that matters is whether or not we are washed clean by the blood of Christ. Brother Peter has finished the race. I miss him already.
If anyone would like to help Peter's widow (Zenabu) financially, the best way to do that is probably to help complete the house they were building to retire in. It is relatively close to the clinic, where she sells snacks. Their youngest child is a middle-school aged girl. Funds can be sent to IHCF 102 N Locust St, Searcy, AR 72143 with a note "for Peter Bombande's house" or you can use PayPal option 4) here: http://www.ihcf.net/help.html If you type Peter in the blank "other memorial name" the contribution supports the work of IHCF as a whole (it is a good organization). If you want to contribute to the house for Peter's widow, that needs to be specified in the blank ("for Peter Bombande's house"). All funds designated for the house will go directly to paying the workers and for materials to complete the roofing, wiring, etc.
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