Bill McDonough's life story reads like a can't-put-it-down novel. It's full of travel to exotic places, delicate negotiations with foreign governments and a dash of danger. But most of all, it's a story of service to those most in need and of sharing the Gospel through actions and words.
McDonough is a missionary, a path he chose after seeing the work of missionaries he encountered in Asia and Europe while serving in the U.S. Air Force in the early 1960s. After returning to the United States for school, he moved to Germany in 1965 and has been involved in mission work ever since.
His work has been supported by WindSong Church of Christ in North Little Rock (formerly Sixth and Izard Church of Christ) since 1969. His legacy will likely be Partners in Progress, a ministry he co-founded with Dr. A.J. Thompson of Little Rock in 1980. Their goal focused on starting churches around the world and providing humanitarian aid.
"The idea was we'll go wherever people ask us to come," McDonough said.
And ask they did.
With the help of volunteers, Partners in Progress has provided medical care and other humanitarian aid in places as far flung as Madagascar and Romania. The ministry has reached four continents and dozens upon dozens of countries.
Keith Harris, preaching minister at WindSong Church of Christ, said Partners in Progress is one of the church's primary missions. There are others, but this one is dear to their hearts because of McDonough.
"He has great enthusiasm," Harris said. "His love for serving people and sharing the Gospel with people is tremendous."
For the past 10 years or so, McDonough's focus has been helping the poor in Cambodia through Partners in Progress, although he answers the call to serve wherever he's needed.
Located in Southeast Asia, Cambodia has a population of about 14.8 million. According to UNICEF, more than 40 percent of children 5 and younger there are undersize for their age. Another 28 percent are underweight. The organization says the effects of malnutrition are the leading cause of childhood death and the lack of nutrition also leads to poor mental and physical development.
Diseases such as malaria and dengue fever are prevalent, as well as illnesses caused by unclean drinking water.
A SHIP OF MERCY
McDonough initially planned a short stay in Cambodia, helping a fellow missionary teach university students English through Bible study. The missionary was later killed in a car wreck, and without his presence, the Churches of Christ would have no missionary working in the country.
McDonough agreed to stay and kept seeing more and more opportunities to serve and needs to meet. So Partners in Progress began a long-term presence in the country.
In 2005 they branched out to buy a ship -- the Ship of Life -- to serve as a mobile medical clinic for residents along the Mekong River and around the shores of Tonle Sap Lake, a large inland lake that varies from 1,000 square miles to 9,500 square miles, depending on the season. The ship's staff of volunteers serves from the Vietnam border to the Laotian border along the river and spends five months traveling around the lake.
"About 4 million people live in the area we serve," he said. "They are the poorest people in Southeast Asia. They live on the fish they catch and what they can afford to buy."
Medical care is out of reach financially for most residents of villages around the lake and along the river. That's where the Ship of Life helps. McDonough said the ship moves every week or two to another community, and the staff sees an average of 130 patients a day.
"It's state of the art," McDonough said. "There's as good a dental office as you can find in Little Rock."
The clinic provides dental and medical care, and the ship is equipped with ultrasound, a laboratory and a pharmacy. Medical personnel and others from the United States and Europe volunteer to spend time on the ship treating patients. The ship can accommodate about eight volunteers at a time.
McDonough said Partners in Progress works closely with the Cambodian Ministry of Health. They often cooperate on projects, such as providing immunizations and training local health-care providers on board the ship. The physicians see patients with common ailments such as high blood pressure and diabetes but also mosquito-transmitted diseases including malaria and dengue fever.
"That's a major problem. There's not much that can be done for it," McDonough said about dengue fever. "It particularly kills the young and the elderly."
The staff also sees rarer diseases such as polio, as well as diphtheria.
"All those childhood diseases are rampant," he said.
Much of that is due to the fear of immunization, although with education that is changing.
AN ONGOING NEED
The lake itself is also a problem. McDonough said the water is very polluted. To help, Partners in Progress installed a floating water-filtration building in Kampong Khleang, a village of about 12,000 residents. Using salt and electricity, the system produces its own chlorine to sanitize the water and provide about 4,000 gallons a day.
"A lot of people there don't realize the need for clean water, but we do serve 150 to 200 families and are trying to educate people," McDonough said.
They also provide a dispenser of clean water in each classroom of the local schools.
"It's an ongoing process," he said.
Harris said the relationships McDonough has forged through the years allow him to be more effective as a missionary. He has the trust of the people and a rapport with government officials. That allows the ministry to serve in areas others might not be welcome in.
"The good that they do through Partners in Progress and the Ship of Life, the amount of people they are able to serve and help is unbelievable," Harris said.
Dr. Michael Justus, a family physician in Searcy, has been going on medical mission trips with McDonough since the early 1980s. His first trip was to the island of Tortola in the Caribbean. McDonough called the next year for his help and the year after.
"It got to the point where when he had a need he'd just call me," Justus said.
His first trip to Cambodia was in 2003, and he went back again in 2008 to work on the Ship of Life.
Justus said McDonough is a diplomat's diplomat.
"There's no situation where he does not find a way to turn it to good for almost anyone involved," he said. "I've been with him when I thought we were not going to get a single box of supplies through an airport. He would stand at the counter and explain and talk and be very cordial but very firm and patient, and folks just sort of mold into the groove.
"What I know about handling the nonmedical aspects of missions I would attribute to him. He's a wonderful mentor in how you do work on the ground with people of different cultures."
A LIFE OF SERVICE
McDonough said that through the years he has learned to listen to those he's there to serve. Sometimes the most important thing is simply being there to offer help.
"We see that as a lot of our mission -- to give people hope by being there," he said. "We try to see what people need and ask what they see as their biggest need because what they see and what we see may not be the same thing."
An example is what the villagers around Tonle Sap Lake saw as their biggest need -- life jackets. McDonough said the missionaries met with leaders and families in 10 districts around the lake to talk about what they needed most.
"We thought we knew what they would be -- medicine, food and education," he said. "But the No. 1 need is life jackets for the children who have to take little canoes to school and they drown."
Partners for Progress raised funds and bought more than 10,000 life jackets to distribute to those around the lake.
"We've learned to ask and listen, and if we're able, to help them," he said.
Last year, the ministry was able to buy an old Russian gunboat to refurbish and use as an ambulance of sorts. The boat was supplied by the Soviet Union in the late 1970s to support Vietnam in its war against Cambodian dictator Pol Pot. Now, the boat that was once used in battle along the Mekong River and across the lake is used to save lives.
McDonough and his wife, Marie-Claire, live most of the year in Cambodia but they still call North Little Rock home.
They come back for a few weeks or a month each year to update donors about the work they are doing and to raise more funds. In addition to support from WindSong Church of Christ, the organization receives money from other churches and individuals around the country.
Volunteers come from all over to help.
"He has this knack of being able to network people who are willing to go," Justus said. "He sends out a message, and people show up from all over the place. He integrates them and gets everybody on the same page."
As important as providing medicine and medical care is the personal touch McDonough and the volunteers provide, Justus said.
"This is more than just a lack of clean water or a parasitic infection. They stay in the trenches, and folks build up a trust," he said.
McDonough said there's much he loves about Cambodia -- the warm and friendly people, especially. The seasons, not so much. There are only two, he says -- wet and dry -- and a record cold day might dip as low as 68. It's often hot and humid, but the work is rewarding.
"The work we are doing, it's obvious we are helping people who need help," he said. "When you feel like you are making a difference it's rewarding, and we are."
Perhaps the biggest joy he has is telling others about Jesus.
"Most people there have never heard the name Jesus Christ," he said. "To be able to say, 'I'm doing this in the name of Jesus Christ,' it opens doors to explain more. That we're here because Jesus loves you, and he loves us. It gives us an opportunity to make an eternal difference in people's lives."
Now 74, McDonough has no plans to retire. As long as he's able he plans to continue the work.
"I don't know what I'd do if I retired," he said. "It's my life, and I enjoy it."
Religion on 05/31/2014