- International YWAMer

By Christine Arcus (over 30’s age category winner)

December 21, 1986 was an eventful night at the YWAM base in Surigao City, Philippines. This YWAM location was involved in providing primary healthcare for the local islands. My colleague, Tony, and I were both healthcare workers.

It all started with a knock at the door. I opened the door and was surprised to see the lady who helped us with the laundry, and her very pregnant daughter. They were asking to stay for the night as Typhoon Aning was fast approaching. I asked when the baby was due and received the answer, “Tonight!”

We settled our guests into a large room usually used by outreach teams. Tony and I went away to our office/medical supply room to sort out what we were going to need for the birth. We were both excited about having a home birth that night.

As the evening progressed there were a few more knocks on the door: a man arrived saying that he was a dentist come to help with the birth, then later the husband of the pregnant women. We didn’t know what would happen next!

All throughout the night the wind howled through the hallways and blew rain in the windows. It was so loud at times you couldn’t hear yourself think. We moved the family to another smaller room that was not so affected by the typhoon. The expectant mother was still having slow but continued contractions. We left them alone for awhile as we both were tired and needed some rest.

While we were resting in our rooms there came a quick jolt that shook our beds and continued to shake the building for a few seconds that felt like minutes to me. This rather rattled me, but Tony next door gave a verbal shrug having grown up in shaky New Zealand. After the earthquake we got up and checked on the family. The contractions were getting closer together and we realised the baby, a second child, was on its way. The dentist seemed to know what he was doing during the delivery and soon a boy was born! We took the newborn aside and checked him over, then wrapped him up in a blanket and gave him back to the mother. The father was so happy to have another son. He told us that this day was his first son’s birthday. We also found out later that the dentist was also a midwife!

So there you have it – a typhoon, an earthquake and a baby all in one night. Oh, and one more thing – a lovely relationship began to grow out of that eventful night because three months later Tony asked me to marry him and I said, “Yes!” That was twenty-three years ago.