By Randell S. Skau ’82 and Melinda S. Skau ’82
Randell S. Skau ’82 strode through the Jengre Seventh-day Adventist Hospital courtyard after his morning ward rounds, heading to the clinic. Patients in West African garb were milling in
the open courtyard under a spreading canopy of red-flowered flame trees.
A tall, handsome man caught his attention. “As Salaam Alaikum!” (Peace be upon you!), Randy greeted him with a respectful nod. “Wa Alaikum As Salaam, Likita!” (Peace be also to you, doctor!), the man responded. “What’s your name?” Randy asked. “My name is Isa,” the man answered.
“Isa?” That’s the name for Jesus in the Hausa language. Randy mused. “Please, tell me how you came to have the name Isa,” Randy inquired with interest.
Isa explained, “Isa is the name of a great prophet. It is written in the Holy Quran.”
“I would like to know more about Isa from the Holy Quran,” Randy responded. “Would you like to study that with me?”
Randy had a passerby fetch the hospital chaplain, Harry, so that together the three men could meet. Isa was agreeable, so the three men began to meet sporadically at Chaplain Harry’s office or in the Skau’s home, just down the dirt road. They looked together for references to the prophet Isa in the Holy Quran and in the Bible, and chatted animatedly about those stories. During those studies, Isa pointed out that the prophet Isa in the Quran was born of Maryamu (Mary) and was the only person who did no wrong. Even the great Islamic prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him), did not claim to be perfect.
One Sabbath afternoon while Randy was managing an emergency in the hospital, Melinda S. Skau ’82 and their two children bicycled out to the granite hills beyond the yam and corn farms. They had to climb up a rock chimney to reach a pleasant viewpoint where they could see the expanse of fields, farms, and mud brick homes for kilometers around. Shimmying up the last few feet of the crack in the rock, the children exclaimed, “Mom, there’s a cloud of bees over there!”
Melinda glanced toward the sound of bees swarming nearby and guided the children in the opposite direction. “I don’t think they will bother us if we leave them alone. They are just looking for a place for their new home. Let’s turn left and sit on the edge of the bluff to read our Sam Campbell nature books.” Melinda suggested.
After reading several chapters, they noticed the breeze cooling and the sun lower in the sky, so they reluctantly rose to climb down the rocks and start the bike ride home.
Nearing the rock chimney they were unexpectedly swarmed by angry bees! Melinda yelled to her children, “Quick, follow me down!” as she slipped into the chimney. Reaching the bottom of the rock crack, she turned around to catch them, but they were nowhere to be seen. Melinda scurried back up the chimney to physically guide them down, finding them in the chaos of frenzied insects. They could hardly hear or see each other or even talk with the bees in their ears and mouths and around their closed eyes. It was like being in a frantically loud and dark tunnel. Bumbling through the buzzing bees, they scrambled down the rock chimney and stumbled toward the nearest road, already weakened by the many stings and too exhausted to ride their bikes the two miles home.
As her son raced ahead, Melinda shouted, “Flag someone down at the road to take you to the hospital and alert Dad!” He was fortunate enough to get a motorcyclist to help him.
Melinda and her daughter staggered along behind. Two farmers, noting their distress, stopped and scooped them up, placing them on the back of their bicycles. In their weakness, they fought to hold on to their rescuers.
It felt like an eternity before all three Skau patients were dropped onto “casualty” stretchers in the emergency reception area. Nurses hooked an IV into Melinda, who had 100–200 stings and was rapidly swelling, administering emergency medications. Their son had about 40 stings and seemed stable. Their daughter, the youngest and smallest, had asthma and was at the highest risk. Fortunately, she had been treated the night before with steroids for a mild flare of her wheezing, so she was not reacting to the stings. The nurses worked quickly to flick off the stingers without rupturing the poison sacs. Finally, all three patients were transported home.
The next day Randy stayed home with his three patients while another doctor covered his hospital duties. Isa, having heard the news of the bees, stopped by to visit. Sending for Chaplain Harry to join them and help translate, they spent the entire afternoon in conversation and read the story of John the Baptist saying of Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God.” Muslims know the story of Abraham going to sacrifice his son and God providing a ram as a “tremendous sacrifice” in place of Abraham’s son. For Isa, this made the story of Jesus being identified as the Lamb of God more understandable and impactful.
Shortly after that visit, with all the Skau patients doing well again, Chaplain Harry and Randy decided to visit Isa at his home. They rode bicycles a few miles out through the fields on narrow paths to Isa’s igloo-shaped, palm tree leaf-covered hut in the village. Isa was thrilled that his friends had come to his home. He mentioned that he had other foreign friends. One was a radio announcer on BBC who had answered some of his written queries. “But you are my true friend!” Isa exclaimed.
“When did I become your true friend?” Randy asked. “Was it when we met at the hospital? Or when you came to my house to study the Quran? Or was it when you visited us after the bees stung my family?”
“I knew you were my true friend when you put your two feet in my house!” Isa exclaimed.
What a great way to describe true friends! And this provided the perfect opportunity for Randy and Chaplain Harry to explain that Isa in the Bible is not only the Lamb of God but is also truly our Friend because He put His two feet in our “house,” this earth, to help us see and know the true character of God.
The Drs. Skau live in Oroville, California. Dr. Randy Skau is a general surgeon and Dr. Melinda Skau is a family physician. They lived in Nigeria with their two children from 1994–2004, practicing at Ile-Ife and Jengre Seventh-day Adventist Hospitals.