Practice of love

BY CANAAN DECEMBER 5, 2020

After all, I can’t abandon the person in need in front of me. (Tetsu Nakamura)

It’s been a year (December 4th) since Tetsu Nakamura, a doctor who was working in Afghanistan, was shot dead.

Mr. Nakamura spent the second half of his life (38-73 years old) abroad. As a doctor for 15 years, he has been involved in leprosy and other infectious diseases in Pakistan and Afghanistan in South Asia. The turning point came in 2000 when the drought struck Afghanistan. At that time, he was keenly aware of the importance of water, and thought that there was a problem to be solved before medical treatment, so he learned civil engineering by himself and started digging wells. And with the cooperation of the local people, they dug many wells, provided the drinking water that is indispensable for living, and improved the lives of many people.

Mr. Nakamura felt that “one irrigation canal rather than 100 clinics” was necessary, and although he was a doctor, he was self-taught and learned a new field. It came from a strong desire to help the person in front of him. We can see the practice of love here. I think that Mr. Nakamura, who was a Christian, his model was Jesus Christ.

Jesus said like this. “It was to me that you made one of these my brothers, and the smallest ones,” (Bible Matthew 25:40).　

What kind of behavior does this practice specifically refer to? We can see it by looking at the previous verses 35 and 36. It is written like this. “When I was hungry, you gave me food, when I was thirsty, you gave me a drink, when I was a traveler, you lent me an inn, and I was naked, you gave me what to wear, and when I was sick, you visited me, and when I was in prison, you asked me. “

From these words of Jesus, we can see the importance of helping people who are in need of food, clothing and shelter. It is also very important to visit the sick and to visit those who are innocent but imprisoned for telling the gospel or who are fighting for freedom and unjustly imprisoned. It can be said that the five “food, housing, clothing, health, and freedom” described here are related to the basic human rights of human beings.

I think the poor people in Afghanistan were the “smallest people” for Mr. Nakamura. Jesus would be hiding among the lowest & the poorest and the oppressed & the persecuted.

He loved the people of Afghanistan and laid the foundation for the lives and lives of the poor. Mr. Nakamura has left the phrase, “One waterway works for hundreds of doctors,” but he strongly felt that living a life without drinking water would prevent illness above all else.

It took seven years to complete the irrigation canal and now supports the lives of more than 650,000 people. In recognition of these achievements, Mr. Nakamura has won numerous awards both in Japan and abroad, and has also received a national medal in Afghanistan. It is a great pity that those who was so ambitious and practiced the work of love died unreasonably from shooting.

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