Ten Years of Earth Mission
Dan Ryan · Executive Director
Ten years ago, Earth Mission took ten Karen students and a big dream into the jungle. Executive Director Dan Ryan looks back on what has been arranged since.
Ten years ago, Dr. Mitch had a big dream: a solution to the lack of quality healthcare in eastern Myanmar. The solution was to train local young people to become primary care health providers in their own communities.
He had worked in remote Karen areas for years and had seen firsthand the lack of quality healthcare. Living conditions are so difficult that outsiders rarely stay in the jungle long term. If Earth Mission wanted healthcare providers who would stay and serve for the long term, the best source was local people.
At the time, most medical training in Karen State focused on medics or community health workers. Medics are good and very much needed, but few local people were trained to diagnose and treat complex medical conditions. In remote areas, there were almost no doctors.
The vision developed into a five-year Physician Associate training program with a heavy focus on clinical and hospital experience. PA students would be chosen from Karen State because they spoke the local languages, understood the complex political situation, tended to remain in their home areas, and could survive rainy season.
Then came the next challenge: Could Earth Mission train local people to become Physician Associates at an international-level standard? Things started falling into place, and the first class began in January 2016. God brought great teachers. Our registration was approved. Karen leadership entrusted us with 10 students. The fragile dream was actually becoming something.
Thankfully, we could not foresee the difficult road ahead. The number of things that could, or perhaps should, have caused this mission to fail early on was not small. Looking back, we can see God arranging things, sometimes for the survival of the mission and sometimes to show us a better way forward. One of the verses we clung to was Galatians 3:11 in The Message:
“The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him.”
Over the years, Earth Mission’s medical services grew rapidly, from clinic-level care to inpatient hospital care, surgery, and increasingly advanced medical care. Then came the 2021 military coup and the return of war to Karen State.
The war has made it increasingly difficult to operate. The military junta’s bombing of civilian targets means we must constantly adapt. At Rain Tree Clinic, we spread out the campus, moving medical buildings away from the main hospital area for safety. We continue to prepare contingency plans.
For me, the past 10 years at Earth Mission have been a lesson in living by faith. God has shown up time and time again. There were months when I projected our cash needs and it looked like we didn’t have nearly enough. Then God provided. In fact, every time we have been in that situation, God has brought unexpected resources. Looking back, I see all the times God’s hand protected us. Some we know about. Many others, I am sure, we don’t even know about.
I also remember all the good people God has brought our way. Many are still with us. Some have moved on. Again and again, at just the right time, the right people came. My heart is full of gratitude, to God and to all those special people who have been part of this mission.
“At just the right time, I will respond to you.” Isaiah 49:8a
Ten years ago, this was a fragile dream. Today, I look at what God has done: the people He has brought together, the lives that have been saved, the students who have become healthcare providers, and the communities they now serve.
There are still many problems ahead. There are still burdens that feel too heavy. There are still moments when I want to take those burdens back and carry them myself.
But when I look back over these ten years, one thing is clear: God has been faithful.
Dan Ryan, Executive Director, Earth Mission