December 19, 2004 was supposed to have been a special day for Junosh Paul. It was to be his 13th birthday! Instead of happiness, for parents and siblings, the day was left with rather painful memories.

Jaundice claimed the life of Paul. Paul’s parents were cross-cultural missionaries in Malkangiri, Orissa, India.

The name Malkangiri would ring alarm bells in the ears of those who have been to this place before or have heard about it. And chances are that they wouldn’t want to go there again. This is the place where poverty, starvation and deprivation echoes. Malkangiri is known for the horrible epidemic malaria. Four of five people, that is over 80 percent of the population in this district live below the poverty line.

The attack of naxilites on the other side is fearful. The death in constant encounter between police and naxilites cause the police to flee from there. Who would like to risk their life as a missionary here? Benya did.

The decision to go there involved high risk. “If I don’t go, who will go?” bothered Benya. As a result, he with his wife and three children set out to be missionaries. The people there had an entirely different culture from theirs, they spoke different tribal languages and the lifestyle was different. Yet, the less reached with Gospel welcomed Benya family.

Very soon, they began to count the cost. Youngest son Paul fell sick. Sickness is very common here and there is no proper medical care available.

It all began after a convention at Semilipadar village. Benya was the speaker. Travel to Semilipadar was tiresome – 65 kilometers by bus, another four hours in a boat and finally 15km by foot. Whenever it was possible, Benya took the whole family with him. This time, Benya’s wife and youngest son Paul also had accompanied him. The convention went well, they came back with the untold joy of seeing people accepting Jesus as their Lord for the first time.

On reaching home, Benya and his wife fell ill. Severe fever. Benya was healed within a few days, his wife was caught up with malaria. After a week, she too was well, but the youngest son Paul was down. His sickness ended up in typhoid. The limited medical facilities in Malkangiri made the doctor to prescribe further treatment in an adequate hospital in Nabarangpur, 150km far from Malkangiri. Thus, Benya rushed Paul to Nabarangpur Christian Hospital.

After few days of continuous medication, he was healed and they returned to Malkangiri. Traveling back to Malkangiri was burdensome. While Benya and wife stood in the swaying bus throughout, Paul got little space to sit upon the heated bus engine. The severe hot weather and the tiresome travel caught Junosh with jaundice. By this time, Benya’s wallet became empty. He could not pay the electricity bill and thus there was no power in the home.

The further medical care did not help Paul. Within two days, his body pain increased, was unable to urinate and he could not sleep either. The boy’s health deteriorated with the tickle of the clock.