My Karratha Calling – Dr Sunil Abraham

11 MINUTE READ

From Luke’s Journal May 2025 | Vol. 30 No. 1 | MIMBY

Red earth. Living in a seaside “town” of 200 people. I was stunned by the beauty of the Pilbara, the place the Lord led me to work throughout my sabbatical from Christian Medical College in Vellore, India.

The “Karratha Calling” video that I saw on YouTube back home looked very welcoming, and Karratha did not disappoint. I had never heard of Karratha before, nor of Roebourne, the town with 1000 people within a 40 km radius. I was searching for a job among the Aboriginal community to work at for my sabbatical and “stumbled” upon a job advertisement at this particular Aboriginal Medical Service (AMS) in North West Western Australia (WA).

After contacting the kind recruiting agent, I had a Zoom interview with the clinic. At the end of the 30-minute interview, they asked me, “What do you do in your spare time? Work here is intense.” I replied, “I am a Christian and I spend time reading the Scripture and in prayer; work here is also intense!” They laughed and gave me the job! Praise God!

“I did not know anyone in Karratha or Roebourne, but there was a peace in my heart when I applied for the job, and it came through.”

I did not know anyone in Karratha or Roebourne, but there was a peace in my heart when I applied for the job, and it came through. Over the next few months, even as I went through the paperwork, which was indeed a smooth ride, I would often weep when I thought of Roebourne. The Lord was preparing me to join something He was doing there.

Slowly the Lord brought connections – through a General Practitioner (GP) who had moved from India to Kalgoorlie whose husband knew a family in Karratha, and through a social worker I met who was from my state in India and had worked earlier in Roebourne for 9 years. I was amazed how these helpful connections came about.

I arrived in Karratha on the 18^th of February 2023 and started work the next day. My daughter had an admission into the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) so I had to wait until she turned 18 years old before I could leave her for WA.

Mawarnkarra Aboriginal Medical Service in Roebourne is an amazing place to work. With 5 GPs and a good team of nurses and other staff, I felt very welcomed and supported. I have worked in remote locations in India before, including a remote mission hospital where we had a herd of elephants visiting us! But the challenges I faced here were different. Many diseases I saw reminded me of the conditions seen in mission hospitals in India. A 16-year-old with rheumatic chorea, patients with scabies, diabetes, chronic kidney diseases, malnutrition, cardiovascular disease, and the like.

It was heartbreaking to see these lovely and intelligent people caught up in a downward spiral.  Drugs, alcohol, conflicts in families and domestic violence added fuel to the fire. While I enjoyed the beautiful sunrises and sunsets, having the beach close to my house, and the easy drive to work or Karratha with minimal traffic, I soon realised that I was not here just to treat a few diseases and return to India. I felt compelled to get to know some of the leaders of the community, influence them and be a blessing to them. However, I knew no one.

Sunday mornings were spent at the Anglican Church in Karratha, about 60 km from Point Samson where I lived. The church members were very welcoming and I enjoyed fellowshipping with them. The mid-week Bible study in Wickam was close to Point Samson and helped me connect with other believers, including a family who lived close to my house. However, I was not fellowshipping with believers from the Aboriginal community. I heard about the Pilbara Aboriginal Church in Roebourne which was founded by David Stephens, whose parents were sent by their church in Melbourne to pioneer work in Western Australia.

Together with their four children, they drove an old army truck to Jigalong to begin mission work. Jigalong is known for its story in the movie Rabbit Proof Fence, which tells the story of 3 girls who walked 1600 km following the rabbit proof fence from north of Perth to Jigalong. I had the joy of visiting Jigalong Mission with some staff of the AMS as part of our men’s group outreach and saw the remnants of this fence. More than 50 years ago, David started work among the Aboriginal people in Roebourne which led to a revival and the subsequent formation of the church. He passed on at the age of 89 in 2024. It was a joy to have met him.

At first, I started attending the Aboriginal church every other Sunday but soon it became my home church. It was a joy to become a brother to them. The Lord opened the doors for me to preach there one Sunday and that led to a new ministry of teaching the Word at the church. I enrolled for a distance learning program with CHARIS Bible College after coming to Australia. They had a Discipleship Evangelism series in which I helped with teaching the foundations of Christian faith and life. After a couple of sessions, the pastor asked me to teach the series 2 Sundays a month. This acceptance and favour were from the Lord. I was personally blessed through preparing and teaching God’s word. The members of the church became my brothers and sisters and were a source of encouragement as I lived and worked here. As the only Indian in the church, I never felt like an outsider. I felt part of the family.

“As the only Indian in the church, I never felt like an outsider. I felt part of the family.”

Working among Indigenous communities can be mentally and emotionally exhausting. They are faced with poverty, harsh living conditions, poor education, unstable family relationships and most importantly, a history of trauma and pain. The seemingly impossible situations and the vicious cycle of harm that is seen almost daily can be discouraging. I saw lives getting destroyed by being caught up in habits and friendships that they could not escape from. I saw church families lose their children to methamphetamine addiction. I saw the tears of mothers and men and women who were struggling to get out of the rut they were in. “Meth is more powerful than love”, said one man who lost his wife, children, house and job due to his addiction. What hope is there amid these? Are there any good stories?

Yes, I did see good stories. I saw them at the Aboriginal church:

• I saw it in a lady who was an alcoholic and got admitted to Royal Perth Hospital with septicemia. Over the past 1 year, I have seen the transformation in her. She started coming to church regularly and worshipping the Lord. Her face was radiant with the love of God.
  
  
• I saw another man who had a stroke because he was not adhering to his regular medication regimen. Sadly, this man ended up with complications in the emergency department. This man has an amazing testimony. As a young man, he was an alcoholic and walked into a room drunk.
  This was where he met a believer and committed his life to the Lord through this believer’s ministry many years ago. Many poor communities around the world are not used to the concept of proactive care and they do not see any reason to take regular medications when they did not feel that anything was wrong. The cultural and language differences at the hospital deters them and makes them reluctant to attend the hospital. This is what we saw in the slums of Vellore and the answer to this issue is not through purchasing more expensive equipment, but rather to focus on community-centred preventative primary care that keeps them healthy and so reduces the need for hospital presentations. Thankfully, this man is taking his medications regularly now and his hypertension is under control.
  
  
• Another young man who had young children faced mental health issues, financial issues and other challenges in his family. He has now moved on in life and is attending church regularly with his children. He radiates a hope for his life and future.
  
  
• Another lady who lost her driver’s license due to drink-driving has now stopped drinking and is attending church. The change has to happen within the heart. It is a blessing to see this in them.

The word which encouraged me through all these was Isaiah 61:1

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” (NKJV)

There was a conviction that Jesus was with me – Jesus the One Who delights in healing the broken hearted, setting the captives free and opening the prison to those who are bound. He empowered me by His Spirit, gave me wisdom and strength, kept me from getting burned out and guided me. I had a taste of His compassion and realised that without Him, I can do nothing. The need is so huge, the problems so complex – but so was the situation when the Son of God came to live on the earth. However, He was so focused on doing what the Father wanted Him to do and refused to get distracted or discouraged. I am learning that this is all He wants me to do – walk with Him and join Him in what He is doing.

I perceive two needs in this mission field in our backyard.

The first is the lack of healthcare. There is no public dental service in Karratha. The whole of Pilbara has one psychiatrist. With all the mental health problems here, there is only one psychologist in Karratha. There are visiting specialists who do a commendable job, but we need more. I have seen many sacrificially working hard to offer kindness and compassion to the people. However, there is a need for a network of primary care.

The second is the need for mentoring and strengthening of the church and believers here, in addition to prayers for them. They will need people who will consistently invest in them and care for them. A holistic mission that addresses the social determinants of health and provides whole-person medicine is needed.

As I write this, I have spent almost 2 years in the Pilbara and have less than a month to go before I return to India.

I carry with me the blessings of knowing these lovely people, even as my heart breaks as I think of saying goodbye to them. I will miss their fellowship, their simplicity, love, the food that we had (cooked in the traditional, healthy way with no oil) and their voice calling out to me: “Brother Sunil.” But I go with a conviction that the Lord loves them, and He will care for them. He who began a good work in them will bring it to completion.

I am grateful to the Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship of Australia (CMDFA) for standing by me. The weekly Zoom prayer meetings were precious. They made me feel cared for. I was not alone in a remote place; I had brothers and sisters who prayed for me and the challenges here along with many others around the world. God bless you and expand your work to be a blessing to many others.

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