BARTLESVILLE, Okla. (AP) — He's survived some of the toughest places on earth, witnessed extraordinary violence and endured half a dozen bouts of malaria. Kevin Turner has lived anything but a normal life, yet his mission remains steadfast.
More than two decades ago, Turner founded Bartlesville's Strategic World Impact, an organization that provides aid and relief to refugees in war zones and disaster areas across the globe.
"Most people say to me, 'You're from America, why would you ever come here?' They can't believe that I would risk my life to bring them hope. But the validity of our message is that we value them at the expense of our own lives," explained Turner. "Our ministry is about 'Jesus with the skin on' or ministry with presence. Whether they agree with us or not, they respect us."
The self-proclaimed born-again Christian is currently writing a book, "City Without Shadows," which describes his journeys of working in hostile conditions in nearly 140 countries over the past 26 years, the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise (http://bit.ly/1Fssapi ) reported.
Turner recently returned home last month from a trip to northwest Uganda, where after surviving two rebel uprisings, he came back to Bartlesville with the most dangerous type of malaria, plasmodium falciparum.
"I've had falciparum malaria twice now in the last 10 months. While it's the most lethal, it's also the easiest to treat. I ended up in the Jane Phillips Hospital for five days," Turner said. "I was quarantined for several hours until they had confirmed that I had malaria. I've had it twice in a year and it's really a double whammy in that it takes it out of you, but that's life."
And it's a life that Turner says he'll continue to live to the fullest. He has plans next to minister to the physical and spiritual needs of those in northern Iraq and Sudan, as well as in Uganda once again.
During the latest trip to the landlocked country in east Africa, Turner experienced the volatility of regional tensions that had erupted between Uganda and south Sudan. He was staying at a friend's compound that was sheltering 32 women and children who had fled the violence when it came under attack on two occasions.
Turner, along with two Ugandan policemen, were patrolling the perimeter of the compound at night when rebel uprising broke out during the latter attack.
"I'm walking and patrolling and all of a sudden gun fire opens up, and I'm diving, rolling and screaming and about four or five guys open fire on me with their automatic AK-47s. There's bullets ricocheting, I'm rolling and screaming, but by the grace of God, I never got hit," said Turner, adding that he also was being bit nonstop by mosquitoes.
"It was scary, it was flipped out. There's no doubt about that, but I've been in a lot of situations like that."
Indeed, he's worked in the world's most restricted and dangerous areas, witnessing suffering firsthand and encountering life-threatening situations. And on multiple occasions, he has been forced to run for his life as shelling and other attacks have taken place.
"I've been shot up by helicopter gunships, had my knee blown open and had two women running with me with their legs blown off and me splattered with blood. I've run for my life for days in the dessert. I never sleep with my boots off," he said.
Turner, along with other Strategic World Impact members, has also provided relief and aid to persecuted Christians and those in need in Eritrea, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Thailand and Burma, as well as from Indonesia to Chechnya.
The sight of human suffering took a toll on Turner several years ago in 2009, when he was diagnosed by doctors with post-traumatic stress disorder following his time in Kenya. The country's presidential election had sparked violence, erupting into a full-blown political, economic and humanitarian crisis.
He said that his team of doctors and nurses were headed into Sudan to provide strategic assistance kits for refugee families fleeing for their lives when trouble broke out in the city of Nakuru.
"Next thing we see is a huge, bloodthirsty mob with machetes, bows and arrows. People are running into the lobby of this hotel, trying to find safety. I had to get my team out, because the last thing I want is 17 people stuck in the middle of thousands who've decided to kill each other," explained Turner.
While the team was finally able to get to safety by driving out the back exit of a nearby game park, Turner said that situation, along with dozens of similar ones before it, made him "go into the bedroom, close the shades and spend three days in the fetal position."
"That was my first vacation off for about eight months, and I went to intense, intense counseling. It was tough. I wanted to die. I was having a normal reaction to an abnormal situation. My wife and kids went through hell and it was a family thing that wasn't easy," said Turner in regard to his PTSD diagnosis.
"My wife Tammy taught me about the sovereignty of God. The healing and restoration took place and all of sudden you go from realizing that serving God and even suffering isn't punishment but actually an honor. I embrace things in a whole other light."
Turner began his mission to bring medicine, food and relief to crisis situations around the world following his "profession of faith" in the late 1980s.
"I've been 138 countries and worked in all these war zones, basically anywhere from Chechnya to Iraq, Afghanistan, and northern Pakistan. That's from a guy who thought that a passport was a wallet to hold a credit card," he said.
From his experiences, Turner has been developing curriculum and training materials to equip both long-term and short-term workers for international assistance in war zones and complex humanitarian emergencies.
In addition, Strategic World Impact regularly hosts Disaster Assistance Response Training, which focuses on countries currently facing hostilities due to war or political turmoil. The conferences are geared for missionaries, humanitarian aid workers, non-governmental organizations and members of the military.
Attendees are provided with hands-on, specialized field training and experience simulated conditions often faced by many refugees globally. For more information, go to www.swi.org.
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Information from: Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, http://www.examiner-enterprise.com
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