Missions & Debt

People send us foods we can't get 

like Miss Vickie's Chips. 
Not always received as sold in stores.

I am inspired to write this post as we approach what can be the January financial blues. It’s that not so wonderful time of year where credit card bills arrive and chequing accounts need replenishing to pay for that “most wonderful time of the year.” I admit, this may be a pessimistic view of the holidays but if you read any newspaper you will see a plethora of articles about how to deal with the post-Christmas financial blues. I am reminded of the commercial “for everything else, there’s Mastercard.”

So what does debt have to do with medical missions?

I recall as a medical student and surgical resident wondering how would I provide for a family on a missionary income. As a current surgeon in medical missions, the donations given to us and processed by Samaritan’s Purse can be used for ministry related expenses (strictly governed by Canada Revenue Agency rules). Samaritan’s Purse does not take any administrative fees from these funds which is generous on their part! Things such as flights to and from the mission field, luggage costs, country visas (sadly not my plastic visa:-), language study, patient expenses and/or surgical equipment and projects can be paid for using this donated money.

As a missionary surgeon, our family also receives a modest stipend from Samaritan’s Purse which was recently increased! (and we are super thankful and grateful for this)

If you crunch the numbers though, to provide for a family of 5 living overseas, it takes a significant amount of work and organization to live within these means.

Our local market.
Eating local is usually healthier for
our bodies and our budget.

But hold on! You are living in the 10th poorest country in the world. Life should be cheap there shouldn’t it? 

Well, it depends if we want to drive a car, have electricity and plumbing, and eat occasional imported food like cereal or chips, tomato sauce or cheese. Most of the community around us does not live with these things and buying them is actually more expensive here than in Canada. For example, new vehicles are taxed at 50% and they are all imported so their base price is already more expensive than in Canada.

Another example is if we want to go to a grocery store bigger than a 7/11 (which is 2 hours away) we need to drive 8 or more hours. Its true, life is cheap for the average Togolese person, but most of us would not want nor could we live like the average Togolese and work 80hrs a week doing surgery, with no household running water and less than subsistence living.

So where does debt fit into all this?

I have owned the same pair of sandals for 10 years.
They have made 5 trips to Africa and this year
they found a sole-mate.

Julie and I both knew many years ago that to survive financially on the mission field we would need to manage debt wisely. Most single medical students today will finish residency with more than $150,000 worth of student debt often in the form of student loans and professional student lines of credit with a bank.

Upon graduation from residency, that debt needs to be paid. We knew our future missionary stipend would not be able service a massive debt. Most new doctors are forced to look for “high” paying jobs immediately after graduating to deal with this “debt” problem - especially if the bank of mom and dad is not involved or they don’t have some sort of prior savings.

So Julie and I created a plan when I started medical school and this is how it went. Julie would stay home to minimize our expenses. She shopped for deals, made food instead of eating out and raised our kids instead of putting them in daycare. In addition...

• We rarely ate out 
• We slept on a bed without a bed frame for many years
• We lived within our means at Christmas 
• We drove older vehicles
• We constantly re-evaluated and decreased our cell phone plans 
• We kept our chequing account balance low and any extra cash was placed against our highest interest debt
• We applied for grants, bursaries and student loan assistance
• We paid off our credit card balance EVERY month 
• We shopped second-hand for everything we could
• We bought refurbished technology
• We had staycations instead of vacations
• We planned family experiences instead of buying stuff 
• We chose a residency program based on lower housing prices so we could maintain an affordable mortgage. 
• Julie wore cheap jewelry
• I wore cheap cologne
• We prayed many times that somehow it would all work out in the end

Julie and I lived as minimally as we could because we knew missions would never be a possibility if we were slaves to our debt. We wanted to be able to serve in the mission-field as unhindered as possible. 

Despite all these efforts, we still graduated with substantial student debt. It was the cost of getting a surgical education in Canada but our debt at the end with a family of 5 was substantially less than most single residents.

The day I graduated from surgical residency in 2017. 

Julie is expressing her love of cheap cologne and

I am expressing my disdain at the cost of a surgical education.

Thankfully since being on the mission-field, we just spend less in general. You can’t spend money on a burger and fries when there is no place to buy them. 

For people interested in missions or supporting missions in general, my advice would be to start planning early. Be prepared for hard work and hard financial decisions. 

Be prepared to live counter-culturally. 

Resist becoming a slave to debt. Keep the end goal in mind and be wise with what you have been entrusted with - debt included.

We are grateful to our many financial partners who invest with us to serve on the mission field. One of our partners includes the CanMedSend Foundation whose mission is to help Canadian medical missionary physicians with their student debt. Thank you!

Jesh