End of the World…and then a bit further

So it is a lot of travel logistics to get away from our hospital, but this month we got away to attend a surgical conference in Kenya. This conference is hosted by the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons, the program that supports us educate our junior surgical trainees. Our kids were excited to come along for the ride because many of their friends would be there from the previous hospitals we worked at. Even Julie was excited to go to a "surgical conference" as she could connect with other surgeon's wives... being the spouse of a surgeon let alone in a developing country is not easy.

There are lots of programs that are trying to impact the surgical deficits in Africa. PAACS has been training surgeons for 27 years. 

PAACS:

- has surgical training programs in 11 African countries (we represent Madagascar)

- has training programs in 17 mission hospitals across Africa

- accepted 41 first year surgical residents in 2023

- trainees represent 19 African nationalities

- has graduated over 140 surgeons working in 20 African countries

- has 25% women in training

We are excited about PAACS because of our combined vision to practically address the lack of surgery in Africa but also to train men and women to live out the example of Christ in their lives.

It has been such a joy to converse with people living in difficult locations, teaching surgery all around Africa. PAACS is also are working to improve surgical care in francophone speaking countries and 3 new surgical training sites were launched in francophone speaking countries in the last 2 years including:

- Madagascar

- Burundi

        - Togo

Interestingly Julie & I have spent time at all these hospitals and we are excited to see surgeons being trained in these sites. 

Our surgical trainees are learning many new skills at this conference including much needed ultrasound training by a team of Canadian physicians. Many volunteer surgeons and anesthesia staff have come to assist and equip trainees from all over Africa. We are really grateful for their commitment. I assisted by teaching chest trauma and some orthopaedics.

These young men and women surgical trainees are the key to impacting the dire surgical need across Africa!

We are also grateful for the 40lbs of cautery pens donated to our hospital from hospitals in the US. It is very difficult to operate without cautery and we are grateful for these critical tools which will accompany us in our luggage on the way back.

While all the hospitals represented at this conference are in hard to reach locations across Africa, our hospital in Madagascar has earned the prize for “the most difficult to reach” PAACS hospital.

We have been told that we live and work at the end of the world…and then a bit further.

We work in Mandritsara at the Good News Hospital because of our faith, because we believe in something more than this life. It’s why we can live and do what we do. We believe people at the end of the earth matter. We believe these people need good surgical care and we are committed to not just providing that care but also to training national staff to accomplish this when we are gone… 

All for the glory of our Lord…. Jesh