Africa Cries Out Report 2023013 Senegal Medical Mission – Let us be blessed together

Author Dr. Zhao Rong,  March 2023

Thanks to God for giving me the opportunity to participate in this medical mission. I have been following this mission led by Dr. Xu for a long time. Since becoming a resident physician, I have had the idea of participating in a medical mission. Finally, after completing my residency training and obtaining my medical license, the COVID-19 pandemic ended.

This year is the first time Dr. Xu’s medical mission has a surgical team. At the beginning, I was the only anesthesiologist who signed up, and I was very uneasy psychologically, as this would be my first time going to Africa alone to practice medicine. So I prayed urgently to God, and soon Dr. He joined, followed by Dr. Wang. During the preparation phase, many commonly used drugs were not available. At that time, Dr. Jiang, who had participated in medical missions before, and Dr. Wang, both said that having the drugs for spinal anesthesia was enough. At that time, I thought they were very bold. Because it was my first time participating in a medical mission, I brought all the emergency drugs. Before each surgery, Dr. Jiang, the gynecologist, and Pastor Felix, who accompanied us, led the surgical team to pray for the patients. One of the sentences impressed me deeply, which meant “healing and saving people is not because of our own efforts, but because God has given us such ability.” This surgical week, we mainly performed spinal anesthesia or combined spinal-epidural anesthesia. Occasionally we used drugs to raise blood pressure. At this time, when I recalled the prayer before the surgery, I really felt that what we were doing was in accordance with God’s grace. As Philippians 2:13 says, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Thank you for God’s grace and power.

The surgical team is in the operating room in Senegal

The surgical team is at Pastor Felix’s house

The influence of volunteer doctors on the next generation

Before I came, I saw a lot of information about volunteer doctors. I was particularly impressed by Dr. Xu’s leadership of the volunteer doctor team, mainly because the activity also had arrangements for teenagers. Especially when Dr. Xu spoke from personal experience, talking about the changes in his own son before and after participating in the volunteer doctor activities. My child is in the teenage stage, usually indifferent to things around her, and tends to ignore them. She is the kind of person who wouldn’t even lift a finger to help if an oil bottle fell on the ground. This is also the main reason why I chose to participate in this volunteer doctor activity.

First of all, I was surprised that my child was willing to come. Because I had previously sent her to learn horse riding, and she did not like it because it was hot and there were many mosquitoes, which are basically characteristics of Africa. This volunteer doctor activity brought significant changes in my child. I was in the surgical group, living in the city, while my child followed the large team and lived at the base. On Monday morning, before 7 o’clock, my child sent me a text message saying that she had a stomach ache and vomited. I asked if she could still go to the leprosy village, and she said she could, without any problems. Then she said that another child in the same room had a similar symptom, so I asked her to go to the internal medicine team to see if she needed medication. I had prepared electrolyte drinks for her to prevent dehydration, and finally, she used them to prevent dehydration. She did everything according to my instructions, without any hesitation. This surprised me again. Before coming, I was very worried that my child would be intimidated by the conditions and mosquitoes in Africa and might withdraw. For this reason, I specially called Dr. Xu to communicate. In fact, even if my child was not feeling well, she was still optimistic about going with the large team. Thanks to God’s protection, she arrived safely at the leprosy village and was able to quickly recover and participate in the team’s work.

Another thing also made me feel that my child was growing up and learning to care for others and take responsibility. On the last day of Friday, she sent me a text message, saying that she was with Dr. Vicky (a radiologist) seeing patients. There was a young woman among the patients who said that she had been pregnant a year ago, and all kinds of tests showed that the fetus was no longer there, but she had not resumed menstruation, and she felt that the fetus was still inside her body. Due to language barriers, these fragmented pieces of information seemed unreasonable. Dr. Jiang, the gynecologist, was humorous and said that we were a dream team. The radiologist was seeing patients on-site, the teenager was passing on information, and the anesthesiologist was conducting remote consultations. Finally, with the help of Dr. Jiang, they decided to let the patient and the internal medicine team return to the base together, and the surgical team would examine the patient at the base. Although the information my child conveyed in the process was initially fragmented and illogical, I felt that my child was very concerned about this patient, and she tried various ways to help the patient. When she couldn’t figure it out, she immediately knew to consult a specialist doctor, and her actions were very methodical. It was very different from her usual indifferent attitude towards things around her at home. When I saw my child on Friday night, I noticed that she had lost weight, but there was confidence and happiness on her face. She also said that unforgettable phrase, “I will never complain again…” This sentence left a deep impression on me. It was Dr. Xu sharing his reflections on his child’s first experience of volunteering in Senegal. It reminded me of the words of Bible about the relationship between parents and children. Matthew 6:34, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” And in 3 John 1:4, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”

Youth are learning how to receive patients

Thanks to God, and thanks to Dr. Xu for his years of faithful service to the Lord. Not only have the people of Senegal been blessed, but also us, the participants.

Author bio: Rong Zhao, female, anesthesiologist at Jersey Shore Hospital in New Jersey.

Editor: Hui Liu

Editing Team: Liu Hui, Wu Hao, Guo Yuanchun, Duan Xiaohong, Cao Juanjuan, Grace Huang, Yang Zhifeng, Rachel Zhang, Daniel Xu