We don’t need more mission trips that do casual labor. We’ve got that covered. But there are certain types of medical personnel who are desperately needed; it goes without saying that the longer they can stay, the more of a contribution they will make. I will happily pick them up at the airport, and give them a warm welcome.

Let’s talk about medical mission trips to Africa. In my previous article I specifically stated that nobody objects when churches send people with specific skills to do specific jobs. I specifically mentioned doctors. Of course, we should do for Africans what they cannot do for themselves. The question then is: how do we determine what they can’t do for themselves?

There are plenty of Malawian doctors. There are plenty of Malawian nurses. The problem for Malawi is that they’ve mostly emigrated to the United Kingdom, where they get paid real wages. An English friend of mine told me there are more Malawian doctors in the city of Manchester, England, than in all Malawi. Certainly, medical mission trips from the US to Africa should continue, but perhaps African governments could do more about the “brain drain.”

I myself have seen a young Malawian get a new lease on life as the result of receiving orthopedic surgery from a visiting American. So if there are orthopedic surgeons out there who wish to come to Malawi, by all means, come on over!

On the other hand, general practice MDs on a brief trip would be of limited use. What could they do with patients who have cancer, AIDS, biharzia, and other tropical diseases? We have our ABC Community Clinic. Once we went on a trip for several days into a village, and we took the doctor from the clinic, an American, with us. He was overwhelmed. People had walked long distances to see the doctor, the first one most had ever seen. When we left, he had to leave behind a large crowd who didn’t get to see him. I asked him how it went. He said that for most of them, all he could do was give them iron pills for their anemia, which they all had.

Another problem is, the Enlightenment and the Scientific Age aren’t as predominant here as in the West. Recently, a lady who couldn’t walk on her own was helped into our clinic by her husband. Today we have a young American lady RN and a lady family practice doctor from New Zealand. They put this lady on an examining table. They did the usual preliminary things, checked heart, breathing, looked into her eyes, ears, and throat. Then she began to wretch. They expected her to vomit. She didn’t vomit; instead she coughed up three objects: a rock, a piece of plastic, and a note. They were dry, no saliva was on them. The note was a death threat written against her. Removing her blouse, they found a red cord tied around her waist, the sign that unbeknownst to her, an n’ganga (witch doctor) had placed it there. The nurse and the doctor briefly left the room, and when they returned, the lady had left without being discharged. These were Westerners telling me the story, not Africans. I imagine your typical American general practice MD would have freaked out.

At our clinic we have a dentist chair. A visiting American dentist can come and spend a short time doing dental work, and that would be a genuine contribution.

We have a husband-wife audiology team from Australia at our clinic. I think they’re the only ones in the country. We had a chiropractor, but he’s moved on to Oman. We have a once-a-week urologist, and a once-a-week ophthalmologist. We have a pharmacology department but no pharmacist.

Here’s what we really need: obstetricians. Our clinic has a lady OB/GYN from India, but I believe she’s the first that Lilongwe, Malawi, has ever had. We need a lot more. In this culture girls typically get married off at age 13 or 14, because their parents can then collect libolo, bride price. There’s not much in the way of pre-natal care, especially out in the villages where most Malawians live. The mortality rate for women giving birth is very high. My late wife once talked to a man in a village who said his wife was going to have to ride on the back of his bicycle to go to a clinic on a dirt road 25 kilometers away to deliver.

So we don’t need more mission trips that do casual labor. We’ve got that covered. But there are certain types of medical personnel who are desperately needed; it goes without saying that the longer they can stay, the more of a contribution they will make. I will happily pick them up at the airport, and give them a warm welcome.

Larry Brown is a minister in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, a member of Central South Presbytery, and serves as Professor of church history, world history, hermeneutics and missions at the African Bible College in Lilongwe, Malawi