"And that's why I'm a doctor..."

Written by Jessica M., 4^th year medical student, who is here for a month with her husband, Stephen.

Ty and W. at the clinic.

It was a quiet morning, and Ty had decided that little W could walk with us up to the clinic for morning devotions. As we sat down to sing though, we saw with delight that the baby we had been greatly concerned about for a week was back. We stopped what we were doing, and went into the exam room, and Stephen and I began to take off the gauze that we had applied the day before. The baby whimpered and began to cry. 

W asked “Daddy, what’s wrong with the baby?”

Ty looked down at W and explained that the baby girl had gotten badly burned.

“Awww, poor baby”, said W sympathetically.

He explained that she had gotten too close to a pot of hot porridge and that we were helping to take care of her and help her get better. 

As Ty held his own little girl in his arms, he gently explained to her “And that’s why I’m a doctor…”

His proclamation struck me with full force-What a profoundly true statement! Being here to take care of a little girl who got too close to a scalding pot of porridge is why we are in medicine. Being here to help her mom through the tedious job of caring for a badly burned infant and through the guilt associated with it is why we have come. We are here to extend compassion to those who are hurting and suffering, and to do it with Jesus’ love in our hearts and on our lips. We are student doctors so that we can one day be doctors, maybe the only ones within an hour’s walking distance in a community such as this one. We are here because Jesus cares about little girls who get burned, and old men with malaria, and children with wounds. He cares, and He cares through our hands at work, doing what we have been trained to do.

I am humbled at the talent we’ve been given, and the mighty reminder to invest it in our Father’s kingdom for his glory. May it be so!