A year ago, I had never heard of Egbe, Nigeria, or ECWA Hospital Egbe. It was a Sunday afternoon in August when I got an email from Samaritan’s Purse asking for volunteers for medical mission trips. I took a step into the unknown and filled out an application to anywhere God wanted to send me! When I was a little girl dreaming of becoming a nurse one day, never did I think that God would use that profession to gift me the opportunity to travel to Africa and serve for two weeks in a remote mission hospital, but He truly arranged every single detail.
I admit that I had some mixed emotions leading up to the trip. This was going to be a big, solo adventure for me. I didn’t know any of my teammates other than email interactions and our introductory zoom call, and I had never been to Africa. However, I knew that if I backed out of this chance, I would forever regret it. I’m extremely thankful I stepped out of my comfort zone with this trip. In return, I received memories that I will eternally cherish and relationships that will always be dear to my heart.
Working in a hospital in a developing third-world country brings a learning curve with it. I honestly don’t think I know what I was expecting heading into the trip. I was just excited to be going! In US hospitals, we nurses often take many things for granted: air-conditioning, an abundance of disposable supplies, easily accessible drinking water, vital sign machines, reliable power sources, IV pumps, etc. In Egbe Hospital, the nurses often have just one blood pressure cuff and one pulse oximeter per ward. Intravenous medications are infused via gravity. The electrical power is unreliable after nine o’clock in the morning. Gloves are used sparingly. All these things considered, it’s amazing what God is helping Egbe Hospital to accomplish with its limited resources, and the Revitalization Project will only further improve its resources. God is blessing this ministry!
Since my team arrived at the start of Nurses Week in May, we had many opportunities to interact with the nursing and midwifery students, and they were such a delight! Their enthusiasm was contagious, and I thoroughly enjoyed talking to them about their pursuits to become nurses. I found ways that I could mentor both the students and the staff in better nursing practices, specifically regarding assessments of patients, peripheral IV care, infection prevention. The students especially were so eager to learn! If we had free time on the ward, I would gather the students and have them practice performing head-to-toe assessments. One morning, a nursing student came up to me and sweetly asked “so what are you going to teach us today?”. Most of the teaching I did was hands-on teaching while on the wards. Working alongside the nationals helps to build better relationships, which allows you to share your knowledge with them more easily. Some examples of various tasks I helped with were assisting students in giving a patient a bed bath, being an extra pair of hands while a nurse performed a dressing change, supervising students take vital signs, and performing post-mortem care. It was such a rewarding feeling to be investing into the future of Nigerian healthcare. Truly, I connected well with many of the students and hospital staff. Bringing them all candy at the end of every shift in the afternoon was a thrill. I relished seeing their faces light up when they saw me pull fistfuls of candy out of my pockets. My heart was captivated.
Fellowshipping with my teammates as well as our Nigerian colleagues was a highlight of the trip. I shared a photo on my social media one evening of us all gathered around the tables in the dining area with the following caption: “This is quickly becoming one of my favorite times of the day: just sitting around in the evening with my teammates, sharing our days and talking about our lives outside Egbe. Such good relationships are being formed with these fellow Christ followers”. The compound has many recreational options. We frequently used the tennis court for afternoon games of pickleball. and then, many evenings after supper, we played games in the main guest house, situating ourselves under the ceiling fans in attempts to stay cool. The team always had supper together, family-style. The felt comradery was wonderful. I had to hold back some tears the morning I left as our whole team stood in a circle and had a group prayer. God granted our team incredible unity, and the time together was just delightful.
Regarding our Nigerian partners, being in Egbe for two weeks allowed me the chance to get to connect with them on deeper levels. Sunday morning worship at the Chapel of Blessings both weeks was quite the lively experience, but it was one that I enjoyed immensely. The cultural experience of worshipping our God with my brothers and sisters of a different nationality is awesome. On Sunday nights, we ladies met with several of the hospital staff wives for a Bible study on the compound while the guys had their Bible study; it was a delightful way to end our Sabbaths. One of my last nights in Egbe, the medical director and his wife hosted our whole team for a grand dinner in their home. They had prepared an immense spread of delightful Nigerian and Cameroonian food. Several different countries were represented by our team around the tables that night, and the time together was sweet. I made dear friends during my time in Egbe, and I consider that a high privilege.
While in Egbe, I celebrated my twenty-eighth birthday. Some of my teammates asked sweet Kemi, the guest house manager, to bake me a cake. Their thoughtfulness warmed my heart and made the birthday one to remember. Probably one of my favorite memories regarding my birthday was when the staff and students on the male ward found out that my birthday had been recently, they threw me an impromptu birthday celebration. I believe I was sung to three times! I quickly learned that Nigerians love a good party! They ended our celebration with a prayer of blessing and told me to come back next year so we can do it all over again. I still smile when I think of that afternoon. The Nigerian people love well.
One of the busiest days on the female ward happened during my second week. We had two emergency situations happens simultaneously: one patient, initially diagnosed with sepsis, abruptly stopped breathing, so we started bagging her with an Ambu-bag, and the second patient, fresh from the ER, began seizing due to her high blood pressure. The first patient transferred to the ICU, where she passed later in the afternoon. The second patient remained critical. Before I left the ward that afternoon, one of the nurses asked me if I would go around with her to each of the patient’s bed and pray for them individually by name. Of course, I did! It was such an honor to kneel by each patient and speak their name and concerns to our Heavenly Father, and it was a good way to end a day that felt very heavy.
My last day in the female ward, we were caring for this same critically ill, unconscious patient with uncontrolled hypertension who was continuing to have seizures. It was completely heart wrenching to watch her start seizing and know there wasn’t much more we could do. Before we eventually transferred her to the ICU, I felt impressed in my heart to offer to go pray with her family members at the bedside. The family gratefully accepted, so I knelt by the bedside with her two family members, laid my hand on the patient’s arm, and prayed a prayer for both her and her family. Sadly, the patient did pass several days later, but I will always remember having that moment at her bedside.
This is something I can’t freely do as a nurse here in the United States, offering to pray for and with my patients. I believe this is uniquely special to mission hospitals. I remember one morning during rounds, one of the new surgeons prayed a prayer of thanks with a patient before he discharged. Another day, I was at the bedside with the nursing manager when she compassionately spoke to and prayed with a conscious but unresponsive stroke patient, just a few moments before the patient passed. Every morning, at the start of the shift, the nurses and students would gather and pray as they begin their day. The focus on God and sharing the Gospel with patients is beautiful.
My heart felt a myriad of emotions: sympathy for the older patient in pain, sorrow for the sobbing daughter who was shaking with grief after her mother passed, respect for the nurses and physicians who work with what they have at Egbe Hospital, soberness for the thought of the souls that are now in eternity, and joy for the opportunity I had to get to know and work with a phenomenal team of people during my fourteen days. My heart was full. My heart was broken. So many feelings and experiences. So many people that God dearly loves.
After my first day on the ward, I felt a bit disoriented and unsure of what God had for me to do in Egbe, especially since I’m a younger nurse without years of experience. I remember asking Him to clearly help me find my niche. Of course, I was fully convinced that He had brought me to Egbe Hospital for a reason since He had worked out the many details leading up to the trip regarding work schedules, finances, flight plans, etc. Later, about the middle of that first week, I believe He helped me find that niche: simply loving people and building relationships. So, sometimes loving people looked like rubbing a patient’s back during a painful dressing change. Other times it looked like letting a shy little girl twirl my blonde hair between her fingers. Sometimes it was passing out stickers to a sad and lonely pediatric patient. Other times it was just smiling at a passerby in the outpatient department. As one lady wisely told me upon my return to the US, “I think sometimes we worry too much that we’re not ‘doing’ enough on the wards, but I think that so often it is the interaction with the students and staff and developing relationships that have the biggest impact.” I’m confident she is right. Whenever we have the occasion to love on another soul that God created, that is an extraordinary honor.
This is what medical missions trips are all about: being God’s tangible, earthly, human arms of love and compassion to those that are hurting and sharing the peace of the Gospel when able. What a pleasure. What a responsibility. It’s both an incredible joy and privilege to share God’s love through medicine and friendship. This trip may have been my first visit to Egbe, but I dearly hope it won’t be my last. If you ever get the chance to serve at Egbe Hospital in some way, jump at the chance. Speaking from experience, it’s both life changing and life enriching.
Ashely, Nurse Volunteer
