James Maskalyk’s experiences as a doctor without borders offer so many parallel’s with theologians without borders. His story is worth hearing.
James is a Canadian doctor who went with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on a six month assignment to the different world of Sudan.
The experience changed him as a physician. It changed him as a person. The time in the Sudan opened him up to the horrors of poverty, starvation and sickness in ways he had not discovered through reading and lectures.
He reflects on the way he could offer to his patients in Toronto the best health care in the world while in the Sudan he had to do his best with the meager resources at hand.
He speaks of the challenges of the experience, the things he found most satisfying and the benefits.
On his blog, James offers this advice which resonates with teachers contemplating a short term assignment in a needy part of the world where the resources are slim:
“Get Involved! The most important step, of the many along the way, is the first. Start, then all of a sudden you’re on the road, and you draw it’s map as you walk it.”
Different Ways
To hear a 14 minute interview along with others who call in to speak about short term medical assignments, follow this link:
One Doctor’s ‘Six Months in Sudan’, NPR, 27 May 2009.
Read his blog: Six Months in Sudan.
Read the book that is based on his blog.
Dr Geoff Pound
Image: Dr James Maskalyk and his new book.