My partner, Dr. Kiprono and I just returned last week from Zimbabwe,
where we traveled to take the second half of our fellowship examinations in orthopaedic
surgery for the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa
(COSECSA). The first half (the written
portion), we took in Kenya this past September and both passed. Hence, we were invited to the COSECSA annual
meeting in Zimbabwe for the oral exams, which consisted of eight, 20-30 minute
stations in which we examined live patients and were asked a myriad of
questions to test our knowledge.
In short, Kiprono and I both passed and are now Fellows in the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa. Additionally, during the COSECSA general
council meeting, Tenwek was fully approved and accredited for higher fellowship
training in orthopaedic surgery. So
along with approval by PAACS, the Medical Education Committee and the Board of
Governors at Tenwek, and now COSECSA (with
accreditation and fellowship), what this all means is that our residency is officially
a FULL GO!! Tenwek will have the first ever
PAACS affiliated-COSECSA accredited orthopaedic residency program in Africa! Glory to God!
Now all we need are residents (trainees) to fill the first
two positions! As such, this Friday, we
will be holding interviews for our first class of residents, and we are praying
for God to provide a strong pair (academically, emotionally, spiritually and
physically). The program will be five years
in length and so when fully-filled, we will have 10 residents in orthopaedic
surgery. Without
outside funding or corporate sponsorship, we will need to raise the funds to
sponsor these residents-in-training. Because
of our affiliation with PAACS, residents who are sponsored for training at
Tenwek will "give back," year for year, at the end of training, working in areas
of most significant orthopaedic need in Africa.
If you would like to become a part of training African Orthopaedic
Surgeons for Africa, please join our team and help sponsor a resident (www.wgm.org/orthofund). Training each resident costs about $20,000
per year.
When I returned home last week, I told Levi and Claire that my
prize for passing my fellowship exam in orthopaedics was 6 billion dollars. Wide-eyed, Levi shouted something about being
a billionaire and buying an airplane. I then
pulled out my wallet and extracted two crisp bills, one for 5 billion dollars and
the other for 1 billion dollars, and gave one to each child. Confused that these bills didn’t look like typical
American cash, I explained that these were Zimbabwean dollars, and not worth
much (I purchased both bills as a souvenir for 1USD). Cruel, perhaps…but also a good lesson in the
value of money, inflation, and things eternal which all the money in the world could never
buy.
Thanks for your ongoing prayers and support of our
family! We are privileged to serve with
you at Tenwek Hospital in Kenya.
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