Dr. Mahvash Madni, a pediatrician, volunteered for three months at St. Theresa Mission Hospital in Nzara, South Sudan. As CMMB celebrates National Doctors’ Day on March 30, we express our gratitude for the extraordinary care provided by Dr. Mahvash and doctors worldwide. 

In impoverished countries like South Sudan, many children lack access to healthcare. Here, the mortality rate for children under five is among the highest in the world. During her time at St. Theresa, Dr. Mahvash treated children suffering from severe acute malnutrition and malaria—and provided the hospital’s health workers with guidance and inspiration to help more children lead healthy lives.  

In her own words, Dr. Mahvash shares her experience serving at St. Theresa. Please join us in thanking her—and all doctors—for their dedication to healthier lives worldwide.  

Dr. Mahvash’s Reflection  

Dr. Mahvash with health workers at St. Theresa Hospital

Surreal. This simple word is what comes to mind when asked to reflect on my three-month experience working in St. Theresa Mission Hospital in Nzara, South Sudan.   

Sitting on the flight back home, I asked myself, “What is the best way to succinctly answer the question that my community of supporters would surely ask me when I returned home: What was it like?”  

Instead of coming up with an answer right away, I trusted that the words would flow at their due time. And when presented with these opportunities to reflect each time I was asked, “surreal” is the word that naturally occurred to me.  

Being able to see the things that most people only hear about or see on TV or social media feels surreal.  

Meeting the members of a community that have undergone trauma, war, loss, and struggle feels surreal. Working alongside and becoming, for a short precious while, a significant part of their lives that brought them knowledge, friendship, and hope feels surreal. 

I felt honored to be given this rare privilege. These people entrusted me—a perfect stranger—to care for their children with illnesses like severe acute malnutrition and malaria. Health workers trusted me to teach them how to improve upon their skills. In exchange for pediatric knowledge and guidelines, they welcomed me and taught me about what it means to work without a break, despite the hot midday sun draining you of energy.  

Dr. Mahvash works alongside health workers at St. Theresa Hospital. On National Doctors' Day we celebrate their contributions to health.

I spent the summer observing the patience and quiet strength of the parents who silently pray for their children to recover.  They entrust the doctors to do right by them, so they can return home to care for the rest of their families. I’m so grateful for this lesson in faith and resilience.  

As I was preparing to finish my service at St. Theresa, I was determined to hold on to these experiences. But something more special than pictures and my own stories was needed to capture the essence of this community.  Something that could bring these stories to life and be an inspiration and an unforgettable lesson to not only me, but to anyone who listens. By the end of my service, I realized that the best way would be to invite those I met to tell their stories themselves.   

Stories like the one I heard from Bonface, the in-charge nurse of the pediatric unit, who was the sole survivor of a rabid dog that bit him and his four friends in childhood, will stay with me forever. There are so many other stories, like from Grace, whose work as a midwife is her greatest joy because it empowers her to be an independent woman who helps other women. Philomena, once a refugee, has run the only tuberculosis clinic in the region for over 20 years. Jackson, orphaned at a young age due to the war, hopes his work as a clinical officer is just the beginning of a long career restoring eye health to a community without access to eye care. These are just a few examples of the people that hold a place in my heart.  

Several members of the community told their stories best when I recorded them for my podcast, “Welcome to The Village.” Despite moments of sorrow and loss, their stories were still filled with hope and a passion for life that shines through and warms your heart.   

These stories ensure those at the heart of St. Theresa Hospital won’t be forgotten. We can continue to give them hope that CMMB and its supporters will work for them the way they work for their community. When I hear their voices again, I am brought right back to the smiles they greeted me with as I walked into the hospital—right back to the words they would share as I entered, “You are welcome.”   

These conversations remind me that although it seems surreal, I lived and worked with the community of St. Theresa Mission Hospital in Nzara, South Sudan.  It reminds me what I need to continue to do to support them and that it is, indeed, all very real.