It was another long day, the brightness of morning progressing to the heat and humidity of late afternoon.
The rising second-year Campbell University medical students who, along with faculty and staff, traveled to Sierra Leone this past spring were tired and hungry, weary from the seemingly endless hours of travel, mostly slow and arduous in cars and buses.
No matter. Filled with joy, they couldn’t help but smile.
The students were in the Western African country to help people, however they could, echoing the mission of the Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine.
By the end of the two-week trip they would see more than 1,200 patients, count and distribute relevant prescriptions — many for hypertension — and provide some 100 pairs of eyeglasses, mostly to children.
Three of the students who made the trip — Abby Heims, Matthew Baker and Katy Whitman — talked about their experiences in Sierra Leone during a “show-and-tell” presentation at the medical school June 17.
Sierra Leone was the most recent outreach trip for the Campbell med students, groups of whom saw patients in Ghana, also on Africa’s western coast, last year. Med students this year traveled to Western North Carolina, where they helped people still recovering from the devastation left by Hurricane Helene. Campbell med students have touched people in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.
The med students serve patients in places such as Siler City, Raleigh, Dunn, Goldsboro and Durham. The med school regularly utilizes its mobile clinics throughout Harnett County and other rural areas throughout North Carolina.
Serving the underserved is the mission.
It, too, is a calling.
Dr. Joe Cacioppo, chair of Community and Global Medicine and associate professor of emergency medicine at Campbell, accompanies students on mission trips abroad. He knows the Campbell students are making a difference in the lives of the people they care for, even though it’s impossible to solve all of their problems.
They try, nevertheless, despite barriers brought by language or cultural differences. Patients are thankful someone is there not just to hear them, but to listen to them.
To care about them.
“All of a sudden these people come in … and sit down and really listen to what they have to say and listen to their complaints,” Cacioppo said as part of the “show-and-tell” presentation. “They really feel the affection that’s transmitted to them and imparted to them, and that becomes life changing.”
Sierra Leone’s history, though stained by civil unrest and political instability, is ensconced in the natural beauty of its coastline, its landscape and its rainforests. Its people.
Sometimes, Cacioppo says, he leaves a country or community wondering whether Campbell made a difference in people’s lives. As part of the overseas trips, Campbell works with nonprofits focusing on things such as education, faith and ensuring people have access to clean water.
“Going back into areas several months later, even several years later, I can see that there was a change from the (previous) visit. … “They’re holding us and hugging us and listening to what we have to say to them, that in itself, is life changing because, to them, they feel that, gosh, I’m really cared about. I’m really cared for. And that brings hope, and hope brings transformation.”
The trip began in Makeni, in the central part of Sierra Leone, and then moved on to towns and villages throughout the country and toward the coast and Freetown.
Anywhere they go, the med students carry with them hope and love, all the while changing lives, including their own.
Baker remembers the feelings of tiredness and hunger. He remembers caring for a patient at the end of a hot and humid day. He remembers realizing he should provide the same amounts of attention and care to the last patient of the day as he did the first.
“I think this is something that I’m going to carry with me for, definitely, the rest of my life,” Baker said. “Because I don’t know when they’re going to receive help again. I don’t know when they’re going to have somebody listen to them again.”
Sometimes, though, there’s little the student could do to help. But they listened, learned about body language and visual cues. They offered advice and suggested options and resources.
They prayed.
“I’ll definitely be taking away a lot from the power of prayer,” Heims said, “but also … generally really listening.”
Cell phones in the country are ubiquitous, even in the deepest part of the jungles and rainforests.
“They know we’re coming,” Cacioppo says, “and they know that we can be trusted, and things are going to happen. I can guarantee that they’ll go to that medical officer and they’ll say, ‘I need more of this.’ And the medical officer will make arrangements to get those drugs.”
The word spreads.
“We bring the love of Christ, and they see that, they feel that and they sense that.
“They come in with their heads down and with solemn faces, because they had no hope. And when they leave, they’re perked up, with big smiles on their faces, and you can see that there was a change there … and it’s amazing.”