Atoifi and me

The privilege of mission-minded nursing

Erin Raethel
Bachelor of Nursing student
Avondale College of Higher Education

Thirteen nauseating hours in a seemingly toy-sized boat. This is how eight of my classmates, our lecturer and I travel from Guadalcanal to Atoifi Adventist Hospital on Malaita in the Solomon Islands. The purpose of the two-week trip (July 3-17): to serve as a clinical learning experience in a developing country and as an introduction to medical-focused mission.

We fly to the Solomons with more than 170 kilograms of excess luggage—alcohol wipes, catheters, dressings, hymnals, paediatric wall stickers, shower curtains, stationary and wall clocks. The students in the hospital’s School of Nursing are grateful for the supplies and distribute them on the wards for immediate use. They’re resourceful, too: gauze and cotton wool double as feminine hygiene pads and cone-shaped fetoscopes detect the foetal heart rate like an ultrasound.

The only other expatriates at Atoifi are a Peruvian couple, Dr Elma and his wife, Angelica, a pharmacist. Dr Elma performs surgery only when the village generator is operating—9.00 AM-12.00 PM and 6.00 PM-9.00 PM. Outside of these hours, nursing procedures are conducted near windows or by torchlight.

Dressed in scrubs with Crocs on our feet, we nurse patients who’ve fallen out of coconut trees, contracted malaria or tuberculosis or given birth.

The local women prepare a regular feast for us—cassava, cucumber, pawpaw, tuna and watercress feature. We also begin drinking coconut milk like we drink water.

The continuous rain does little to dampen our spirits or drown out the harmonious voices singing praises at morning worships. Even on the wards, the nurses begin their day by having worship with the patients. Atoifi survives on prayer.

To nurse in a developing country is a challenge, professionally and personally—to witness how true healing comes from God, not from medicine. To nurse the vulnerable—whether here in Australia or overseas—back to health is a privilege.

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One Response to “Atoifi and me”

  1. Helen Pascoe says:

    This is so inspirational.