Okanagan doctor taking her skills, and faith, to Togo

With her medical skills, Shawna Koehle will help heal the sick in Togo.

With her faith, the medical doctor can introduce them to someone who can heal them for all time.

Koehle is on her third trip to the tiny African nation where she can openly talk about her Lord to the hundreds of patients she will see

In Africa, things are done a little differently than North America.

The Christian hospital she is volunteering for is, by African standards, very well stocked. It has numerous supplies, but things are still done the African way.

For example, the men's ward is a large room where the patient's family simply sleep on the floor. Sometimes the patient does as well if they choose.

There is no shortage of patients, but while sharing one's faith at a medical facility in Canada is strictly forbidden, Koehle said those waiting in line for medical attention at the Togo facility are played scripture over the speaker system, exposing them to the word of God.

“I can pray with the people,” said Koehle, who has a family practice in Kelowna. “I can tell them about Jesus Christ.”

Koehle, who attends Trinity Baptist Church, travelled half-way around the world on a moments notice.

The trip is being organized through the World Medical Mission branch of the faith-based Samaritan's Purse. Togo, near Ghana, is just slightly larger than Vancouver Island. It is also considered a stable African nation.

The faith-based organization that runs the hospital had recently opened another one in the northern part of the country and were in need of doctors.

She was contacted and asked if she could contribute some time, and she readily agreed to help where she could.

To make things even more challenging for the Togo health care system, the country is nearing a national election and the state-run hospitals are on strike, meaning the privately funded facility is even busier than usual.

A general election is being held April 25, the day after Koehle arrives in country. But her focus will be on the numerous patients she will see during her stay.

“It's very challenging medicine because your resources are limited and I don't speak the language,” said Koehle.

French is the dominant language in Togo, but there are also numerous tribal dialects to deal with.

“The diseases you see are crazy. There are a lot of infectious diseases. A lot of the people who are just being admitted to hospital there, would be in ICU here,” she said, adding it is not uncommon to see comatose patients brought in on the back of motorcycles.

People in Togo tend to hold off on going to a hospital for as long as possible, meaning Koehle will be doing a lot of acute care, but also will have the joy of delivering babies into the world.

Typically, patients start lining up at around 5 a.m. to see a doctor.

“I will see about 200 patients in a day,” she said. “You are able to make such a difference just by providing basic medical care. I will be there for two weeks and I appreciate it won't make a huge difference, but it will give the doctors there a bit of a break.”

It will also give her a chance to grow in her faith, share it with others and take care of the least of these – just as Christ commanded.