Beth and Ben in Malawi

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Beth and Ben in Malawi

We're Beth and Ben, a trauma surgeon and a psychotherapist. They are partnering with the Christian Health Service Corps (CHSC) as their sending organization.

Our mission is to build capacity for advanced surgical and mental health care in an area of great need, Malawi. Beth has joined the surgical staff at Nkhoma Mission Hospital outside Lilongwe and is helping in the development of an intensive care unit. This will allow Nkhoma to offer more complex surgeries to support a surgical residency program for future Malawian surgeons. The residency is under PAACS (Pan African Academy of Christian Surgeons) and started in January 2022. Ben is continuing his US based psychotherapy practice part time, as well as finding the best use of his diverse skills set which may be doing something else in the field of mental health or assisting in technology development. For more info on this and how to support our mission, please see:
https://www.healthservicecorps.org/author/stuebingadams/

To sign up for our newsletter, please visit:
https://bnbinmalawi.mailchimpsites.com/

23/02/2026

We're not just training surgeons. Like every PAACS program, we have a spiritual curriculum as well. After our study this week, we prayed for our newest resident, Dr Kandodo, and his new home here at Nkhoma. He's in for a challenging 5 years, but he is part of our spiritual family as we all grow together in faith and action.

22/02/2026

Getting sick can be scary. Being in the ICU with a mask strapped to your face and beeping machines everywhere when you're a Malawian child from the village must be terrifying. This little buddy was getting an xray to help us diagnose why he was having so much trouble breathing. Our nurses and family medicine team did the clinical heavy lifting. I played YouTube videos of Chichewa songs to keep him still and distracted. Shout out to Mizu, the channel with all these cute songs our patients recognize!

14/02/2026

Meet Mr Simeon, a patient attendant for surgical ward. He has worked at Nkhoma Hospital since the early '90s. This week in our department meeting, he raised the issue of some vital signs not being complete on admission, so he had nothing to compare with when taking vital signs in the ward and thought that could be dangerous for patients. He is absolutely right. When all members of the team feel free to speak up and address concerns, that is where the magic of good patient care happens! Be like Mr Simeon.

07/02/2026

So proud to be part of this study. Women face all kinds of difficulties in their paths to becoming surgeons, and these are not always perceived in the same way by our male colleagues. Now we are published in a major journal! Thanks to all the authors and participants for contributing to this important conversation.

24/01/2026

Scars tell stories. Scars are declarations of survival and victory. This man's scars are a testimony, and something very unique in a setting like Malawi. He sustained complex injuries in his chest and abdomen a couple months ago. During that admission, he underwent 4 major operations, several invasive procedures, had 3 or 4 tubes coming out of him, and was in the ICU for at least a week. We were not sure he would survive. We prayed. We brought him nutrition supplements. We persisted. So did he. This week he got his final operation to get his intestines back to "normal". Every day, he greets me with a huge smile and high five. He knows how fortunate he is to be alive and see his children grow up. "Ndi li ndi moyo" he says. "I have life" (Story and photo shared with permission)

Thank you to all those who support our work here and support Nkhoma Hospital in so many ways. We couldn't do this without you!

23/01/2026

Then there were 7 ... Nkhoma PAACS surgery program has welcomed our newest resident, Dr Chifundo Kandodo! We now have at least one resident in every training year, and will have our first graduate this December!

25/12/2025

Nkhoma Hospital was recently visited by First Vice President Dr. Jane Mayemu Ansah SC JA ( rtd). Merry Christmas to us and to all who celebrate around the world!

11/12/2025

Our visiting doctors this past month made it a family affair! Dr Andrew Chew (far right) and daughter, Dr Carolyn (next to him) were surgeons overseeing our general surgery residents while most of the faculty was away at a conference. And mom, Dr Sok Chew, helped out the medical ward! They are veterans of mission work in Africa, having lived and served in Ethiopia, Niger, Madagascar, and probably several places I didn't hear about 😄 What a blessing to learn from them! And they came all the way from Australia to help out 🦘🦘

02/12/2025

Happy Giving Tuesday! Nkhoma surgical team started off the "day" by still operating at midnight on a woman with dead intestines. We sure know how to celebrate 🥳 Our surgical training program is almost 4 years old and our first resident, Dr Caleb (above), is about to become a chief resident!

Thank you to all those who make this possible by supporting our family's ability to live and work here, or through other programs connected to our residents and Nkhoma Hospital. If you would like to send in a gift this season, you can text bbsa to 50155 (for those in the US) or go to the link in our bio. We use these funds not just to live but for any variety of things: extra nutrition for complex surgical patients, buying emergency medicines for sick patients, outfitting a guest house for visiting doctors, or supporting a student through nursing college.

23/11/2025

Quiet call weekend entertainment.... sew some curtains for the visiting doctors guest house, listen to the monkeys fight over mangos, and watch a lost cow wander by the hospital accounting department.

17/11/2025

Visionaries like the Drs Vaylann are a rare gift. Today we celebrated all they have given to Nkhoma, as they are moving back to Germany soon. In 2013, Dr Jens Vaylann came to Malawi and visited many hospitals, hoping to find the right one to someday host a surgery training program. Nkhoma Hospital was blessed to be chosen for the task, but it would take until 2019 for Dr Jens and Dr Eva to move to Nkhoma. He became the first full time surgeon at Nkhoma in its 100 year history. Together they recruited 4 more surgeons, myself included, along with other health professionals. In January 2022, the Nkhoma PAACS surgical residency was born. We will graduate our first resident in one year. Dr Jens has served as our chief of surgery and PAACS program director. Dr Eva has served in our lab and in training lab professionals across Malawi in sustainable quality improvement. We are sad to see them go. We are also honored they chose Nkhoma to invest their toil and love into. Tonight was a beautiful ceremony of speeches, gifts, and prayer, as we thanked this precious family for all they have done.

🇲🇼🇩🇪🫱🏿‍🫲🏽🏨

11/11/2025

Today I want to brag on my work bestie, Dr Wanda Lam. This brilliant and dedicated woman is now program director of our surgical residency, among many other hats. She is an excellent teacher and surgeon, taking on cases that would strike fear in the hearts of many of us. A couple examples: this 10 month old with something called intussusception, requiring emergency removal of part of the intestine. And this lady with a massive thyroid goiter. This surgery is extremely difficult and dangerous, even life threatening. Dr Lam's preparedness and caution resulted in a safe and successful operation, teaching our residents valuable skills and saving the patient's life. *all photos posted with permission

And even though I'm not a cat person, I have to thank Dr Wanda's cat for his emotional support role 🐈‍⬛😄

Address

Lilongwe

Website

https://www.healthservicecorps.org/staff/beth-stuebing-ben-adams/

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