Beth and Ben in Malawi

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Beth and Ben in Malawi

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04/04/2026

"The Dutch endoscopy team" is legendary at Nkhoma Hospital. They have been with us the past 2 weeks, teaching residents, attendings, nurses, and other support staff all the intricacies involved in providing interventional endoscopy. They have been visiting Nkhoma every 2 years for almost a decade, bringing more equipment and expertise each time. Our team is taught how to properly clean and care for the delicate scopes, and any problems are fixed by their technician (maybe the most important role!). They are no frills and all service. We are so very blessed to have them as partners!

It reminds me of the ministry of Jesus as we celebrate Holy Week. He did not show up on Palm Sunday and peace out a week later when the big show was over. There were decades of preparation and years of discipling a few people, all of which led up to a few days which changed the world.

02/04/2026

Meet Mr Gwengwe, one of the many faithful workers in operating theater. He overseees much of the sterilization process and is often seen folding gowns to be autoclaved for the next day's cases. He is also inexplicably cheerful all the time, and up to date on the latest world news. He likely knows more about US politics than many Americans, and the same could be said for any other number of countries. I'm grateful and inspired by his service, his curiosity, and his ready smile.

01/04/2026

When elephants fight, the grass gets hurt - African proverb

The events in the middle east have global impact. Last week I spent half a morning finding propane for us to cook. Today, the price of fuel (petrol and diesel) went up again by 35%, bringing the equivalent price in dollars to $14.50 per gallon! 😵😵‍💫🤯😭 This is in a country where the average annual income is less than $600, making it one of the poorest countries in the world. People already have a hard time paying for a motorcycle taxi to bring them to the hospital when they are sick. This will make it far worse.

I pray for a peaceful and swift end to this conflict, as there are so many innocents suffering as a result.

27/03/2026

It's colorectal cancer awareness month! It's recommended to get your first screening colonoscopy at age 45, so any tiny cancers can be caught very early and removed. I was a couple years late, but today I finally got it done. Good for another 10 years! I'm becoming a regular customer at Nkhoma, but i know I'm in good hands!

22/03/2026

Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day.

The past 7-10 days has meant constant rain. For me, mostly annoying since I forgot my boots, so waded through the torrents to the wards and had to haul a branch out of the road to get home. But for many around the hospital community and Malawi, the rains have brought devastation. Houses washed away like these nearby, hundreds of electricity poles down, roads out, and a number of deaths. The hydroelectric plant is being bypassed to drain the swollen lake, meaning more power cuts everywhere even if the poles are still standing. Today, we are grateful the sun is finally shining and remember all those who are suffering from all this water.

16/03/2026

ACLS - advanced cardiac life support, is a standard course for doctors and nurses in much of the world. Not so in Malawi, where many of the medications and equipment involved are hard to come by. Our surgery and family medicine residents were lucky to be taught the basics of ACLS by two of their American counterparts, residents from the University of Kentucky, Lexington. I was conscripted to doing CPR 😄 Our patient tolerated that and several shocks like a champ 😜🫀💥💉

01/03/2026

Another first for Nkhoma and possibly Malawi - VATS: video assisted thoracoscopic surgery! We have been doing laparoscopy (camera in the abdomen) for several years now, but the chest is a new frontier with different challenges. We were very blessed to have the assistance of an experienced anesthesia professor from our supporting central hospital, along with their resident, to provide "one lung ventilation". In order for us to see well inside the chest, the lung on that side needed to be deflated while the other lung was used for breathing. This operation has helped confirm the diagnosis we were suspecting (which cannot usually be found on scans like CT or MRI), all with minimal pain and small incisions for the patient.

*consent to share images was obtained from the patient and participants

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!

Address

Lilongwe

Website

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

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