A Medical Missionary's Life in the Congo
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Community : Bradford West Gwillimbury
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Description : A Medical Missionary's Life in the Congo
Editor's note:
Dr. Jim Evans is the son of Bradford lawyer C.T.S. Evans and is currently serving with the United Church of Canada's Institute Medical Evangelique in the Republic of the Congo.
Jim and his wife will be writing to The Witness periodically on his experiences in the Congo.
Dear Friends,
We are somewhat uncertain as to how we should formulate our first circular letter as a married couple. Since many of you know only one of us, we feel that some sort of introduction is called for. Thumbnail biographical sketches will be unnecessary for some of you and inadequate for many of you. But they seem to be our only alternative for this kind of letter so we hope that you will understand.
Jim's home is Bradford, Ontario where he lived until he entered the University of Toronto. There he gained his medical degree and completed a year's internship. He then went to British Columbia to work in a home mission hospital of the United Church of Canada. After two years there he had a marked change of scene by going to Congo for four months. Upon his return he "dabbled" in theology for a year and then took a year's surgical residency in Vancouver. It was during the later experience that he decided to return to Congo. Thus, as an appointed missionary of the United Church of Canada, he took a tropical medicine course in Belgium and arrived in Congo in 1965. Three and a half years in Africa were not only quite interesting, but provided Jim with an opportunity to assess the needs. During an extended furlough he took various refresher courses and completed a Master of Public Health program at John Hopkins University in Baltimore. This new experience and knowledge should be helpful as he now oversees the Public Health program here at I.M.E. (Institute Medical Evangelique).
The ship docked in Baltimore on July 29 and it was exactly one month later that we were married. The first week back was spent with Jim's family in Canada and at the end of that time Jim's brother, Bob, was married -- two family weddings in one summer! Then Patty began a very busy but happy three weeks at home in California seeing family and friends after a year's absence and finishing up wedding plans.
Short Honeymoon
Our wedding was as meaningful and happy an occasion as we could have hoped for. All of our family and friends who were able to share this experience with us made it all the more special. For those who could not come, we wish we could tell about it in detail but there just is not enough space.
After a "mini honeymoon" of two days, we returned to pack our possessions and make arrangements necessary to enable us to leave a week and two days later! It was a hectic time but somehow everything was accomplished and we left Covina September 10, spent a day and half in Seattle seeing many of Patty's friends and family there, another day and a half in Toronto and Bradford, and on September 14, left for a two week honeymoon in Scandinavia.
What a wonderful two weeks that was! We spent the longest time in Norway where the scenery was spectacular. We traveled by plane, steamer, and train, thus getting a variety of views of many areas. We stopped in Stockholm for a couple of days and ended our Scandinavian visit in Copenhagen which is, indeed, the charming city it is reputed to be. This stay in Denmark included a trip to the Hans Christian Anderson country which was one of the highlights of our two weeks. September 29 we began the trip to Congo which included a planned layover in Brussels of eight hours and an unplanned layover in Geneva of six hours due to technical problems and the strict security measures. Were we ever happy to arrive in Kinshasa! We were happier still to arrive at I.M.E. which is now our home! After our many travels over the last year we were eager to settle into one place.
Like Home
We have been here six weeks now and, indeed, it does seem like home. Jim is very busy in the public health program for even as current programs continue, the public health team is evaluating the direction in which it is moving and potential opportunities for contributing further to the rural health program of this region, as well as public health interests here on the I.M.E. grounds, Jim is teaching two courses in the school of nursing in addition to taking his share of night calls for the hospital.
Parry has been quite busy as she supervised the painting of the interior of the house after our arrival and is presently doing those final touches to make it look like home. She is discovering the challenges of keeping house and cooking where there is no hot water (although now there is running water all day since the rains started), where there is the constant battle with the bugs, where all water must be boiled before drinking, where doing the laundry is not just pushing buttons on a washer and dryer, etc. One could go on forever -- but the important point is that such aspects of life do not continue to seem as inconveniences but rather become those things one just does in daily living. Patty is also making some progress in her Kikongo study as she attends class two times a week and tries to keep to regular study hours. Her best opportunities to hear it spoken so far have been on road trips when she has accompanied Jim. One trip was to a village with the public health team to carry on clinics, another to a village where T.B. patients were being followed up, and the third to a community health centre which was originally sponsored by I.M.E. and is now becoming independent. These have been fascinating trips as they have been opportunities to see some village life, to meet village people, and to understand better the physical, social and spiritual needs of the Congolese.
Hope
These are happy days for us as we are beginning our marriage, establishing our home, making and renewing many friendships, and joining in the effort to provide better health care. It is with the hope of helping to meet the many needs of these people that we have come; and we trust that our efforts, your prayers and God's participation turn our hope to reality, through our lives Christ himself will become a reality to those we encounter.
Especially, now as Christmas approaches, we are thankful for God's Gift of his Son and we want to take the opportunity of this season to share with each of you our wish that yours will be a most blessed Christmas and a very happy New Year.
Sincerely, Dr. Jim and Patty Evans
Patty Evans
Patty (nee Parks) spent her pre-college years in various California cities where her father has pastored American Baptist churches. She began her college days at Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington, and after two years there, transferred to Standford University to complete the work for her nursing degree. Following a year's work in Covina, California (where her family now lives), Patty entered a Master's program at the University of Washington. She changed the role of student to that of faculty member at the end of a year and taught in a coronary care program at the University. In August, 1969 she began the challenging and exciting experience of sailing on the hospital shop the S.S. HOPE as it made its 8th voyage -- this time to Tunisia. It was a full and busy year as she worked in the Intensive Care Unit and had an opportunity to learn about the language and culture of the patients and the Tunisian counterpart nurses. It turned out to be a year not only for new nursing experiences but also for travel as well throughout Tunisia and to parts of Europe. One of these times was to meet Jim in London for two weeks at Christmas which was, of course, a most happy holiday. The year in Tunisia ended on a delightful note, for Jim, on completion of his program at Johns Hopkins, was able to go to Tunisia to work with the HOPE public health team for the last five weeks and then sail home with all the other "Hopies".
