“When I was about 12 or 13 years old, I read a book called ‘Ten Girls Who Changed the World’. This contains stories about ten female Christians, and the ones that resonated with me were set in rural areas. I soon realised that was what I was meant to do.”

Jess then completed her high schooling years at a Seventh Day Adventist college originally established as a missionary school. It was during her time there that she had the opportunity to be a part of a short-term missions trip to Rarotonga.

Jess has recommended to anyone considering serving in mission, to do short term trips first.

“It gives you an idea of what you want and what you don’t want before you commit to longer term. It really helps to prepare you for the longer term.”

Jess recalls the trip to Rarotonga as a life changing experience.

“The trip was amazing, but I soon realised I needed to be able to take a skill,” reflects Jess, “I considered training as a pilot. But I suffered too much from motion sickness, so that wasn’t going to work.”

She enjoyed science as a subject and when schooling was finished, Jess began studying health.

“By this point, I was going to try getting into medical school. If I got in, great. If I didn’t get in, it wasn’t meant to be, and I would find another medical profession to pursue” comments Jess.

Later, Jess was accepted into medical school and went on to complete her studies to become a doctor. During her studies, she traveled to Asia for a three-month medical elective. It was here under the guidance of a pediatric neurologist, that Jess made the decision to become a GP.

“He was the best pediatrician; however, he was on often call, fulfilling maternity ward duties and working in a range of areas, that his advice to me, was ‘go general’. I’m glad I took his advice on this.”

Despite Jess’s desire to return to the same hospital after her studies were finished, she also needed to look at other hospitals and soon learned of Mukinge.

“Potential placements and visas were going to be an issue at the hospital where I had been. But then I found out about Mukinge and how similar it was in operation and size.”

Jess has now returned to Mukinge hospital and settling into her second term of service. She is grateful for the range of responsibilities she has.

“There is such a huge scope of duties compared to what I have done in New Zealand,” says Jess, “I’m the head physician on female ward and the gynalogical ward. I’ve been on maternity call and assisted with c-sections in the middle of the night. And then there’s the non-doctor roles that I have covered, and I am also overseeing the food project at Mukinge.”

Jess has commented on her reliance on God as a deep source of strength.

“There’s a quote from Firefly, ‘When you can’t run, you walk. When you can’t walk, you crawl. When you can’t crawl, you find someone else to carry you.’ There’s a lot of crawling and there’s a lot of God carrying you through, but you get to the other side, and you look back and know you have survived!”

Her story of how God is moving at Mukinge, is a testimony to the transformation of lives through this hospital:

“As Mukinge is Christian hospital owned by the evangelical church of Zambia, Christ is in all we do. When a patient is healed, we tell them it was God, not the medicine which is often lacking. When the patient is not doing well, we call in pastors to pray and talk with them. Many times, I get to see written in the medical notes the patient gave their life to Jesus.”

Pray:

• Connectedness and active support from her three sending churches, Connect (Blenheim Baptist), Picton Baptist and Hokowhitu Baptist.
• Financial support to raise and for her vehicle to be fully funded (for Jess, this vehicle is a necessity due to the rural location of Mukinge – shopping trips are occasional and include up to several hours of driving!)
• Adjusting to changes at Mukinge hospital during her absence.