The journey took over 18 hours and we all arrived safely, all seventy-one of us, united by one goal: to bring the message of the love of Jesus Christ to the nation of South Africa.

Most of us had never to been to South Africa before, and if the saying about first impressions is true, South Africa has certainly made a great first impression on us… right from the airport.

It’s a well organized, welcoming, clean, bustling, richly stocked entity with a smorgasbord of people from every country you could imagine, of every race you could imagine.

An abandoned baby girl at Benedictine Hospital, Nongoma, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. Philasonde is seven months old. Her mother died at chilld birth and her father is unable to care for her. She lives at the hospital. (© Eunice Oluoch/2007-04-11)

We landed in Johannesburg (otherwise known as Jo’burg), got our luggage, walked over to the domestic airport and boarded another plane for a 70 minute flight to Durban. Durban is a port city on the southeast coast of the country.

From Durban we took a two and a half hour coach ride to get to Ulundi, a town deep in the heart of the Zulu Kingdom located in the province of Kwa-zulu Natal. The roads are good and we reached Ulundi, (the base for our first phase of the trip) before midnight.

Our group of 71 can be described with the following broad (and sometimes overlapping) categories:

• The medical team
• The prayer & ministry team
• The administrative and logistics team
• The children’s services team
• The communications team

Patients at Empliweni Clinic, an anti retro viral rollout clinic located on the grounds of Benedictine Hospital. (© Eunice Oluoch/2007-04-11)

The Compassion for the Nations Medical Team for the 2007 South African mission is headed up by Dr. Dennis Forrester, a family physician whose daily 9 to 5 usually finds him at Credit Valley Hospital, in Mississauga (Ontario, Canada).

Just like the other volunteers on this trip, he and all the medical personnel are using their vacation time and giving service to the people of Nongoma and Ulundi. They’ve come on their own volition; wanting to help and doing so by donating their skills and imparting their knowledge.

The medical team and where they work

1. Dr. Dennis Forrester, Family Doctor, Credit Valley Hospital, Mississauga, Ont.
2. Dr. Michael Padonou, Former Chief of General Surgery, Trillium Mississauga, Ont.
3. Dr. Janet Vickers, Family Doctor, Credit Valley Hospital, Mississauga, Ont.
4. Dr. Darlene Weekes, Anesthesia Resident, University of Toronto Teaching Hospital Group, Toronto, Ont.
5. Dr. Matthew Weekes, Dentist, Private Practice, Brampton, Ont.
6. Lorna King-Bobb, Surgical Nurse Practitioner, Trilium Mississauga, Ont.
7. Joan Brooks, Practical Nurse, Toronto Rehab, Toronto, , Ont.
8. Ruth Larmond, Neonatal Intensive Care Nurse, Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, California, USA.
9. Tammy Tenny, Neonatal Intensive Care Nurse, Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, California, USA.
10. Karen Bennett, Intensive Care Unit Nurse, Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, Ont.
11. Janet Burnside, Renal Dialysis/General Medicine Nurse, Credit Valley Hospital, Mississauga, Ont.
12. Taynia Wright, Dental Assistant, Scarborough, Ont.
13. Myrna Matak, Retired Personal Support Worker/Nurse’s aid, Chatham, Ont.
14. Michelle Matak, Critical Care Nurse, Trillium Mississauga, Ont.
15. Corlan Blisset, Public Health Nurse, Toronto, Ont.

Dr. Darlene Weekes, Dr. Matthew Weekes, Dr. Janet Vickers, Dr. Michael Padonou and Dr. Dennis Forrester at Benedictine Hospital, Nongoma, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa.
(© Eunice Oluoch)

Some of the volunteer nurses and medical assistants at Benedictine Hospital, Nongoma, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. (© Eunice Oluoch)