Collegian Winter 2019

(cont'd from pg. 8)
An additional position she holds, however, is
central to Wendy's mission.
"Being a surgical educator to young Tanzanian
physicians was one of the primary reasons
for me to go and to remain at Arusha."
ALMC had been in the process of collaborating
with the Pan-African Academy of Christian
Surgeons (PAACS) to set up a surgical residency
program. Directed by board certified
surgeons, its mission reflects a gospel-centred
passion: “PAACS exists to train and disciple African
surgeons to glorify God and to provide
excellent, compassionate care to those most in
need.” (Paacs.net, 2019)
"Starting a surgical residency program in a
mission hospital usually takes about seven
years from first vision to first admission of new
residents. My arrival at ALMC by divine accident
in 2013 was a late (but crucial) addition
to this process," Dr. Willmore shared.
Wendy serves as Co-Director, faculty member,
and surgical educator of the Arusha PAACS
Residency Program. In 2018, Wendy had 10
students under her wing, all in various stages
of their surgical training. Three more residence
students will be added to the roster in
2019. Their residency spans five years of surgical
training which includes a Christ-centred
discipleship curriculum.
“Residents and their teachers work together,
eat together, study together, pray together,
and play together. Together they laugh and cry,
work through conflict, celebrate victories, learn
from failures, and respond to challenges. This
is an ideal context for Christian discipleship! It
is exactly how Jesus trained the Twelve. As the
disciples lived with the Master, they were constantly
learning…” (Paacs.net, 2019)
January 13, 2019, was an historic day for the
Arusha PAACS faculty and their residence students.
Dr. Wendy Willmore and Arusha PAA-
CS Co-Director Dr. Frank Madinda proudly
bestowed the academic hood upon their very
first graduate, Dr. Emmanuel Lema. It certainly
was a great accomplishment for the entire
team. Dr. Lema will continue to work at
ALMC as a general surgeon.
Dr. Wendy Willmore and her colleagues strive
to deliver compassionate care to those most in
need. They have many amazing stories: testimonials
of healing, the gospel message impacting
the lives of their patients, and stories
of the students' experiences, to name just a
few. There are simply not enough pages in the
Collegian to tell them all.
“There were...many adventures which she knew
to be true because she was in them herself…
To describe them all would require a book as
large as an English-Latin,
Latin-English Dictionary,
...the most we can do is to give one as a
specimen of an average hour on the island.”
After discovering all that the Wendy lady does
on the medical mission field, you can’t help
but laugh when reading Dr. Wendy’s “Prayer
Points 2019” in her December 2018 newsletter.
Number 5 on her list: "Figuring out what to
say no to.”
(Oh, yes…she also leads
worship at her church,
preaches occasionally,
and is learning to speak
Swahili).
Wendy will be on furlough
from April through to August
this year - her longest
in the six years since she's been
in Tanzania. She'll be resting, enjoying time
with family and friends, visiting donors, and
doing speaking engagements during her time
in Canada and the U.S.
Dr. Wendy sincerely appreciates your prayerful
consideration and support in partnering with
her in the work that God is doing through her
in Tanzania. To find out how you can donate,
volunteer, or to pray, visit Dr. Wendy’s website:
https://www.drwillmoremissionary.com
“O Wendy lady, be our mother.”
“Ought I?” Wendy said, all shining.
“Of course it's frightfully fascinating, but you see
I am only a little girl. I have no real experience.”
“That doesn't matter,” said Peter, as if he were
the only person present who knew all about it,
though he was really the one who knew least.
“What we need is just a nice motherly person.”
“Oh dear!” Wendy said, “you see, I feel that is
exactly what I am.”
“It is, it is,” they all cried; “we saw it at once.”
“Very well,” she said, “I will do my best.
Founded in 1996, PAACS goal was to train and
disciple 100 African surgeons by 2020. This
dream is steadily becoming a reality. To learn
more about the amazing vision behind the
PAACS surgical residency program, visit their
website: https://www.paacs.net
Dr. Lema receives a graduation gift from Wendy
Dr. Wendy Willmore with Dr. Emmanuel Lema
on his graduation day
L-R: NCC Athletics Director James Kryger, Dr. Emmanuel
Lema, ALMC Hospital Director Dr. Paul Kisanga,
NCC President Scott Herron
"I think that I learned my love of teaching and educating the next generation
from Christian faculty like those at NCC"
Dr. Wendy Willmore