When you see Dr. Eddah Ndabila, the medical coordinator for Medical Teams in Tanzania, dashing across Nyarugusu Health Centre with a sense of urgency as she skillfully attends to patients, it is hard to imagine she came from adversity.

As a child, Dr. Eddah struggled with severe anemia. This complicated her life and that of her family, especially because repeated visits to the doctors didn’t provide the answers that she sought. Rather than wallow in despair and self-pity, this was a turning point for Dr. Eddah.

With a broad smile and a finger pointing emphatically, she remarks, “I was treated by a doctor who didn’t give me the detailed information. I promised God that if you make me a doctor, I will give information that is detailed and I will look for information to share with the patients. So, from there I began to pursue my career, wishing inside me that one day, I will be a doctor.”

Later, when she joined university to study medicine, her desire to help patients was still fresh. In her final year, she pondered where she was going to work after school.

“Inside me, I wanted to work in a place where I can serve people in two ways. Where I can heal their health but also bring wholeness and comfort to them. I was looking at people who were hurt, orphans or people who have faced war,” explains Dr. Eddah.

Her dream upon graduation was to work in a refugee camp, so when Dr. Eddah came in contact with a Medical Teams advert, she was thrilled to realize that our calling — daring to love like Jesus, we boldly break barriers to health and restore wholeness in a hurting world — was in sync with her desire to help people who are hurting. Working with Medical Teams is the opportunity she desired.

Now, Medical Teams in Tanzania gives Dr. Eddah the opportunity to serve the people she desires to help. Indeed, God answered her childhood prayer to become a medical doctor so that she could help hurting people.

One of her highlights at Medical Teams is helping women who have faced deep trauma as a result of war.

“When I got this golden chance to work in a refugee camp, I met people who are sick inside and out (emotionally and physically). I met these women. I treated them. Most of them were hurt. Some had chronic diseases and had experienced rape. So, I got the chance to treat more than five of them. My hope is to see these people happy,” explains Dr. Eddah.

Certainly, when you see Dr. Eddah attending to long lines of patients, listening to them intently, and rushing from one emergency to the next, she is a lady on a mission — a mission to give health and hope to the hundreds of refugees who come to the Medical Teams health centers in Tanzania. She knows what it means to be sick and in pain, and this inspires her to treat her patients with love and empathy. Her story is a breath of fresh air and an inspiration, and Medical Teams is honored to be a part of Dr. Eddah’s amazing story of healing and wholeness.

Support Dr. Eddah and our efforts in Tanzania by donating today.

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Andrew Onapito
Communications Officer