“Ping!!!” announced my phone in the dark as I lay sweltering under my mosquito net in the sub-tropical heat.It was a text from David Galloway.“Johnny, where are you?” it read.

“I’m currently in Tanzania helping pilot a medical training course.Where are you?” I replied.

“At Chitokoloki in Zambia visiting David McAdam.You really need to get yourself out here…”

That initially surreal but now surprisingly modern experience of having a real-time text-conversation while in remote regions of the world has stayed with me - as has David’s keen interest in the work at Chitokoloki.

Being a surgeon, David's stories naturally gravitate to surgical care in the chaos to which a mission hospital tries to bring to sense and order. As anyone who has visited Chitokoloki, or any other similar mission hospital, can attest to the medical stories told are not rare ‘cases’ curated for “wow!” factor but are genuinely typical stories of people who daily come through the doors of a mission hospital in desperate need of help and compassionate care.Making sense in the chaos therefore requires more than expert use of a scalpel, or the seemingly indefatigable resilience shown by the long-term workers, but a pastoral heart that tends for the spirit, soul, and body of those in need.The quote attributed to Sir William Osler is most germane “The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease” and David shows how this is borne out at Chitokoloki.

From the Foreword by Surgeon, Jonathan Hannay 

In the print version of the book there are many black and white images. The full colour versions are found in the gallery below. Depending on your connection performance the enlarged images may take a little time to load.