Don't Let the Goats Eat the Loquat Trees: The Adventures of an American Surgeon in Nepal

by Thomas Hale

Overview

Thomas Hale writes about being a missionary surgeon in the same delightful way James Herriot writes about being a country veterinarian. Dr. Hale's incredible experience in tiny, mountainous Nepal are surpassed only by his talent for telling about them. Imagine, for example, the culture shock of moving to a Hindu country under such rigid religious control that it is not only illegal to proselytize, but illegal to change religions as well. Imagine further the shock of moving to that country as a missionary doctor. Thomas Hale and his wife, Cynthia, also a physician, too on that awesome challenge in 1970.God wasted no time teaching tom the peculiarities of his new culture. But His unusual method left Tom wondering what God was up to. Here is how Tom tells about it:"These were not the phlegmatic, easy-going Nepalis described in books and orientation courses. Those who spoke gesticulated fiercely. Some looked around menacingly; others spat. One thing was certain, however: in the cause of their anger they were united. The word was out: the new doctor had killed a cow. My own sense of participation in the proceedings was intense. I was the new doctor."--ExcerptAs Tom goes on to describe the events the preceded the angry scene in the Nepali village, the image of the spiritually superior missionary quickly evaporates. In a humorous, yet deeply insightful way, the author makes it clear that he is merely a servant, using his skills to the glory of God.Tom concludes this chapter with a thoughtful confession:"In the long run, that cow did much more for me that I did for it. The mild-mannered, uncritical beast made me see in myself those negative attributes I had always ascribed to other American surgeons. Facing two hundred angry men proved to be effective therapy for removing most traces of condescension with which I previously regarded them. It also improved my relations with missionary colleagues and with Nepali brothers and sisters in the church. I guess God had no gentler way of removing some of my imperfections. I only wish I could say, for His trouble, that He finished the job. But it was a start." -- Excerpt.Dr. Hale's book refused to be preachy or condescending. It presents missions as a "want" rather than an "ought." It is sensitive, warm, honest, incredibly funny, and filled with important truths illustrated from unusual and sometimes unimaginable situations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780310877585
Publisher:	HarperCollins Christian Publishing
Publication date:	12/19/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	298
Sales rank:	849,077
File size:	5 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

In 1970, Thomas Hale and his wife, Cynthia, went to Nepal to work for their first twelve years at a rural mission hospital in the village of Amp Pipal. Subsequently they moved to Kathmandu, Nepal's capital city, where they have continued their work with the mission. Recently Cynthia took a position as an associate professor at Nepal's only medical school, and Tom has written a one-volume commentary on the New Testament, first in Nepali and subsequently in English for translation into other languages.

Read an Excerpt

chapter one
Scrap Metal
A few months before I completed my duty as an army surgeon, Cynthia and I began the hectic business of outfitting ourselves for Nepal: sleeping bags, kerosene heaters, step-down transformers, kitchenware, tools, refrigerator, washing machine, typewriter, a five-year supply of clothes in increasing sizes for two growing boys (ages one and four), five years of Christmas presents---everything, it seemed, but a toilet seat. (Cynthia's mother would bring that the following year.) Nothing was available in Kathmandu we were told, and if it wasn't available there, we reasoned that it certainly wouldn't be available anywhere else in Nepal. We packed everything in large drums. For padding we crammed rolls of toilet paper (which supposedly wasn't available in Kathmandu either) into the empty spaces, two huge cartons of it purchased at bargain rates from the army PX. I can still recall the wide-eyed girl at the PX checkout counter staring at our pile of goods, then at us, then back to the pile. Why did we need eight different sizes of children's shoes, all at one time? And enough toilet paper to last a company of men six months? What were we going to do with the stuff---go into the retail business? There were regulations about that sort of thing. We explained that we were going to a very remote area where these items weren't available, and she told us there was no place so remote that it wouldn't have a PX. We said we weren't going to be with the army, which only confirmed her suspicions that we were into something illegal---or that we at least were abusing the system.
Finally we were rescued by a senior clerk who had read in the bulletin of the base chapel about our going to Nepal. 'No problem,' he said cheerily, helping us carry our purchases outside. The toilet paper cartons were too big to fit inside our Volkswagen station wagon, so we had to tear them open in the parking lot and throw the rolls in one by one. We got everything home in just two trips.
Two months before our scheduled departure for Asia, a letter came from the United Mission to Nepal saying we had been assigned to a small fifteen-bed hospital located out in the hills, a day's journey from Kathmandu. The hospital was still under construction. There wasn't even a road to it. We would have to fly to a grass landing strip and then hike six miles up a mountain.
Cynthia was stunned. This was more than she had bargained for. Since we were both highly trained, certified specialists---Cynthia in pediatrics and I in general surgery---we had assumed we would be assigned to the big 125-bed mission hospital in Kathmandu. It was the second largest hospital in the country, located in a large palace once used by Nepal's ruling family. There we reasoned we would be able to put to use a good part of our training. But what were we going to do in a tiny, ill-equipped rural outpost?
The letter put an end to Cynthia's long-cherished visions of missionary life in Kathmandu: the open and tastefully furnished home; the opportunity to entertain educated and influential Nepalis---perhaps even royalty; the piano concerts; an elegant but not extravagant wardrobe; the chance to use her silver service (a wedding present as yet unused, saved especially for Kathmandu). After all, the upper classes needed God as much as the poor. But suddenly all those visions were swept away and replaced by a crude mud-walled house, where our neighbors would be illiterate and unkempt hill people. Cynthia made her biggest adjustment to life in Nepal right then and there.
For me, on the other hand, the challenge of a pioneer situation and the chance to rough it held great appeal. But it created another problem: What was I going to do for surgical instruments? A surgeon is helpless without instruments, and I didn't own even a pair of forceps. Under normal circumstances, hospitals provide whatever equipment a surgeon needs, but certainly this tiny rural hospital wasn't going to provide any. I had spent the past twelve years learning to be a surgeon, and here I was being put in a place where I would be unable to do what I'd been trained for. I saw myself spending the rest of my professional career treating runny noses, colicky babies, worms, and the itch---all cases that paramedicals were perfectly competent to handle. Twelve years of training and experience down the drain.
And so Cynthia and I found ourselves chafing at what we later would recognize was our first lesson in missionary life: Be prepared for a comedown. Being asked to do something other than we were trained for was not what bothered us so much; it was being asked to do less. We learned what every missionary must sooner or later learn: If it's job satisfaction you expect, forget about being a missionary.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS introduction The Road to Nepal one Scrap Metal two Amp Pipal three New Doctor on Trial four A Matter of Character five A Matter of Adjustment six Modern Medicine Comes to the Hills seven Krishna eight The Doctor Knows Best nine Favorite Bus Rides ten Govinda Devkota eleven Nirmala twelve The Flood thirteen Administrative Capers fourteen Discipline fifteen Demonstrations and Strikes sixteen Tila Kumari seventeen Maya Gurseni eighteen Shaktaman Ghale nineteen Not Enough Money twenty Too Much Work twenty-one An Abundant Life afterword Five Loaves and Two Fish