hen Emmanuel  Bessay lost his infant brother, Sojo, to measles in 1981, deciding his future in life was a no-brainer. Bessay, now 36, says his brother’s death made his decision to become a doctor so much easier.

 

RURAL INITIATIVE

“My goal in life is to work as a surgeon and a researcher in one of Liberia's rural hospitals, and attempt - in any way possible - to help rebuild the devastated health infrastructure of my country.” Emmanuel  Bessay, Phd.

“Without knowledge and insight into medicine and diseases, I was confused as to why my family and the medical personnel of my hometown could do nothing to save his life. It was this heart-breaking experience that ignited my determination to become a medical doctor in order to one day help people in my community.”

 

That community was in Buchanan where Bessay grew up and where his father, Samuel, worked for LAMCO, which at the time had one of the best hospitals in rural Liberia. “I noticed that a lot of young children died from measles and I couldn’t understand why in the midst of qualified physicians and nurses so many kids were dying. So I decided that one day when I grew up, I would become a medical doctor,” says Bessay.

 

The dream has been a lifelong one for Bessay, who was born and raised in Grand Bassa County. The young doctor this year received a Ph.D. in Molecular Physiology and Biophysics from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. Bessay, also a first year medical student at Northwestern University School of Medicine. Bessay, is a product of St. Peter Claver High School in Lower Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, and Sewanee: The University of the South where he did his undergraduate studies culminating in the B.Ss degree. 

 

 

Dr. D. Elwood, a Professor at the University of The South, in Shawnee Tennesse, who had a small part in bring Bessay to the U.S.  says the young doctor is one of a growing number of emerging Liberian talents to emerge after the civil war. “Out of the ashes of civil war is emerging, at home and in the Diaspora, a corp of professional Liberians focused on their professions and prepared to bring the benefits of science and technology to truly re-launching the Liberia enterprise. Dr. Bessay is without doubt a prominent member of that incipient crowd. Already a trained scientific researcher, he is now training as a physician and simultaneously launching a medical enterprise directed at rural Liberia. In his person one sees clearly an image of the future Liberia.”

 

Paging Dr. Bessay – Eyeing rural health program for homeland

 

 

WAR IMPACT ON PROFESSION

"I often found myself in numerous situations where I was called upon to apply the knowledge and experience acquired during my years at the Holy Family Clinic. But while the sense of being helpful was rewarding, I knew that I was not competent enough as I lacked the skills and Knowledge to assist with many of the cases. And this only reinforced my resolve to become a medical doctor.” Emmanuel  Bessay, Phd.

Despite his medical sojourn, Bessay spent much of his high school years in Liberia, at the beginning of the Liberian Civil War.  “Because of the war, I was unable to acquire college credits immediately after graduation from high school, although I was admitted to the University of Liberia College of Science and Technology and attended classes for about six weeks.  However, during the war, I volunteered my services to the Holy Family Clinic, a private hospital.  It was during this period (1990-1993) that my interest in medicine was heightened.  I also worked for the Baltimore (MD, USA)-based Catholic Relief Services that was distributing relief supplies to the displaced and impoverished Liberian population,”

 

As he completes his first year as a medical student at Northwestern University School of Medicine, Bessay is contemplating giving back to his homeland with a plan he hopes will help alleviate some of the handicaps in Liberia’s health sector.

 

Originally, when JFK was set up, the plan was that it would serve as the central hospital for the rest of Liberia and the county hospital would serve as a base that would receive cases from JFK. However, that has fallen apart or abandoned for a number of reasons. One of which is mismanagement and lack of funds. Thus, Bessay says one of the things that is contemplating doing was perhaps starting a rural clinic. “The way I envisioned it and how I’m thinking about doing it is to start off small. So one of the plans I have initially is to go to Liberia this summer perhaps sometime in July and look around and identify an area to launch the program. The area I have in mind right now is Buchanan because from there my aim is to target the southeastern counties,” Bessay says.

 

For now, Bessay says he wouldn’t be there but hopes to liaise with nurses on the ground who would then run it and my role will be to facilitate the process which would include going on fundraising campaigns in a bid to generate support for the clinic so by the time he completes medical school, he would be able to return home and commence work on the program fulltime.  “If the clinic is successful my hope is that by the time I’m done with medical school and my residence training, I can go back and hopefully we can upgrade from a clinic to a hospital. Again, the goal is to have a medical center that would target the rural population.”

 

“One of the things we do here at Northwestern University School is students and doctors work in a developing country where they devote one to two weeks of their time. So my thing would be that Liberia can take advantage of something like that kind of volunteer service. So if we have a clinic in Grand Bassa we would have residence who would be willing to go to Liberia to spend some time with patients. It is a good thing because when these people go they fund their own trip and also try to take medicines and medical supplies along. So this is one way Liberia can benefit from this.”

 

Brain drain a pain for many African nations

 

Graduating this summer? We want to tell your story and your plans to give back to Liberia. Send ideas, interest or submission to editor@FrontPageAfrica.com

Like most of Africa, Liberia lost many of its citizens to fourteen years of civil war. Families who sought refuge in several parts of the world are now using their skills to benefit their host nations - a factor which is contributing to the slow pace of development. According to estimates by the International Organization for Migration, the continent was already losing in excess of 20,000 skilled individuals per year in the decade of the 90s. This loss of human capital continues to negatively impact the continents ability to nurture autonomous development, given that the brain drain tends to apply more to the professional skills that are most in need. Ironically, Africa, in turn spends US$ 4 billion per annum to recruit foreign experts to meet skills shortages. This amounts to 35% of development aid given to Africa.

 

The World Bank and other international organizations have in recent times worked with a number of African nations in focusing on 'virtual participation', a program where citizens abroad like Bessay, can contribute to the development of their homeland. According to the World Bank, the primary way in which this occurs is through financial remittances. The World Bank Data on global remittances amounted to US$80 billion. In Africa alone, they amounted to US$17 billion per year, US$2billion more than the amount the continent received in foreign direct investment. Research studies have shown that although remittances have a significant impact on development, a lot more needs to be done before the true benefits are recognized. It is a program that has helped nations like Ghana and Nigeria who spent a good portion of the 80s and 90s in turmoil.

 

Today, Bessay hopes to turn the fortunes of his Bassa folks around and extend it to the rest of Liberia with his health care initiative for rural Liberia in a bid to provide health care for many who lacked the resources and finances to improve their lives. It is a dream that has been long in the making. “Throughout primary and secondary school, my aspiration to become a medical doctor did not wane. Whenever asked about my future career, I always said that I would become a doctor in order to help those who need medical attention, and teach others practices that promote and maintain good health. Discovering that my brother's death could have been easily prevented with a vaccination for measles made me realize the importance of the preventive aspect of medicine.”

 

Budding doctor showed glimpse of skills during war

 

Dr. D. Elwood, a Professor at the University of The South, in Shawnee Tennesse, who had a small part in bring Bessay to the U.S.  says the young doctor is one of a growing number of emerging Liberian talents to emerge after the civil war.

Bessay graduated from high school in December 1989 and began his college career at the University of Liberia in 1990, in the Bachelor of Science degree program – a prerequisite for admission to the university's medical school. Unfortunately, Bessay says, the university was forced to close its doors six weeks later because of the rebel incursion into Liberia that had begun the previous year. “With immediate hopes of continuing my education thus shattered, I volunteered my services at the Holy Family Clinic, a medical center in my hometown, in September

of 1990. Initially, I performed clerical duties, but later began dispensing drugs to patients as well as translating the medicines' dosages and general information into the Bassa dialect.”

 

Bessay says his vivid interest in medicine earned him access to witness surgical procedures like caesarean sections and herniographies which enable him to learn how to tend to certain injuries - from abrasions to minor bullet and shrapnel wounds. “During this time I also accompanied the doctor on trips to rural areas, which proved extremely risky because of roving bands of armed youths who pillaged and terrorized the country. Yet, those trips were vital since the continuous fighting had made transportation virtually nonexistent and many sick people in the countryside could not travel to the city for medical attention.”

 

Nevertheless, in 1993, the war eventually forced the clinic to close down but it did give the budding doctor a clear realization that the medical profession was not as easy as he had first envisioned it as a young boy. “The attainment of knowledge crucial for patient care was a tedious, painstaking process. Some situations required a lot of patience and composure in order to avoid an altercation. At other times, the profession required a lot of courage to face the complex and painful cases that came into the clinic.” However, Bessay says he remains thankful for the hands-on experience in the medical profession.

 

In the aftermath of his clinic experience, Bessay says the fighting forced him, like most of the Liberian population, to wander the countryside in search of safe havens. “I often found myself in numerous situations where I was called upon to apply the knowledge and experience acquired during my years at the Holy Family Clinic. But while the sense of being helpful was rewarding, I knew that I was not competent enough as I lacked the skills and

Knowledge to assist with many of the cases. And this only reinforced my resolve to become a medical doctor.”

 

With Liberian academic institutes ruined by the fighting, Bessay says he decided to pursue my education abroad. "In 1996, I was awarded a scholarship at the University of the South in Tennessee. This award rekindled my hope of becoming a medical doctor. At Sewanee, as the University of the South is also known, I carefully chose courses that I believed would prepare me for the challenges of medical school. Also at Sewanee, my interests in research were piqued when I worked as an NSF research intern in the Summer of 1999."

 

The scholarship came after some 32 applications to several schools in the U.S.

 

After graduation from Sewanee, Bessay says he was unable to obtain admission to medical school mainly due to lack of adequate financial means. “However, I was admitted to the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Biomedical Research Education and Training at Vanderbilt University, Tennessee. I entered the department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics in 2001. The classes and laboratory work that I have been involved in since then have added a new dimension to my interest in medicine. I now realize that training in biomedical research coupled with medicine provides a very useful experience that can be of immense value to my native country. Not only would I be able to treat sick people and advise them on healthy practices, I would also be able to investigate some of the medical problems peculiar to that part of the world.”

 

At the time, Bessay says he did not have the money to go to medical school and as he had no family who could co-sign for the loan for his load. "So I was faced with the option of return to Liberia or going to medical school. I told myself, for seven years in Liberia I did not go to school and it took a toll on me. By the time I went to Vanderbilt I had already set in my mind that I was going to return to Liberia. The thing that came to my mind was maybe I could microbiology."

 

Bessay says he wanted to study research but was reluctant to return to Liberia to work for the government because of the label that anyone who works for the government is corrupt and when things go bad, the family endures most of the suffering. “Without money to study, Bessay says he was fortunate that the father of one of the students he went to school with offered to co-sign his student loan.

 

His next goal now is to raise money for my second year leading to completion. “I wrote the Liberian International Shipping Registry (LISCR) and explained my situation to them that my aim is to return home to help Liberia and whether they had any scholarship that could help. They wrote back and said that they usually do not support medical students or if they do it would be business students.”

 

Bessay has already communicated with the dean of the medical school at the University of Liberia and expressed an interest in teaching but has not heard from them. But in my last communication with them, I said that I could commit several hours of lecture, if they need me, but so far I haven’t heard from them.

 

Looking back, Bessay says his personal experiences in Liberia during the war, his encounter with death during childhood prepared him for the current journey he has embarked on. “in addition my exposure to medicine and surgery, has aroused in me a deep interest in surgery.”

 

In post-war Liberia, Bessay hopes to return to his roots to undo the medical injustice that engulfed many of his peers, childhood friends and fellow Liberians.  “My goal in life is to work as a surgeon and a researcher in one of Liberia's rural hospitals, and attempt - in any way possible - to help rebuild the devastated health infrastructure of my country.” It is a bold but rare decision that many in the Diaspora are struggling to make – the ultimate sacrifice of returning home amid the reality of family ties and financial responsibilities that comes with the territory. While some have made the leap, others continue to harbor a wait-and-see posture, pondering the future while weighing their options and awaiting the right moment to make the ultimate sacrifice in the service of their homeland.