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Doctor finds her mission

January 23, 2010 12:36 am

By CATHY DYSON

Trixy Franke did some "serious soul-searching" about her dream to become a medical missionary, particularly after plans to work in east Africa fell apart.

This time last year, the Stafford County native was completing a three-year residency at an Indiana hospital. That was after she had finished four years of medical school at Loma Linda University in California.

She and her husband, Bill Colwell, were set to head to Rwanda, where she would work in a clinic, and he would use his training in fundraising and community development to lead programs through the Adventist Health Institute.

Franke and Colwell are Seventh-day Adventists, and the university she attended, along with the facility in Rwanda, are affiliated with the church.

Franke had agreed to spend six years as a medical missionary in return for having her school debts forgiven.

But when the door to Rwanda shut, Franke was unsure what to do next, she said in a recent e-mail. Rwanda would have provided jobs for both her and her husband, and he would have been able to continue his online pursuit of a doctorate degree.

Plus, she had been preparing for an assignment in east Africa. She knew the culture, the language--Swahili--and some of the people after doing missions in four hospitals and six countries.

As she lingered in limbo, medical colleagues around her sprang into action. Some signed contracts for jobs, and others finalized plans for overseas assignments.

She wondered if she should stay in America. Physician recruiters were offering her hefty sign-on bonuses, as well as packages to help her repay her school loans, if she remained stateside.

Even friends were asking where she was going to get on with her career, after 11 years of higher education and residency.

Franke had to tell them she didn't know, and that answer didn't come easily to her.

The 30-year-old is the daughter of Antoinette and John Franke of Stafford, and as a homeschooler, she excelled in independent study. When she graduated from Mary Washington College in 2001, she had the highest grade-point average in her class.

Franke came to realize that, in deciding her future, she had to trust her faith more than her intellect.

"I had to surrender my entire vision to God," she said. "I had to get to the point that I was willing to go whenever he wanted, in his time and following his vision."

Once Franke accepted that, things happened--fast.

A church official offered her a position in Buea, Cameroon, a town in West Africa. Franke and Colwell agreed to visit, even though they knew nothing about the country, where English and French are the official languages.

The two learned there would be positions for both of them. They agreed to visit--but stressed their right to veto if something didn't seem right.

An Adventist church official put the couple's name before the country's governing boards, and Franke said the Cameroonians voted them through in record time.

"Mind you, paperwork in Africa is SLOW," Franke wrote.

Meanwhile, Franke returned to America to finish her residency at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in South Bend, Ind. Soon afterwards, a new doctor was hired.

Franke learned he was from Africa and wanted to know more.

"Africa is a big continent," she told him. "What country are you from?"

"Cameroon," he answered.

"Really!" she said, surprised. "Where in Cameroon, because I am planning on working in Buea."

"I was born there," he answered.

Franke and Colwell took that as more than coincidence. As she got firsthand knowledge of the country and its people, the plans to send the couple there proceeded quickly.

The two arrived in Cam-eroon in early December. Colwell is the development director of a maternal-child clinic and Franke is the only doctor. She had no mentor, no one to show her the ropes when she arrived, so she has faced a steep learning curve, she said.

In addition to seeing pregnant women and babies, she tends to people with typhoid or malaria, allergies, diabetes or fungal infections.

"I enjoy the variety," she said.

There's a new hospital behind the clinic, which will open after necessary equipment arrives.

Franke has plenty to do, but she's certain she's where she should be.

"Buea is not what I had pictured when I thought about working in Africa," she said, but "all signs are that we are precisely where God wants us."

Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425
Email: cdyson@freelancestar.com