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Well: Healing Our Beautiful, Broken World from a Hospital in West Africa
Sarah Thebarge ponders the intersection of faith and medicine in this insightful narrative of her medical mission trip to Togo, West Africa.
Sarah Thebarge, a Yale-trained physician assistant, nearly died of breast cancer at age twenty-seven, but that did not end her deeply felt spiritual calling to medical missions in Africa. Risking her own health, she moved to Togo, West Africa-ranked by the United Nations as the least happy country in the world-to care for sick and suffering patients.
Serving without pay in a mission hospital, she pondered the intersection of faith and medicine in her quest to help make the world "well."
In the hospital wards, she witnessed death over and over again. In the outpatient clinic, she daily diagnosed patients with deadly diseases, many of which had simple but unavailable cures. She lived in austere conditions and nearly succumbed herself in a harrowing bout with malaria.
She describes her experiences in gripping detail and reflects courageously about difficult and deep human connections-across race, culture, material circumstances, and medical access.
Her experience exemplifies the triumph of surviving in order to share the stories that often go untold. In the end, WELL is an invitation to ask what happens when, instead of asking why God allows suffering to happen in the world, we ask, "Why do we?"
Sarah Thebarge, a Yale-trained physician assistant, nearly died of breast cancer at age twenty-seven, but that did not end her deeply felt spiritual calling to medical missions in Africa. Risking her own health, she moved to Togo, West Africa-ranked by the United Nations as the least happy country in the world-to care for sick and suffering patients.
Serving without pay in a mission hospital, she pondered the intersection of faith and medicine in her quest to help make the world "well."
In the hospital wards, she witnessed death over and over again. In the outpatient clinic, she daily diagnosed patients with deadly diseases, many of which had simple but unavailable cures. She lived in austere conditions and nearly succumbed herself in a harrowing bout with malaria.
She describes her experiences in gripping detail and reflects courageously about difficult and deep human connections-across race, culture, material circumstances, and medical access.
Her experience exemplifies the triumph of surviving in order to share the stories that often go untold. In the end, WELL is an invitation to ask what happens when, instead of asking why God allows suffering to happen in the world, we ask, "Why do we?"
336 pages, Hardcover
First published November 7, 2017
7 people are currently reading
378 people want to read
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November 1, 2017
Solid two and a half stars.
The first quarter of this book felt like the author patting herself on the back for her decision to spend three months working at a hospital in Togo, Africa for three months. Almost like she’s checking it off her Christian bucket list. There’s also a bit of self-promotion for her previous book. I couldn’t help think of the scripture in Matthew 6 that says do not let your right hand know what your left is doing when giving to the needy.
When Thebarge finally arrives in Mango and at the Hospital of Hope—a hospital she states if better than the government run facilities in Africa—she begins to question the organization and her follow workers (many of whom are lifetime missionaries). I couldn’t help but wonder why a journalist didn’t do more research into the organization before arriving.
The author states her time in Africa was lonely, that she never connected with any of the people there but proceeds to tell stories in which she is teased, encouraged, cared for during illness, and even asked when she will return. She seems to only connect with one person when they are working together. When you are a part-timer in a group of life-timers, connection is going to require some work on your part. An effort Thebarge didn’t seem to put forth.
The best—and most heartbreaking—parts of this book are the stories of the Togolese patients. In a world where “first world problems” is a popular hashtag, it’s easy to take the medical advancements of the western world we enjoy daily for granted. The African people daily fight diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis—diseases which are non-existent in the US.
There is a lot of medical jargon throughout the book and much recounting of Thebarge’s time in college and PA school. I would have rather read more stories—more happy ones—from Thebarge’s time in Africa.
Well does relay the practice of loving others, of showing compassion in a tangible way, of pouring ourselves into other lives until we have nothing more to give.
Disclosure statement:
I receive complimentary books for review from publishers, publicists, and/or authors, including NetGalley. I am not required to write positive reviews. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
The first quarter of this book felt like the author patting herself on the back for her decision to spend three months working at a hospital in Togo, Africa for three months. Almost like she’s checking it off her Christian bucket list. There’s also a bit of self-promotion for her previous book. I couldn’t help think of the scripture in Matthew 6 that says do not let your right hand know what your left is doing when giving to the needy.
When Thebarge finally arrives in Mango and at the Hospital of Hope—a hospital she states if better than the government run facilities in Africa—she begins to question the organization and her follow workers (many of whom are lifetime missionaries). I couldn’t help but wonder why a journalist didn’t do more research into the organization before arriving.
The author states her time in Africa was lonely, that she never connected with any of the people there but proceeds to tell stories in which she is teased, encouraged, cared for during illness, and even asked when she will return. She seems to only connect with one person when they are working together. When you are a part-timer in a group of life-timers, connection is going to require some work on your part. An effort Thebarge didn’t seem to put forth.
The best—and most heartbreaking—parts of this book are the stories of the Togolese patients. In a world where “first world problems” is a popular hashtag, it’s easy to take the medical advancements of the western world we enjoy daily for granted. The African people daily fight diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis—diseases which are non-existent in the US.
There is a lot of medical jargon throughout the book and much recounting of Thebarge’s time in college and PA school. I would have rather read more stories—more happy ones—from Thebarge’s time in Africa.
Well does relay the practice of loving others, of showing compassion in a tangible way, of pouring ourselves into other lives until we have nothing more to give.
Disclosure statement:
I receive complimentary books for review from publishers, publicists, and/or authors, including NetGalley. I am not required to write positive reviews. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
November 7, 2017
I was first introduced to Sarah Thebarge when I read her memoir, The Invisible Girls (2013). That story was so powerful, beautifully written, and heart-wrenching. When I heard she had written a new book called WELL, I knew immediately I would have to read it. I devoured the book in a few days and was incredibly taken with it. Sarah's writing is deep, heartfelt, passionate, real, transparent, and overall, so articulate and moving.
In the pages of WELL, Sarah takes us on her journey to Togo and shares the stories of the people she cares for in a hospital in rural West Africa. The stories of suffering and loss, healing, hope, and new life are astounding. I found myself caught up in the stories…moved to tears at the suffering and loss, and fully experiencing Sarah's tenderness with those frail patients who were leaving this earthly life; she was literally the hands and feet of Jesus to these fragile ones. I also found myself laughing out loud during lighter moments of humor and joy, such as playing soccer with the sweet “FIFA Boys” in the nearby village.
This book has too many incredibly thought-provoking experiences, stories, and reflections, to mention here. However, at least one takeaway I had from this book is that it challenged my own thoughts and attitudes on suffering, compassion, and serving others.
In the midst of a serious bout of malaria, Sarah examines the nature of compassion. Sarah writes, “One night I woke up in the early hours, sweaty and thirsty, unable to fall back asleep. As I lay there in the dark, I started thinking about the word compassion, which comes from the Latin words co, which means “with,” and passion, from the word pati, which means “to suffer.” So the word compassion literally means “to suffer with.” I had always thought of compassionate people as people with tender hearts. But after my Togo experience, I realized that in order to practice compassion, your heart needs to be tender but the rest of you— including your emotions and your commitment and your will— needs to be tough as nails. Compassion, in its most extreme forms, is not cute; it is costly. It isn’t always sweet; sometimes it is downright scary. Compassion makes you suffer and sweat and smell. It requires you to pour yourself out, sometimes, until there’s nothing left. Togo gave me a new appreciation for Jesus. Instead of having sympathy for the human condition, Emmanuel, God With Us, came down to suffer with and for us. He took the cup of hardship, loss, grief, pain, and death, and he drank it to the dregs. Maybe, I thought as I lay in the dark that night in Togo, maybe Jesus was calling me to that same level of compassion, calling me to love the world at a great personal cost that I never would’ve chosen if it was up to me. To take the cup of suffering and drink it all, down to the dregs. I didn’t know yet what radical compassion would look like for me when I got back to the United States, but in Togo, when the sun came up the next morning, for me, having compassion meant picking up my nearly empty water bottle, walking over to the clinic, and seeing patients in a malodorous, muggy exam room while I was hot and thirsty and tired. It meant sharing with the Togolese people in this hardship, drinking the cup of suffering down to the dregs. Down to the very last drop.”
These are powerful words. I am challenged and encouraged and “spurred on toward love and good deeds” after reading these words. This is such a great reminder that compassion, love, and service—especially to the least of these—is not a sweet sentiment, but instead is costly and often painful. Ultimately though, this is what Jesus demonstrated and modeled for us and it is the best way to live. Sarah shows us an amazing example of this level of compassion in WELL. This book will challenge you and encourage you and will change you (if you let it!). I cannot recommend it highly enough!
In the pages of WELL, Sarah takes us on her journey to Togo and shares the stories of the people she cares for in a hospital in rural West Africa. The stories of suffering and loss, healing, hope, and new life are astounding. I found myself caught up in the stories…moved to tears at the suffering and loss, and fully experiencing Sarah's tenderness with those frail patients who were leaving this earthly life; she was literally the hands and feet of Jesus to these fragile ones. I also found myself laughing out loud during lighter moments of humor and joy, such as playing soccer with the sweet “FIFA Boys” in the nearby village.
This book has too many incredibly thought-provoking experiences, stories, and reflections, to mention here. However, at least one takeaway I had from this book is that it challenged my own thoughts and attitudes on suffering, compassion, and serving others.
In the midst of a serious bout of malaria, Sarah examines the nature of compassion. Sarah writes, “One night I woke up in the early hours, sweaty and thirsty, unable to fall back asleep. As I lay there in the dark, I started thinking about the word compassion, which comes from the Latin words co, which means “with,” and passion, from the word pati, which means “to suffer.” So the word compassion literally means “to suffer with.” I had always thought of compassionate people as people with tender hearts. But after my Togo experience, I realized that in order to practice compassion, your heart needs to be tender but the rest of you— including your emotions and your commitment and your will— needs to be tough as nails. Compassion, in its most extreme forms, is not cute; it is costly. It isn’t always sweet; sometimes it is downright scary. Compassion makes you suffer and sweat and smell. It requires you to pour yourself out, sometimes, until there’s nothing left. Togo gave me a new appreciation for Jesus. Instead of having sympathy for the human condition, Emmanuel, God With Us, came down to suffer with and for us. He took the cup of hardship, loss, grief, pain, and death, and he drank it to the dregs. Maybe, I thought as I lay in the dark that night in Togo, maybe Jesus was calling me to that same level of compassion, calling me to love the world at a great personal cost that I never would’ve chosen if it was up to me. To take the cup of suffering and drink it all, down to the dregs. I didn’t know yet what radical compassion would look like for me when I got back to the United States, but in Togo, when the sun came up the next morning, for me, having compassion meant picking up my nearly empty water bottle, walking over to the clinic, and seeing patients in a malodorous, muggy exam room while I was hot and thirsty and tired. It meant sharing with the Togolese people in this hardship, drinking the cup of suffering down to the dregs. Down to the very last drop.”
These are powerful words. I am challenged and encouraged and “spurred on toward love and good deeds” after reading these words. This is such a great reminder that compassion, love, and service—especially to the least of these—is not a sweet sentiment, but instead is costly and often painful. Ultimately though, this is what Jesus demonstrated and modeled for us and it is the best way to live. Sarah shows us an amazing example of this level of compassion in WELL. This book will challenge you and encourage you and will change you (if you let it!). I cannot recommend it highly enough!
November 10, 2017
"Well" is a book that will have you in tears and unable to put it down. It is one of the most, moving powerful reads of 2017! Courageous, vulnerable and daring, Sarah took me from my comfort zone and made me realize the heartbeat of Jesus again. So often in the Western culture, we find ourselves being stuck in a consumerism mindset where everything is about "me or seeing what is best to move us forward," but Sarah challenges the reader to look at life in a different way, to look at people with compassion and to serve people well.
Sarah is such a beautiful writer and instantly her story telling will captivate your soul. She is an engaging writer and you will wrestle with the content, but amidst the hard, you will the grace and see beauty for ashes. This book will get you to see the heartbeat of Jesus and have compassion on people like never before. I love that she begs the question we all ask ourselves during the mist of trauma, confusion or terror, "Why does God allow suffering?", but "Do we?" I cannot say enough good things about this book! I really enjoyed this book, despite the emotional journey it took me on. I have several pages ear marked and I was just broken over this book. I am still thinking of Sarah and this book days later. I give this book 5/5 stars. A favorable review was not required. Thank you to the publisher for providing a complimentary copy.
Sarah is such a beautiful writer and instantly her story telling will captivate your soul. She is an engaging writer and you will wrestle with the content, but amidst the hard, you will the grace and see beauty for ashes. This book will get you to see the heartbeat of Jesus and have compassion on people like never before. I love that she begs the question we all ask ourselves during the mist of trauma, confusion or terror, "Why does God allow suffering?", but "Do we?" I cannot say enough good things about this book! I really enjoyed this book, despite the emotional journey it took me on. I have several pages ear marked and I was just broken over this book. I am still thinking of Sarah and this book days later. I give this book 5/5 stars. A favorable review was not required. Thank you to the publisher for providing a complimentary copy.
March 17, 2018
Sarah Thebarge's book is about her three months living in Togo, West Africa, and working as a physician's assistant in a remote Christian hospital. I'm not a huge fan of Christian books, or missionary work, but gave the book a chance and am so glad I did. Although, the author talks about her faith throughout the book, I found her delving into it much more toward the end of the book, which I had to skip through. However, her medical stories about the people she treated, the diseases that she never came across while working in the U.S., and the difficulties in finding medicine and medical equipment that she and the other nurses and doctors needed to heal their patients, was very interesting and why, I ultimately, picked up her book. In addition, Thebarge's accounts of Togo brought me right back to Ghana, where I lived for five years.
The deaths that Thebarge experienced on a daily basis were overwhelming and crushing to read about. The journals that the author kept in Togo, and then brought to life in her book, gives readers a true sense of her experiences. Her writing is descriptive, emotional, and honest, and I was touched many times by her loving interactions with her patients as she tried to heal them, or help them to pass away peacefully.
I highly recommend this book and thank Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review it.
The deaths that Thebarge experienced on a daily basis were overwhelming and crushing to read about. The journals that the author kept in Togo, and then brought to life in her book, gives readers a true sense of her experiences. Her writing is descriptive, emotional, and honest, and I was touched many times by her loving interactions with her patients as she tried to heal them, or help them to pass away peacefully.
I highly recommend this book and thank Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review it.
November 6, 2017
Thebarge is a physician assistant who went to Togo, West Africa, to work in a mission hospital for three months. She shares her experiences, her observations, and spiritual lessons learned. Her studies in journalism show as this is a very well written memoir of a difficult time.
Her stories of the people she met are heart warming and heart breaking. Her buying a soccer ball for local boys was a heart warming experience. Her losing so many of her patients was just heart breaking.
I was surprised at Thebarge's account of how the whites in the mission hospital treated the local employees. While there was not outright racism, it was disappointing to see that the Togolese hospital workers were not invited to the Sunday church service.
The memoir is a good look at working in another culture. Thebarge writes about the plight of women in the country, for example, and the painful custom of female circumcision. She shares the anguish she felt when medicines so common in the US were not available for her to use in Togo.
Thebarge shares her struggles with God, asking why so many suffer and die. She also shares spiritual insights she gained from her experience. When she was deathly sick with malaria, she asked God to heal her with the same Sunday morning power with which He raised Jesus from the dead. Then she realized that same power from God was active on Friday, giving Jesus the strength to suffer and die for us. We want the Sunday power but often receive the Friday power instead.
Thebarge hopes her story will encourage readers to help those in developing countries. I recommend her memoir. You will read an honest and insightful account of work among people who so desperately need the help of others.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.
Her stories of the people she met are heart warming and heart breaking. Her buying a soccer ball for local boys was a heart warming experience. Her losing so many of her patients was just heart breaking.
I was surprised at Thebarge's account of how the whites in the mission hospital treated the local employees. While there was not outright racism, it was disappointing to see that the Togolese hospital workers were not invited to the Sunday church service.
The memoir is a good look at working in another culture. Thebarge writes about the plight of women in the country, for example, and the painful custom of female circumcision. She shares the anguish she felt when medicines so common in the US were not available for her to use in Togo.
Thebarge shares her struggles with God, asking why so many suffer and die. She also shares spiritual insights she gained from her experience. When she was deathly sick with malaria, she asked God to heal her with the same Sunday morning power with which He raised Jesus from the dead. Then she realized that same power from God was active on Friday, giving Jesus the strength to suffer and die for us. We want the Sunday power but often receive the Friday power instead.
Thebarge hopes her story will encourage readers to help those in developing countries. I recommend her memoir. You will read an honest and insightful account of work among people who so desperately need the help of others.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.
March 20, 2024
I picked up this book randomly in a Goodwill a few years ago and just got around to reading it. Once I started, I couldn't stop! Sarah is a Yale-trained PA who survived a battle with breast cancer and decided to travel to Togo (a West African country) to provide medical care at a charitable hospital. Each chapter is filled with the true stories of Togolese people who display tremendous resilience and courage amid difficult conditions. It was so eye-opening to read how hundreds of people traveled hours to reach the clinic, and some lives were lost at the hospital that could have been saved with resources in the United States.
Sarah also critiques some aspects of missionary culture. She discussed how Americans still built an environment of "us" vs. "them" with the Togolese people, not inviting them to eat meals or join worship services. I appreciate that she was able to identify how this behavior was antithetical to a Christian mission, while also recognizing the good work they were doing. Sarah tied her faith into each aspect of her journey, and it was so encouraging to see her love for others and for Christ. A must-read for anyone considering medical missions!
Sarah also critiques some aspects of missionary culture. She discussed how Americans still built an environment of "us" vs. "them" with the Togolese people, not inviting them to eat meals or join worship services. I appreciate that she was able to identify how this behavior was antithetical to a Christian mission, while also recognizing the good work they were doing. Sarah tied her faith into each aspect of her journey, and it was so encouraging to see her love for others and for Christ. A must-read for anyone considering medical missions!
July 18, 2021
If I thought the first one wrecked me, this one started stirring my heart for missions throughout Africa. Little did I know a few years later, I would be going into Ghana West Africa, while my mom was battling breast cancer. The author was raw with her experience with breast cancer at a young age, and showed how God used this Somalian family, and later on the country of Somalia to show her the beauty in life she hasn’t been able to see for so long. Little did I know THEN how similar these books would be to my testimony, NOW!
September 17, 2024
Warning! This book might suck all ideas of the romanticism of medical missions out of your head. However, the author, who spent three months in a hospital in Togo, Africa, writes in a raw, beautiful way of the Love that is truly enough even in the world's most destitute, seemingly God-forsaken places.
November 14, 2017
In Well, Sarah Thebarge immerses us in her three-month experience of working as a Physicians’ Assistant in a missionary hospital in Togo, West Africa. From her first days of climate and culture shock to her trip back home, she shares not only what she sees, hears, and smells, but also what she feels on many levels—physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Many chapters are short. Some are narrative—wonderful storytelling. Others read like essays that speak to large themes of love and the meaning and purpose of life in the shadow of unspeakable suffering and the inequality of the developed versus the developing world. Scattered throughout her chronological account of her Togo experience are flashback stories about her medical training, her battle with breast cancer, and her experiences in Portland.
Thebarge is an excellent writer and a delight to read. She remembers events in amazing detail—though I’m sure some credit goes to her journals, which she repeatedly refers to keeping. However, many of the stories are hard to read because of their content. The book is heavy with heartbreaking tales of death disease, and primitive conditions. Over and over Thebarge refers to Togo as the saddest place on earth. She is deeply affected by the inability of the medical staff to help more people and prevent what appear to be the meaningless deaths of newborns, children, mothers and fathers needed as parents.
Thebarge’s dedication and love are Mother Teresa-esque. One of the most beautiful passages in the book for me was this short exchange between her and Omari, her Togolese work partner:
I would like to recommend this book without reservation, but can’t quite do that. For Thebarge’s theology does not, as I’ve picked it up from Well, agree completely with the Bible. She seems to take a Universalist approach toward the mostly Muslim patients that come to the hospital, implying that in death all will find themselves transported in love to the same loving God.
She is sharply critical of what she calls the “fundamentalist” Baptists who support and run the hospital, offended that the chaplains speak to the dying of hell and how to avoid it.
I found her explanation of the Incarnation interesting as well.
Maybe I missed it, but in Well I never came across the crux of the Gospel—that Jesus came to earth to show the Father’s love and be with us, yes, but to also die in our stead, to pay the death penalty our sins deserve. His atoning sacrifice is the reason we can look forward to spending eternity with Him and God the Father. Though this is a free gift, it’s a gift we receive when we, with our volition, accept it.
I have nothing but praise for Thebarge’s loving empathetic heart and tireless work. I have much to learn from her. The theological critique notwithstanding, this book is a worthwhile read because of the part of the world it shares and the way it challenges the reader to grapple with issues that Thebarge has faced and worked out in her way.
I received a copy of Well as a gift from the publisher for the purpose of writing a review.
Many chapters are short. Some are narrative—wonderful storytelling. Others read like essays that speak to large themes of love and the meaning and purpose of life in the shadow of unspeakable suffering and the inequality of the developed versus the developing world. Scattered throughout her chronological account of her Togo experience are flashback stories about her medical training, her battle with breast cancer, and her experiences in Portland.
Thebarge is an excellent writer and a delight to read. She remembers events in amazing detail—though I’m sure some credit goes to her journals, which she repeatedly refers to keeping. However, many of the stories are hard to read because of their content. The book is heavy with heartbreaking tales of death disease, and primitive conditions. Over and over Thebarge refers to Togo as the saddest place on earth. She is deeply affected by the inability of the medical staff to help more people and prevent what appear to be the meaningless deaths of newborns, children, mothers and fathers needed as parents.
Thebarge’s dedication and love are Mother Teresa-esque. One of the most beautiful passages in the book for me was this short exchange between her and Omari, her Togolese work partner:
“I want to see patients like you do.”
‘You already said that,’ I teased him.
“No, no, I mean, I want to look at people like you do.”
“What do you mean? How do I look at people?”
“You look at people with love,” Omari said.
O thought about Massiko’s words, that love looks around.
And the father’s words, “There is love in your eyes.”
And now Omari’s words, ”You look at people with love” – Well, p. 219.
I would like to recommend this book without reservation, but can’t quite do that. For Thebarge’s theology does not, as I’ve picked it up from Well, agree completely with the Bible. She seems to take a Universalist approach toward the mostly Muslim patients that come to the hospital, implying that in death all will find themselves transported in love to the same loving God.
She is sharply critical of what she calls the “fundamentalist” Baptists who support and run the hospital, offended that the chaplains speak to the dying of hell and how to avoid it.
I found her explanation of the Incarnation interesting as well.
I wondered what, if anything, was the point of Jesus being physically present in our world. What was the significance of Emmanuel—of God being With Us?
If we look at everything Jesus left undone when he departed from the earth, then his presence hardly mattered at all. People were still sick, they still died, they were still oppressed, and they still suffered.
So why did it matter that Emmanuel was here?
As I thought about it, the question became its own answer. Emmanuel’s value did not lie in what he did or didn’t accomplish while he walked the earth. What mattered was that he was here. – p. 294
Maybe I missed it, but in Well I never came across the crux of the Gospel—that Jesus came to earth to show the Father’s love and be with us, yes, but to also die in our stead, to pay the death penalty our sins deserve. His atoning sacrifice is the reason we can look forward to spending eternity with Him and God the Father. Though this is a free gift, it’s a gift we receive when we, with our volition, accept it.
I have nothing but praise for Thebarge’s loving empathetic heart and tireless work. I have much to learn from her. The theological critique notwithstanding, this book is a worthwhile read because of the part of the world it shares and the way it challenges the reader to grapple with issues that Thebarge has faced and worked out in her way.
I received a copy of Well as a gift from the publisher for the purpose of writing a review.
November 8, 2017
I’m not a big fan of the missionaries — religious organizations that go into the developing world simply to convert people to the Christian faith, rather than leave any other tangible offerings. Luckily, it turns out that author Sarah Thebarge kinda feels the same way. Her sophomore book, Well, is a spiritual memoir about time spent volunteering her medical expertise in a West African hospital essentially run by missionaries. While it’s not the thrust of the book’s narrative, Thebarge does have her share of criticisms of the approach American Christian fundamentalists take in the Third World, for one thing.
But I’m jumping too far ahead here. Well is a book written by a physician’s assistant who also has a background in journalism. Despite having breast cancer that she nearly died from, Thebarge decides its her calling to go and work in an African hospital — so she does in 2015 for three months. The entire three-month stay, in many ways, is one filled with simple victories and excruciating agonies. She’s harassed from the moment that she sets foot in Togo, the country in question, and when she arrives at the hospital after a nine-hour car drive from the country’s main city, she finds that it is a rather bare-bones affair. While people line up for half a mile waiting to be triaged each day (often causing fist-fights to break out among patients over who can be the first in line), the hospital is — for the most part — running on spit and duct-tape. Procedures that would be available in America don’t exist in Togo. And so, Thebarge more often than not watches her patients die from curable diseases because the hospital doesn’t have the resources, or the patient either waited too long to seek help or went to dubious cultural faith healers first before the hospital.
Read the rest of the review here: https://medium.com/@zachary_houle/a-r...
But I’m jumping too far ahead here. Well is a book written by a physician’s assistant who also has a background in journalism. Despite having breast cancer that she nearly died from, Thebarge decides its her calling to go and work in an African hospital — so she does in 2015 for three months. The entire three-month stay, in many ways, is one filled with simple victories and excruciating agonies. She’s harassed from the moment that she sets foot in Togo, the country in question, and when she arrives at the hospital after a nine-hour car drive from the country’s main city, she finds that it is a rather bare-bones affair. While people line up for half a mile waiting to be triaged each day (often causing fist-fights to break out among patients over who can be the first in line), the hospital is — for the most part — running on spit and duct-tape. Procedures that would be available in America don’t exist in Togo. And so, Thebarge more often than not watches her patients die from curable diseases because the hospital doesn’t have the resources, or the patient either waited too long to seek help or went to dubious cultural faith healers first before the hospital.
Read the rest of the review here: https://medium.com/@zachary_houle/a-r...
April 13, 2019
I got this book after hearing her on a podcast, and I truly wanted to enjoy it. I like her writing style, where she switches to different times in her life between chapters. “The Invisible Girls” was an encouraging book and I was excited to read “Well.” However, this book just felt... hopeless. All throughout, it’s just sad story after sad story, without any offering of “But God...” I also felt pretty uncomfortable at how disrespectfully she speaks of the people who have devoted many years of work at the hospital. To me, the book came across as a journal processing her resentment and bitterness more than a book about hope and healing. The end got slightly more hopeful, but I had already kind of lost respect for her opinion after the blunt accusations toward the missionaries she was with. It felt very hypocritical to say “love is the answer” to all the things going on in Togo because it seems she did not love her fellow missionaries well. I was hoping to enjoy it, but if I were to recommend reading a book by her, it would be only “The Invisible Girls.”
January 14, 2022
I remember thinking, when I read The Invisible Girls, that Thebarge was perhaps packing too many stories (religious fundamentalism, cancer, unexpected connection with a refugee family) into one. In Well, the story is more focused: three months spent providing medical care in rural Togo, plus a secondary thread about her experience studying to become a physician assistant and various tangents about cancer, religion, etc.
It's hard to know just what to make of this particular experience, and I suspect that Thebarge, too, was still trying to figure that out as she wrote. The Americans working in the hospital in Togo were missionaries, and Thebarge shared some (many?) of their beliefs but perhaps less of their conservatism; from early on, she notes the divides:
Otherwise...it's an okay book, and I don't mean to knock anyone for providing legitimate medical care in places that are badly underserved, it's just that...it's never as simple as 'providing legitimate medical care', I suppose. Other notes: Needed a fluent French speaker to look at the French throughout, because my French is appalling but even I can tell you that corps is singular, not plural (149); that bon travaille is not a thing but bon travail can be (173); that a woman can be désolée but not désolé (180). (It's possible that there are cultural differences, of course—Togolese French having differences from French French—but I don't trust that anyone involved in the production of the book had that level of knowledge of any kind of French.) Also needed someone to look at it for matters of repetition, and in particular to count the number of times that the book mentions a patient's pupils being blown and then explains—for the third, fifth, eighth time—that that means brain death.
It's hard to know just what to make of this particular experience, and I suspect that Thebarge, too, was still trying to figure that out as she wrote. The Americans working in the hospital in Togo were missionaries, and Thebarge shared some (many?) of their beliefs but perhaps less of their conservatism; from early on, she notes the divides:
During my time in Togo, I learned that the Togolese staff weren’t invited to the dining hall for lunch because the meal cost five dollars per person—which was reasonable for the Americans but prohibitive for the Togolese. Especially considering that in the village, two hundred CFAs bought you a plate of food big enough to feed two people, asking them to pay twenty-five hundred CFAs for one meal in the dining hall was absurd.
But the longer I was in Togo, the more I realized that it wasn’t only money that separated Togolese and American staff. The Togolese weren’t invited to attend our Sunday-evening church services, either—which, of course, were free. And instead of adapting to the Togolese diet and eating locally grown food, Hazel insisted on sending Massiko to Lomé for cheese and beef and milk and sour cream and other ingredients needed to make “American” food that weren’t available in Mango. (53)But there are bigger divides: much of the local population is Muslim, and one of the missionary practices is to call in the chaplains when someone is dying—and the chaplains, among other things, spend a fair amount of their death-counselling energy explaining that the patient will go to a fiery hell if they don't accept JC as their saviour. (I have very strong feelings about this sort of missionary.) It's clear that Thebarge is uncomfortable with this, but I don't think she knows how to fully address it, during her three months in Togo or in writing the book. Or other things: hospital staff practice intubations on a dead baby, and Thebarge wonders what the baby's mother would think if she knew; this leads to a story about the cadaver she learned from in PA school but falls far, far short of discussing the ethical implications—and differences—in any detail.
Otherwise...it's an okay book, and I don't mean to knock anyone for providing legitimate medical care in places that are badly underserved, it's just that...it's never as simple as 'providing legitimate medical care', I suppose. Other notes: Needed a fluent French speaker to look at the French throughout, because my French is appalling but even I can tell you that corps is singular, not plural (149); that bon travaille is not a thing but bon travail can be (173); that a woman can be désolée but not désolé (180). (It's possible that there are cultural differences, of course—Togolese French having differences from French French—but I don't trust that anyone involved in the production of the book had that level of knowledge of any kind of French.) Also needed someone to look at it for matters of repetition, and in particular to count the number of times that the book mentions a patient's pupils being blown and then explains—for the third, fifth, eighth time—that that means brain death.
November 9, 2017
Sarah Thebarge is a Yale-trained physician assistant. Well is her story of her spiritual and vocational calling to medical missions work in Togo, West Africa.
Well is a different book than most books that I have read. This book is not divided into chapters. Well is Thebarge's story told pretty much cover to cover of her trip to Togo to work at the Hospital of Hope, a conservative Baptist missions-run hospital in Mango, Togo. Thebarge shares her medical challenges in treating the local people in great detail. She also shares her spiritual challenges and takeaways from the experience, along with the physical toll on her body and mind from the experience.
Love Looks Around was my big takeaway from Well. I may not be able to go to a missions hospital and work in my lifetime, but I am able to look around with a love that comes from God and see what I can do to love those around me as I believe God would want me to. I am glad I read the book for the spiritual takeaways. I also felt Thebarge shared with candor and honesty her experiences which showed that missions work isn't as glamorous as one might imagine. At the same time, I have kind of a weak stomach for medical trauma so some of the details were a bit too detailed for me. I think someone in the medical field would probably appreciate those details more than I did. All in all, Well is an interesting look at medical missions and a book that I would recommend, especially to those interested in this field.
I received this book from FaithWords/Hachette Book Group. I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for the book.
November 10, 2022
I am probably an outlier with my opinion of this book. What I will say about this however is that I found the author to be very self righteous and even what I might call falsely modest. I felt as though the stories she chose to tell about herself always showed herself in the best light whilst making a big show of how she always felt that she wasn’t good enough or doing enough. It felt a little like “look at me, I’m such a good person helping out the poor African people…”
Don’t get me wrong, I am sure she is a good person and she does more than I ever could. Just the way she chose to write about it irked me. And though I have no problem with the author’s beliefs, and in fact sometimes found them beautiful, mostly I found it repetitive and annoying. I get it you’re religious. Now let’s move on instead of repeating the same thing over and over. I started off thinking I would give this one 4 stars, then I was reading (listening I should say - and it was narrated by the author too) it dropped down to a 3 and by the time the book ended I was so annoyed I gave it a 2.
Now I never write reviews this long but here I am wasting my time over this one. Remember over all this is all just my individual opinion. The story is well written etc. It’s just for the reasons above that I have given it two stars.
Don’t get me wrong, I am sure she is a good person and she does more than I ever could. Just the way she chose to write about it irked me. And though I have no problem with the author’s beliefs, and in fact sometimes found them beautiful, mostly I found it repetitive and annoying. I get it you’re religious. Now let’s move on instead of repeating the same thing over and over. I started off thinking I would give this one 4 stars, then I was reading (listening I should say - and it was narrated by the author too) it dropped down to a 3 and by the time the book ended I was so annoyed I gave it a 2.
Now I never write reviews this long but here I am wasting my time over this one. Remember over all this is all just my individual opinion. The story is well written etc. It’s just for the reasons above that I have given it two stars.
November 14, 2017
Well
Healing Our Beautiful, Broken World from a Hospital in West Africa
by Sarah Thebarge
FaithWords / Center Street
FaithWords
Christian
Pub Date 07 Nov 2017
I am reviewing a copy of Well through FaithWords/Center Street and Netgalley:
When Sarah Thebarge applied to the Yale Physicians assistant program she told the admissions panel she would change the world someday.
Some decades later Sarah Thebarge finds herself on a plane reading up on Togo, somewhere she had not even heard of until she was asked to serve as a missionary in Togo serving at the Hospital
Prior to her call to Togo, Sarah had been battling for her life, after being diagnosed with Cancer.
While in Togo Sarah experienced language difficulties, making conversations difficult and humorous.
By the time she had been there for six weeks Thebarge's French had drastically improved.
Sarah Thebarge was deeply effected by her time in Togo, watching people die of conditions that were preventable in the U.S in a hospital that lacked modern equipment.
While in Togo Sarah Thebarge would battle Malaria, shed face the loss of patients. She'd see the realities of the conditions in Togo, the lack of medicines and medical equipment.
I give Well five out of five stars!
Happy Reading!
Prior to her call to Togo, Sarah had been battling for her life, after being diagnosed with Cancer.
While in Togo Sarah experienced language difficulties, making conversations difficult and humorous.
By the time she had been there for six weeks Thebarge's French had drastically improved.
Sarah Thebarge was deeply effected by her time in Togo, watching people die of conditions that were preventable in the U.S in a hospital that lacked modern equipment.
While in Togo Sarah Thebarge would battle Malaria, shed face the loss of patients. She'd see the realities of the conditions in Togo, the lack of medicines and medical equipment.
I give Well five out of five stars!
Happy Reading!
November 5, 2017
Well: Healing Our Beautiful, Broken World from a Hospital in South Africa by Sarah Thebarge is a touching memoir about the author’s experience as a physician assistant in West Africa. Thebarge is a skilled writer, using her words to beautifully illustrate true events and make her story come to life. Because Thebarge describes medical scenarios in detail, the book is very informative from a medical standpoint. It is also a culturally educational book, and I learned a lot more about the culture of Togo.
Well is a great book for people who have a heart for world missions. Throughout the story, Sarah aims to achieve wellness for others – not only physical wellness, but spiritual wellness. Sarah’s love for Jesus Christ and her desire to spread his love is evident. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Sarah’s amazing, inspirational story, and I loved reading about the lives that she impacted.
*I received this book for review*
Well is a great book for people who have a heart for world missions. Throughout the story, Sarah aims to achieve wellness for others – not only physical wellness, but spiritual wellness. Sarah’s love for Jesus Christ and her desire to spread his love is evident. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Sarah’s amazing, inspirational story, and I loved reading about the lives that she impacted.
*I received this book for review*
December 9, 2017
Sarah Thebarge, author of The Invisible Girls, takes an opportunity to practice medicine as a physician’s assistant in Mango, Togo in West Africa. In the midst of what appears to be a God-forsaken country and people, she realizes a deeper meaning of Love, though at significant cost to her physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Fighting against sickness and despair with limited resources, Sarah shares her story of love and compassion at the Hospital of Hope even when healing isn’t possible, when death is inevitable. The stories of Togo become personal and unavoidable, forcing us to come to grips with the harsh reality that we try so hard to ignore.
Love looks around, Sarah learns early in her journey, and through Well, Sarah compels us to look around with her, to sense the pain in her patients eyes, the panic thrashing in their chests, and the comfort that comes only with a touch of a caring hand.
Fighting against sickness and despair with limited resources, Sarah shares her story of love and compassion at the Hospital of Hope even when healing isn’t possible, when death is inevitable. The stories of Togo become personal and unavoidable, forcing us to come to grips with the harsh reality that we try so hard to ignore.
Love looks around, Sarah learns early in her journey, and through Well, Sarah compels us to look around with her, to sense the pain in her patients eyes, the panic thrashing in their chests, and the comfort that comes only with a touch of a caring hand.
December 10, 2019
Sarahs honest and raw account of her three months in Togo West Africa is both heartbreaking and refreshing. After not being able to finish Hospital by the River because I tired of the authors many stories of her travels and special gifts for her son. I found it interesting that Sarah too experienced this missionary mindset of superiority and entitlement. It was uncomfortable to read at times, because the reality of the suffering the Togolese people endure but also the way fundamentalists missionaries treat people. I have many missionary friends and certainly not all have this mindset but many do.
I definitely would recommend this book. Read it with and open mind and heart.
I definitely would recommend this book. Read it with and open mind and heart.
November 29, 2017
Well is the story of Sarah Thebarge, a Yale-trained physicians assistant, who nearly died of breast cancer and her story of Medical Missions in West Africa. While telling of the intense struggles and hardships faced Well is so much more. Well is a story of Love. It is an anthem call to us to exhibit love as we never have before.
"Love looks around.
Love looks around and sees the world with compassion.
Love looks around and sees the marginalized invisible people who are often overlooked.
Love looks around."
Through Sarah's story, we see that while looking around isn't easy we can love this way. We see that loving this way is most like Jesus. The heart of Well is an anthem to love well and to do all that is within our power to see others Well and made whole. We do this even when human strength fails and only God's strength can bring us through.
*Received a copy in exchange for an honest review.
"Love looks around.
Love looks around and sees the world with compassion.
Love looks around and sees the marginalized invisible people who are often overlooked.
Love looks around."
Through Sarah's story, we see that while looking around isn't easy we can love this way. We see that loving this way is most like Jesus. The heart of Well is an anthem to love well and to do all that is within our power to see others Well and made whole. We do this even when human strength fails and only God's strength can bring us through.
*Received a copy in exchange for an honest review.
October 17, 2019
I love that this book is so real. It is a real journey with real people, real heartache and real questions. The author doesn't pull punches as she relays her thoughts, feelings and discoveries and shares her journey. Her journey to the "most unhappy nation in the world". There are some very disturbing and graphic descriptions contained in this book so it would probably not be good for a young reader and even for a teen, it would be good for a parent to read with them to help them process. For adults, though, I would encourage everyone to read it.
February 15, 2022
My favourite quote from this book would be: You were born into Love, you will die into Love, and you will be held in Love every second in between.
It is common to hear about the atrocities and health crises in West Africa through World Vision and other charities but reading it personally through this book has been insightful.
The only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars is because some of the passages of the book can be a bit too 'passionate' and come across as trite. I would still recommend reading this book and opening your eyes to a world where suffering is in the most visceral sense.
It is common to hear about the atrocities and health crises in West Africa through World Vision and other charities but reading it personally through this book has been insightful.
The only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars is because some of the passages of the book can be a bit too 'passionate' and come across as trite. I would still recommend reading this book and opening your eyes to a world where suffering is in the most visceral sense.
April 13, 2023
WELL is the heartfelt story of Sarah Thebarge and her three-month time in Togo, West Africa. At times difficult to read because of the shear pain and death she encountered, the book also speaks of Sarah's spiritual journey where she not only strives to serve as a P.A. to help people become physically WELL but also her departure from the clinic and being able to say "It is WELL with my soul" as she grapples with resuming her life in the U.S. The most profound answer to why there is suffering in so many countries and why God "allows" suffering in the world, is the question "Why do we?"
January 3, 2018
The author, Sarah Thebarge, told her story of being a young medical missionary in a secluded village in West Africa called, Togo. When she arrived at the airport, she encountered a French Man who instantly offered to help her with her luggage, but she immediately shooed him away. This happened countless times until Sarah yelled at the French Man to stop....My full review here http://www.shimiracole.com/book/sarah...
March 3, 2018
Wow! All this took place in three short months? Inspiring book on Sarah's journey to Togo and her difficult, exhausting, and life changing time serving as a Physician Assistant in a missionary hospital in the town of Mango in northern Togo. Had a hard time reading her book because I had tears in my eyes so much of the time! Favorite quote: "Love looks around". Thank you for sharing your story, Sarah!
January 10, 2019
I loved Sarah's first book. This one is just as a good. It is about her time in medical missions where the world's unhappiest people live (togo). I can't imagine all the suffering she had to endure and witness. At the end of the book she also taught that we can do important missionary stuff on american soil. We can love the refugee in the USA or even our neighbor. Sarah also taught me that we have to do and say everything with love.
November 17, 2020
Terrible but yet beautiful! The pain and hopelessness juxtaposed against the hope and beauty of Togo and its people. This book moved me in a way that few others have done. I feel changed and informed and motivated to do all I can to heal this broken and beautiful world as Sarah Thebarge describes it. I can't wait to read her first book The Invisible Girls. Highly recommend this book but a caution, you won't be able to forget this story!
May 21, 2020
Well written, Easy style to read. Having knowledge of the organization and some volunteers there, it feels a bit exaggerated and condescending, but there was redemption in her experience and was an interesting take. I was cautioned to “read with a grain of salt” so that helped to read it with some poetic and hyperbolic liberties.
April 7, 2024
Kudos for Sarah for extending this book to me! I finished the last page with tears swelling my eyes and my heart aching. But all the same I felt renewed by the hope of the gospel. That “wounds really do become promises of the resurrection” in this life. I pray that I too would fall in love with the rock the author so beautifully encapsulates.
November 6, 2017
Get ready to have your heart stretched. This wonderful true story, endorsed by Compassion International, will shake you up.
The author Sarah Thebarge is a physician's assistant who, after almost dying of cancer, packs everything up and moves to Togo, West Africa. Togo has the global designation of the most unhappy place in the world. Thebarge goes to care for the sick and the suffering.
The book is filled with stories of utter sadness and expectations of hope.
My favorite take-away from the book is this, "Who were we to challenge, let alone try to improve upon, Jesus' model of expressing Divine Love?" (pg 258)
This book will cause unraveling in the deepest part of one's soul and convince us *that what we do for the least of these - we are truly doing for our Lord and Savior.*
The author Sarah Thebarge is a physician's assistant who, after almost dying of cancer, packs everything up and moves to Togo, West Africa. Togo has the global designation of the most unhappy place in the world. Thebarge goes to care for the sick and the suffering.
The book is filled with stories of utter sadness and expectations of hope.
My favorite take-away from the book is this, "Who were we to challenge, let alone try to improve upon, Jesus' model of expressing Divine Love?" (pg 258)
This book will cause unraveling in the deepest part of one's soul and convince us *that what we do for the least of these - we are truly doing for our Lord and Savior.*
November 26, 2017
Loved this book. Raw, authentic, moving. Sarah's other book, The Invisible Girls, is one of my favorites as well. I'm grateful for the questions this author asks throughout the book, causing me to pause, reflect, and question. Grateful for strong Christian women like Sarah!
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