We spend a lot of our time doing obstetrics here. The typical Zambian family is between seven and nine people, so you can imagine how busy the hospital gets at times.
After performing a C-section on a woman who came to the hospital about a month ago, I received an unexpected gift. She told me she was going to name her baby after me. Many people don’t name their babies before they are born or even several days after, for that matter.
I got a chance to meet this baby last weekend when we went out to visit my host family from the village. I don’t really know why I enjoy the fact that there’s another kid running around out there with my name. Matthew is not an uncommon name, but it still makes me smile. As you can see from the picture, little Matthew is off to a healthy (read: fat) start! As we do more of our malnutrition outreach, I'm grateful for the kids who start out fat. They’ve got a leg up on the rocky road of subsistence farming ahead of them.
PROFILE
Dr. Matt Cotham
World Medical Mission Doctor
Kasempa, Zambia
In November 2006, Matt Cotham left his medical post in Denver, Colorado, to join the Post-Residency Program through World Medical Mission, the medical arm of Samaritan’s Purse. Although Matt’s training is primarily in emergency medicine, his work at Mukinge Hospital has exposed him to a variety of procedures, providing treatment with limited resources, and some Sunday morning preaching—all commonplace occurrences in the life of a bush doctor.
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