Two faculty members and a student from Gadsden State Community College’s Health Sciences division recently completed a medical mission trip to one of the world’s poorest countries, a journey that they say made a profound impact on them.

Ashley Crusey, director of GSCC’s radiography program; Rebecca Southern, director of its diagnostic medical sonography program; and Macy Taylor, a diagnostic medical sonography student, spent two weeks in Malawi, an agrarian, landlocked country in southeastern Africa where, according to the Action on Poverty website, more than half the residents live in poverty and a fifth of them live in extreme poverty.

The trip was made through the Chikondi Health Foundation in Montgomery, according to a news release from the college.

Southern had already been to Africa on a mission trip in July, showing instructors and students at East African Christian College in Rwanda how to use ultrasound equipment that had been donated to them.

The Chikondi Health Foundation has a partnership with Blessings Hospital in Lumbadzi, Malawi, according to its website. “Chikondi” means “love” in the Chichewa language spoken in central Malawi.

The hospital received portable digital X-ray equipment, EKG and ultrasound machines, IV pumps and a ventilator, funded through the Giving Tree Medical Charity funded by Rotary clubs in California and Indiana, according to the release.

Southern learned that they needed experts to install the equipment and offer instruction on how to use it, and reached out to Crusey.

“Why would I say no? I knew it was going to be a wonderful experience,” Crusey said in the release.

Crusey installed the X-ray equipment, provided direction on how to use it and took 60 X-rays of 30 patients during the trip.

She said Blessings Hospital was having to refer patients to other hospitals for X-rays, often delaying care. “Now, they have their own equipment,” she said, “so they can serve their patients in a timely manner at their facility.”

Southern and Taylor set up the ultrasound machine and taught a physician and three medical officers to use it for bedside abdominal, obstetric and pelvic ultrasounds. They also performed 15 echocardiograms.

“They were very interested and receptive to learning,” Taylor said of the hospital staffers. “They were like sponges. They wanted to soak it all in and know about how everything works.”

The ultrasound machine also had immediate benefits for two pregnant women. Scans by Taylor revealed that the daughter of a cook at the hospital needed an immediate C-section, and that a woman who believed she was only three or four weeks pregnant actually was dilated and set to deliver within a few days.

“It goes to show the importance of ultrasound,” she said. “A woman needs to know what’s going on with her body and when to expect a big life-changing moment like giving birth.”

Crusey’s husband, Trey, also went on the trip and helped with building projects at the hospital and its campus. She said she was happy to share the experience with him, adding, “He was so useful in so many ways. He never stopped working. He was always doing something to help.”

While in Malawi, the group interacted with villagers and soaked up the country’s culture. They also went on a land and water safari in the Liwonde National Park, seeing baboons, bush deer, crocodiles, hippos and lions. Southern also recalled walking out of a hut and seeing “a hippo in the water right in front of me.”

Crusey cited the country’s “eye-opening” living conditions, with people living in “nothing but four walls for a house.”

She said one well might provide water for an entire community, and barefoot toddlers could be seen doing chores.

Taylor called it a “life-changing experience” that gave her a new perspective of how fortunate she is to live in the U.S. with its health care system.

“The people of Malawi are so kind and grateful,” she said. “They just take joy in the simple things. They really do the best they can with very limited resources.”

Crusey said it was a positive and moving experience for all. “We grew as people — personally, spiritually and in ways we didn’t expect to grow,” she said.

Southern said as an instructor, it was “a dream come true” to be able to give a student that kind of experience in that kind of setting. She likened it to “taking your kid to Disney World; you know you’re going to enjoy it, but it’s a whole new level of fun when you get to see your kid enjoy it.”

She added, “(Taylor) was phenomenal,” she said. “She did everything at the hospital. I was just there to support her.”

Taylor in turn said it was great to get to know Southern “on my level, as an equal,” adding, “She knows a lot, which can be intimidating, but I saw firsthand how nice and loving she is to everyone she meets.”

Southern and Crusey said they’d like to take more mission trips with Health Science instructors and students, with Southern calling it “an opportunity to grow stronger connections, to collaborate and to share ideas.”

She said it’s rewarding and that she “(gets) as much out of these trips as the people we serve.”

For more information on the Chikondi Health Foundation and Blessings Hospital, visit https://www.chikondihealth.org.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: GSCC Health Sciences group takes mission trip to Africa