Dr. Trymore Sithole
General Surgery Resident
Malamulo Adventist Hospital
Malawi
Trained by Faith, Sent to Heal
At the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS), healing stories often begin long before surgeons and related specialists ever enter the operating room.
For Dr. Trymore Sithole, that story began in rural Zimbabwe, where suffering was common and help was often far away. He grew up watching families face what no family should have to endure: mothers losing children to treatable illnesses, patients living for years with painful conditions, and communities waiting for care that was too distant, too costly, or simply unavailable.
Those moments stayed with him.
As a young man, Dr. Sithole served in his church as a youth leader, visiting the sick in homes and hospitals, praying with them, fasting, and offering what comfort he could. But over time, a question began to press deeply on his heart: What if hope could do more than comfort? What if it could heal?
That question became a calling.
God was leading him not only to comfort the suffering, but to confront it. That calling led him to medicine, and eventually to surgery, where healing can come in a moment that changes everything.
But before joining PAACS, Dr. Sithole knew the pain of limitation. Working in a rural hospital, he often recognized exactly what his patients needed, yet lacked the surgical training, tools, or support to provide it. He watched people arrive too late. He watched treatable conditions become fatal. He carried the heartbreak of knowing what could be done, while being unable to do it.
Then came PAACS.
At PAACS, Dr. Sithole found more than surgical training. He found a place where faith and surgical care are woven together, where skilled hands are formed alongside surrendered hearts. Now training in General Surgery at the PAACS program at Malamulo Adventist Hospital in Malawi, he is growing not only as a surgeon but also as a follower of Christ who sees surgery as a ministry.
Recently, that calling was tested in one of the hardest moments of his training.
A patient with a long-standing esophageal stricture came for a major operation. Because it was such a serious procedure, Dr. Sithole and the team spent significant time with the patient and family, talking through the surgery and praying before and after those conversations. In his department, prayer is part of patient care. It shapes how burdens are carried, and hearts are prepared.
The operation itself went well. Recovery seemed encouraging.
Then, unexpectedly, the patient deteriorated and passed away from a complication unrelated to the surgery itself.
Dr. Sithole was devastated. But in the midst of their grief, the family asked to pray. They thanked Dr. Sithole and the team for the care they had given. And then, in a moment he still carries with him, they began comforting him, urging him not to lose heart and reminding him to keep doing the work God had called him to do.
That moment changed him.
It reminded Dr. Sithole that while outcomes are not always in our hands, faithfulness is. Even in sorrow, God was present, strengthening him and the family.
Today, Dr. Sithole continues to grow in both skill and surrender. One day, he hopes to return to underserved communities like the one that first shaped his calling, bringing life-saving surgical care and the love of Christ to those still waiting for hope.
If Dr. Sithole could speak directly to you, he would say this: Because of your prayers and generosity, surgeons and related specialists are being trained and discipled to serve where the need is greatest. Every patient treated, every family cared for, and every community reached with healing and hope is part of the story you are helping write.
