Read testimonials and experiences from an unforgettable trip to Ethiopia Don’t forget to check out the bonus video!
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MISSION TRIPS FOR 2025
Next year’s mission trip dates have been set! Which one will you be joining?
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CMANA’S STUDENTS & YOUNG PROFESSIONALS CHAPTER
Learn what the students and young professionals of CMANA are up to in this interview with Michael Karass.
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AMCAN’S THIRD ANNUAL CONFERENCE
CMANA’s Canada chapter has set a date for the annual conference.
CMANA’S MISSION TO ETHIOPIA:
MEETING THE NEED FOR MEDICAL CARE TO GOD’S PEOPLE
Thirty-one CMANA volunteers from a variety of medical specialties spent one week in Ethiopia in February 2024. They treated patients with needs ranging from absessed teeth to heart surgery. Three members of the mission reflect on their experiences during the trip.
Peter Aziz: God Multiplies Our Efforts
“I always loved humanitarian work and helping people, especially because God gave me the gift of medicine. I felt like the least thing I can do is use the gift that God gave me to help others,” said Peter Aziz.
Las Vegas-based physician Peter Aziz found CMANA through a friend. Recently, he made his third mission trip with the organization to Ethiopia.
Aziz is a urologist who specializes in female pelvic reconstruction and urology. Because of previous surgeries, complications in childbirth, and urinary issues, Ethiopian women suffer tremendously, and Aziz’s specialized skills are needed.
Team members gathering at a breakfast table before heading to work.
After his first trip to Ethiopia, Aziz decided he would return annually. “I made a promise to myself, that I'm gonna make it every year. I have to do something every year,” said Aziz.
Being one of two surgeons on the trip, Aziz’s work schedule was intense. On the first day of the week, he met with every patient for a surgical consultation.
Ethiopian doctors are very limited as to the type of procedures they can do for pelvic reconstruction. Another barrier to proper care is the lack of equipment. In Ethiopia, there’s no access to bladder slings or meshes, which are used in these procedures. Aziz did about four surgeries a day all major pelvic reconstructions for a total of 30 surgeries.
And in an effort to equip the Ethiopian doctors to care for their people after CMANA’s departure, Aziz instructed local physicians in how to perform the surgeries. “Every day, I had two fellows and a resident, and one of the attendings come,” said Aziz. “I would teach them how to do the procedures because I want them to be able to do those cases even when I leave. They need to be able to continue to provide care to the patients. So we did mostly the surgeries that they are not comfortable doing. By the end of the trip, the senior fellow was able to independently perform certain procedures like cystoscopies or bladder slings. That way she can do those when I leave.”
Aziz reports all patients did wonderfully following the surgeries, and none had complications.
Interventional Cardiologist
Dr. Ayman Iskander is getting ready to get access while performing a cardiac catheterization.
As Aziz reflects on the trip, he says one important takeaway was that God works mightily, even with limited resources. “We just have to put in 1 percent, and God takes care of the rest. Every problem I encountered was solved.” Aziz says he saw first-hand God’s presence with him. He said, “God never leaves you. There were certain surgeries that were very complex. After just simply praying, you would see God's work and everything is good.”
George Solomon, Cosmetic surgeon, operating on a young girl under the phone light.
Seeing God’s work during a medical missions trip boosts Aziz’s faith, but sometimes his faith is tested, too. He said, “I had a needle stick injury when I was in Ethiopia. And the patient was HIV-positive, And I talked to the fellow right away. They brought medications immediately for me. I started taking prophylaxis and the antiviral and I did that for four weeks. And despite the patient’s being HIV-positive, I tested and I am negative.”
Aziz knows that when God calls his children to work for his purpose and his glory, he will be there for them. “He's going to take care of you, and he is going to use any person to deliver his message,” said Aziz.
GOD NEVER LEAVES YOU
Marian Khalil: Patients Are Our Teachers
For general dentist Marian Khalil, serving in medical missions with CMANA is “charging fuel.” Her trip to Ethiopia was her third with CMANA.
“We live a very luxury life in the US. Everything's available, everything is accessible, and everything's affordable, you know? But I wanted to do something that reminds me of how lucky we are, how blessed we are. So I wanted to go [to Ethiopia] to remind myself how to be humble and how to give more than take,” said Khalil.
As the only dentist serving on the Ethiopia trip, Khalil says everyone quickly came to know who she was. Anytime she’d be among the people, she’d be surrounded suddenly by 100 patients. “They always think I'm the only one who will get them out of pain. It's good and bad at the same time,” said Khalil.
Dentist Dr. Marian Khalil performs tooth extraction on a patient
One of the most important and rewarding aspects of serving is connecting with the people and letting them know they are valued.
CLICKHERE!
“A patient had some generalized decay and all of her teeth had to come out,” said Khalil. “She was young—only eight or nine. So I sat down and talked to her a little bit about her dental hygiene and taking care of herself. She said one sentence that I will always remember. ‘You know, I've never had someone talk to me in nice or good words just attacking me.’ She had zero confidence in herself.
“So even when you're a mission trip and I know everyone is busy and we are there for a specific target—spending some time with each patient and making them feel like they're still human beings and they are loved was definitely [important].”
Dr. Michael Ibrahim, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation examines a patient alongside Dr. George Solomon.
“We had one lady whose leg had been severely infected for four years,” said Khalil. “She was waiting in line to be seen by one of our doctors for more than nine hours, The treatment plan for her was gangrene just cutting her leg off. When I get just a small cut on my finger, I’m miserable for weeks! So I learned the more I go to these patients we have to stop complaining in general. They suffer severe pain, and they endure pain way more than anyone I know. So their pain tolerance and endurance teach me every time I go there.” FOR
Khalil says the demand for dental and oral care is extremely high in Ethiopia. She mainly treated infections in her patients. “When patients say they’re in pain, that means the infection is at a very late stage. Or if they don’t report having pain, once they open their mouth and I see a lot of latent infection that means it's a very late stage. So one of the things that actually touched me personally was their high tolerance in general. And I'm pretty sure if you speak to other medical professionals that they've been with us, they would agree,” said Khalil.
A trip to an Ethiopian orphanage was also impactful and memorable for Khalil.
Khalil said, “The owner of the orphanage was 34 years old, and that orphanage was so, so big. More than 500 kids were there, and as I remember, they also housed 180 women and some boys. She teaches these kids, including how to sew and how to pronounce English.
“We met her, and I asked her what triggered her to own such a place. She said, she wanted to do this since she was 18. She's not married and doesn't want to get married. She said when she was young, her parents left her out. So she decided not to have anyone go through the same exact feeling that she had been through. So she decided when she was 18 to get permission from the government to get a small room and start hosting the homeless and orphaned. At the age of 22, she started growing it, and now she has a very, very big orphan center. She is just so happy serving these kids.”
Scenes from the orphanage in Addis Ababa.
Ayman Iskander: God’s Miracles Were On Display
Ayman Iskander, a founding member of CMANA and interventional cardiologist based in Syracuse, New York, led the missions trip to Ethiopia. “Usually missions like this are faced with a lot of challenges and obstacles, and this is the time that we strongly see or feel the hands of God working wonders and miracles,” said Iskander.
For this Ethiopia trip, Iskander and the team saw God work miraculously, delivering needed supplies for their work. It actually started before the mission when he received word that his grant application for cardiac stents had been denied. The company cited an agreement with the Ethiopian government, which implied there would be plenty of stents on-hand in Ethiopia. But that wasn’t the case, and Iskander notified the company. So, the company representative looked into the situation further and determined they needed to send stents. Three days before Iskander’s arrival, the stents were delivered in Ethiopia.
A similar instance happened with pacemakers. The CMANA team applied in a separate application for 15 pacemakers. They were approved for 10, and they arrived three days before the team was to depart for the trip.
Cardiac Team from right to left: Dr. Celaj Sulejman (Interventional Cardiologist), Dr. Charlie Khalil (Electrophysiologist) and Dr. Ayman
Iskander (Interventional Cardiologist)
The electrophysiologist who completed the application received word that the pacemakers were delivered to his home. But he only received five in that shipment, even though the company recorded having sent all 10. He tried to track down the remaining five pacemakers but was unsuccessful. The company
agreed to ship overnight another five pacemakers, since the trip was just days away.
When Iskander’s colleague returned to the hospital where he worked, he discovered the other five pacemakers had been delivered there. No one had any explanation as to why the shipment was split that way. So, he called the company to report he’d found the missing shipment. But he asked them to consider donating the other five since they’d already been sent.
The company agreed, and God provided the 15 pacemakers the team needed!
Dr. Celag Sulejman, Interventional Cardiologist performs a cardiac catheterization.
...the number ofcardiologists I have in my hospital[...], exceeds the totalnumber ofcardiologists in the entire country
Ethiopia has 129 million inhabitants. “Access to modern health care is very limited, and in many rural areas it is virtually nonexistent. … Medical schools in the country continue to produce general practitioners and a few specialists, but the scale of output does not match the rising demand. Shortages of equipment and drugs are persistent problems in the country.”
“Believe it or not, the number of cardiologists I have in my hospital in Syracuse, New York, which is one of four hospitals there, exceeds the total number of cardiologists in the entire country [of Ethiopia],” said Iskander. Expensive procedures 1
and equipment make surgeries, such as pacemaker insertion, cost-prohibitive for Ethiopians.
So, medical missions trips, like those with CMANA, do save peoples’ lives. Iskander spoke about a patient in the ICU who almost died. One of the nurses found him and referred him to Iskander. Had she not, he wouldn’t have made it. The team gave him a pacemaker, saving his life.
1 https://www britannica com/place/Ethiopia/Health-and-welfare
They asked the Ethiopian doctor, “If we were not here, what would have happened to this guy?” He said, “Nothing. We would just let him die—simple as that.”
Iskander says even though CMANA creates positive change in Ethiopia, it is still just a “drop in the ocean.” He is trying to create sustainability by training the local doctors who will be able to continue the work he began.
How You Can Help Ethiopia
An effective yet simple way to get involved with medical care in Ethiopia is to pray for the people and their healthcare system. Iskander encourages more healthcare professionals to join future medical missions trips to Ethiopia.
He’s also leading an effort to help equip a new cardiac building with equipment and supplies. If you’d like to help, donate at cmanamerica.org and specify the donation is for the Ethiopia cardiac building.
Optometrist Maryann Youssef examining a patient.
By the Numbers
31 volunteers - general medicine, pediatric, surgery, cardiac, pharmacy, dental, physical therapy, occupational therapy, optometry and pathology
665 adult patients
120 pediatric patients
10 surgical urogynecological procedures
70 patients in the clinic with 21 procedures performed
25 cardiac procedures
29 stents
12 pacemakers
840 optometry patients (720 received glasses)
160 dental procedures with 130 extractions
60 physical therapy and occupational therapy patients
35 joint injections
3,468 prescriptions dispensed
$255,000 for medications
$219,000 in grants for the stents and balloons
$450,000 in grants for the pacemakers
An Interview with Michael Karass
NCHAPTER!
ew York-based pulmonary and critical care attending physician Michael Karass has worked with CMANA for more than 14 years
Karass helped establish the organization’s Students and Young Professionals Chapter, which is designed to involve students in all the services through medical missions trips. The Chapter also hosts an annual conference each December, which gives attendees opportunities for training, mentoring, and networking The group who attended CMANA’s first medical missions trip to Bolivia wanted to have a reunion afterward. That reunion in New Jersey was the first conference.
We spent some time with Karass to find out more about the Chapter and plans for the upcoming annual conference in 2024.
Question: Tell us about the Students and Young Professionals Chapter and how you plan the yearly conference.
Karass: The Chapter is a group of students and young professionals who gather from all around the United States. At each Board meeting, we begin with prayer, and we tend to meditate on different Scripture passages. We usually focus on one book of the Bible each year
Board members taking a group photo after a successful conference in Sarasota, FL in 2022.
What usually happens is that the fruit of ongoing meditations produces the theme of the conference in December. Then we start thinking about inviting speakers and holding sessions that cater to that theme and help to serve the students and young professionals throughout the community.
Question: What happens at the yearly conference?
Karass: Students and young professionals come from different states throughout North America and Canada. We cover relevant topics that are at the interplay between health care, service, and spirituality. We discuss how to be stewards of our skills and knowledge and how to use that to serve the community at large.
We also have workshop sessions that are more focused on those different talks. We have larger breakout sessions where we invite different speakers and professionals to address all the different facets of being Christian in health care Some of the topics we’ve covered include how to
address different bioethics dilemmas, how to navigate different career decisions, and how to pursue different avenues of leadership and service. These continue to develop year after year.
We're hoping to continue to expand this year with programs or breakout sessions focused on the various needs of different careers and stages of schooling.
Michael Karass (far left) with CMANA members setting up registration materials for the 2023 conference in Houston, TX.
Question: What will happen at the annual conference in December 2024?
SOME
INSTAGRAM
POSTS FROM HOUSTON, TX 2023
Inspiring talks, engaging group discussions and workshops, fellowship, and lifelong friendships
Karass: That's a great question. It's something that we are searching together We're hoping to have the conference in Atlanta the weekend before Christmas; the conference is always the weekend before the week of December 25. We're still searching to unify the theme, so that is yet to be determined.
Over 300 members come to attend the conference every year!
Question: Describe your mentorship program.
Karass: We just re-launched our mentorship program, asking for mentors and mentees to sign up. Now, we're in the process of connecting different mentors to mentees based on the state that they live in, their career interests, whether they are clinically- or research-based, and the different healthcare specialties that they are involved in
Mentoring also happens organically. During the conference, we have a career fair, placing sub-specialists from the various areas of healthcare around the large conference room. Then, the attendees can go from table to table and ask two questions about the different career avenues of these specialties.
Networking at the conference is a great way to find a mentor.
Most recently, we held an in-person mentorship event during the time that people were applying and interviewing for residency positions. We invited the program directors and chairs to speak about preparing for the interview, to
coach them in the selection processes, and to prepare them as they start their residencies.
Once people have matched, we've invited them to speak about their experiences with the match process and the interview process. We hope to continue to develop over the next years expanding to different specialties We also want to address the needs of those who have finished their schooling in Egypt and are trying to pursue advanced training in the United States
The local NY Chapter gathers together for a meeting in the city.
Question: Speaking of mentorship, tell us about CMANA’s new local state chapters and their role in connecting members.
Karass: CMANA has started developing state chapters to serve their local communities. So in New York, for example, we're in the process of planning social events like a hike
and we’re also planning for outreach. We’re working on a local health fair that services the local community, as well as planning for future mentorship events We hope to have a similar model developed in different states so that we can serve locally continually and have local mentorship opportunities. Current states with local chapters include New York, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. There's also a chapter forming in Florida.
If anyone wants more information about their state chapter or starting one, email support@cmanamerica.org.
Question: You’ve shared a lot of great information about the Students and Young Professionals Chapter. How can people get involved or contact you if they have questions?
Karass: First, I would like to plug our blog Students and young professionals can share their experiences—whether they have been recently on a mission trip or had an encounter at work or school. It fosters discussion and reflection so that we can continue to learn from each other's experiences. It's an opportunity for people to get involved and to write different entries that can be published on the blog
For questions about contributing to the blog or about Students in general, please email cmanastudents@cmanamerica.org.
CAMCAN’S
ANNUAL CONFERENCE
S E T F O R S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 4
MANA’s Canadian chapter (known as AMCAN) will host its annual conference September 13-15 in Montreal, Quebec.
AMCAN registered as a charity in 2021 after a two-year application process. Working hand-in-hand with the U.S. division of CMANA, Canadians continue to participate in U.S.-led missions trips. AMCAN leaders hope to begin Canadian-led missions trips and increase missions primarily to Frenchspeaking countries.
This year’s September conference will be AMCAN’s third.
Even though details are still in process, conference organizers say that the AMCAN conference’s main goal is to bring healthcare professionals together for networking. The conference also features speakers who offer instruction and encouragement in both Christian faithfulness and the practice of medicine.
Mental health from a spiritual perspective has been the conference focus for the past two years. In 2024, the conference theme is healthcare leadership in Christ-centered care.
“The mission is really about sharing God's word and bringing Christ’s message to everyone in the healthcare field,” said Sara Yassa, a registered nurse from Montreal. “So, healthcare leadership comes in different
First Annual Conference, held in Montreal, QC (2022)
levels. We're all leaders in the workplace. You don't need to occupy a management position to be a leader. We all strive to be a leader by e l ”
CMANA Canada’s first medical mission trip to Haiti, 2017
Past conferences have attracted about 120 people Conference organizers hope to have a slightly larger crowd this year while preserving the intimacy and opportunities for indepth discussion and fellowship that the conference is known and loved for.
“We want every attendee to take something from the conference that will help them focus on becoming a better healthcare provider with Christ’s
vision. We will look at strategies, tools, and resources that we can each use in our workplace to represent the image of Christ,” said Yassa.
A registration form will be published soon on the AM CAN website at canada.cmanamerica.org/. To stay updated on news from AM CAN, connect with us on our Facebook group or follow us on Instagram.
If you’d like to become a member of AM CAN, join on our website
