We made the news of our move public (via email and on Facebook) but have not taken the chance to share the life changing decision to relocate to the USA, specifically Birmingham, Alabama.
We began thinking and praying about relocating in March. When we came back to Malawi after spending the Christmas holiday in the USA, we started to have some serious discussions about Sophia’s schooling and what was best for her and our family. We believed she will benefit from a more traditional learning experience that we could not offer her in Malawi.
It was hard for us to make the choice to leave Africa. We spent months in prayer and are at peace with the decision, even though we miss our Nkhoma community. The hospital and the people we served in Nkhoma are important to us, and we are sad that we left. We have seen so much growth and are so proud of this hospital and the people who serve in it every day.
At the end of May we moved to Birmingham, Alabama to work for an amazing community-based health organization called Cahaba Medical Care.
From their website: https://www.cahabafamilymedicine.com/why-were-here
“Cahaba Medical Care is a local community-based health organization that aims to be an incarnation of love, peace, and justice by guiding our patients through their journey towards physical, mental, spiritual, and social well-being, and to be a center for transformative medical education and primary care training in rural, urban, and international contexts, modeling and exhorting the next generation of medical professionals in a career of excellence, conscientiousness, and compassion.
Our mission flows from our affirmation that our purpose is to love God and show his glory by walking in the steps of Jesus and ministering in the love of Christ.”
We are both teaching faculty in the Cahaba Family Medicine Residency Program, which is a Christian family medicine residency program with a strong global health focus. Our clinic is in a low income, medically underserved neighborhood in Birmingham called West End.
We began work on October 3rd and after a month of orienting ourselves to the new world of medicine in America we have finally started seeing our own patients a couple weeks ago.
We are be teaching, training, and mentoring the next generation of family medicine doctors to serve the underserved with love and grace. We cannot believe how similar it is to what we have been doing in Africa.
The last six months have been a whirlwind of activity. We moved from Malawi, Sophia and Oliver started 2nd grade and preschool at traditional schools for the first time, and we are working hard to get all our certifications and licenses ready to start work on October 3.
This next step in our ministry is a big one, and we are so thankful for all the support you have given us emotionally, spiritually, and financially while we served overseas as Christian physicians. We cannot believe how similar Birmingham feels to our previous ministry locations in Africa. We are excited to be a part of Cahaba’s domestic (in the USA) medical ministry set in the heart of urban Birmingham.
Since we started work in October we are now paid employees of Cahaba Medical Care and no longer depend on financial support from our Support Family. Though we are no longer fundraising for our salary, we still be depend on your prayers for our medical ministry.
One big difference in our new domestic medical ministry is that fact we will no longer be dependent on donations from our Support Family. Christian Health Service Corps. (CHSC) was and will continue to a part of our family even though we are no longer in Africa full time. They offer the same nurturing support to all their missionaries, but to continue to do this for years to come the organization depends on donations from generous people seeking to further God’s kingdom around the world.
If you would like to continue supporting Christian Health Service Corps. please continue without any changes to your current donation process. All donations designated for the Drs. Brockington (Project 145) will be rerouted automatically to the “CHSC Global Surgical and Health for All Fund.”
If you would like to designate a different medical missionary or missionary family (https://www.healthservicecorps.org/missionaries/) to receive your financial support please email Mary Tschoepe at [email protected]. If you would like to call CHSC instead in email please call 903-962-4000 leave a message for Mary or the Office Coordinator, Tracy will take a message for you and Mary will call you back.
If you would like to stop your recurring donation completely, please follow the same steps: email Mary Tschoepe at [email protected]. If you would like to call CHSC instead in email please call 903-962-4000 leave a message for Mary or the Office Coordinator, Tracy will take a message for you and Mary will call you back.
Please include these details in the email:
Donor Name:
Donor phone number:
Email linked to donation:
Form of donation: check, credit card, etc
Missionaries: Drs. Brockington, Project 145
Action: Cancel recurring donations OR designate new missionary or missionary family
Name of new missionary or missionary family:
Please keep praying for us. This has been a challenging time emotionally and logistically, but we know God is carrying us.
We are sad to have finishing such a HUGE chapter in our life but are encouraged that God has provided a way forward for us to continue to serve Him through our practice of medicine and our love for the underserved in this world.
We want to stay connected to you all. For now, it will be through email primarily. Please subscribe to the blog at the bottom of the screen and we will have your email to make sure you are getting our updates!
