More than 150 miles outside of Burundi’s capital, in Central Africa, a growing Serge missionary team is laboring to provide clinical care for patients. They are also training medical students to be among the next generation of health providers. The team offers a level of specialty care never previously available in this region of Burundi.
Dr. Jason Fader is the team’s surgeon and sole full-time surgeon for the region. In a country that the World Bank called the world’s hungriest nation, Dr. Fader is the only surgeon accessible for millions of people.
It is with a great deal of excitement that we are proud to say that, in 2016, Dr. Fader was awarded the first-ever Gerson L’Chaim Prize for Outstanding Christian Medical Missionary Service.
The 2016 Gerson L’Chaim Prize drew 26 applications from long-term medical missionaries in 12 countries and came with a $500,000 award that Dr. Fader and the Serge team will use to:
- Add critically needed hospital beds at rural Kibuye Hope Hospital
- Create Burundi’s first postgraduate medical training
- Expand lower-limb fracture care in a nation that travels by foot
Dr. Fader’s honor has been covered by Christianity Today, World, CBN News, and others.
“Missionary doctors are this era’s untold humanitarian story,” said Mark Gerson, who underwrites the prize with his wife, Erica. “Forsaking every comfort and convenience to bring skilled compassion to the continent’s poor, Dr. Fader and his team are links in a string of unsung heroes across Africa.”
Commenting about the award, Serge Executive Director Bob Osborne said:
“We are so incredibly grateful. I’ve seen Jason’s work first-hand and the sacrifices he and the team have made to serve among incredible need. God sees this team, we see this team, and to have a very informed and credible outside group also recognize and celebrate this work—it’s a cause for great rejoicing. The investment that the Gersons are making will overflow to bless future generations.”
>> Learn about Serge’s medical missions work.
