Book Nook: Well - Healing Our Beautiful, Broken World from a Hospital in West Africa

I recently had a chance to review Well - Healing Our Beautiful, Broken World from a Hospital in West Africa by Sarah Thebarge.

This book was hard to read, but thought-provoking. Hard to read because of all of the tragedies that Sarah encountered during her short-term stint at a hospital in Togo. Thought-provoking, because she brings up an unusual response to the question, "Why does God allow suffering?" Instead of answering it, she asks, "Why do we?"

Togo is ranked the least happy country in the world by the UN, and reasons why come out in this book - between the weather, the poverty, and the disease, Togo has a lot against it. She writes candidly about the diseases, the lack of necessary supplies, the experiences with different cultures, seeing FGN and its repercussions, and more. 

The book is definitely worth reading for anyone who has any interest in overseas medical missions, or missions to Africa. It serves as both a frank warning of what might await people who go, but also an inspiration for serving.


Sarah Thebarge is a speaker and author who grew up as a pastor’s kid in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She earned a masters degree in Medical Science from Yale School of Medicine and was studying Journalism at Columbia University when she was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 27. Sarah’s writing has appeared in Christianity Today, BurnsideWriters.com, Relevant, TheOoze.com, Raysd, and Just Between Us. Her writing for Christianity Today‘s This Is Our City project won first prize from the National Evangelical Press Association. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon.