“I vividly remember photos of malnourished Ethiopian children on the cover of National Geographic in the early 1980s,” says Dr. Bernardita Gaspar, Deputy Country Director with International Medical Corps in Sudan. “Even though I was a child, I understood what was happening, and it prompted me to tell my father that I wanted to become a doctor.”
Though Dr. Gaspar currently lives in Sudan, she is originally from the Philippines. Growing up, she found inspiration for her future career at home and at school. The second eldest of five children, she and her siblings attended a local Catholic school where her parents worked—her mother as a cook and her father as support staff.
“My reading skills were not that great, and that’s why one of the nuns gave me National Geographic and other magazines, like Guideposts, where I read stories about lay missionaries. These missionaries were not nuns or priests, but they would go to countries in Africa, South America and even Asia to help people. I wanted to do something similar, but as a doctor.”
When Dr. Gaspar speaks, she is humble, reflective and clearly passionate about her work. During nearly 20 years with International Medical Corps, she has worked in some of the toughest environments in the world, including Haiti, Iraq, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen, South Sudan and Darfur, Sudan, at the height of the conflict there in the early 2000s. The latter was her first post with International Medical Corps, where she treated a young patient whose challenges went beyond his medical condition.
“It was a normal day in the clinic and then I was called to the registration desk,” explains Dr. Gaspar. “When I got there, I saw a man holding his child, a little boy. What struck me most was the intense fear in the man’s face. I asked the registrar, ‘What is the problem, why did you call me?’ They answered me with a question, “Should we register this child?”
I was confused. I answered that, of course, everyone who enters the clinic must be registered to be seen. Then they explained—he was not from the area. He was from another tribe. This was in 2007, when tribal conflict was very bad in Darfur. I told them to register him. This child’s tribe didn’t matter. We treated every child who came to the clinic. I felt this moment deeply, because my father has experienced intense discrimination in the Philippines because of the tribe he belongs to.
“Through my translator, I asked the man what was wrong with his son. Instead of telling me, he placed the boy on the floor and asked him to stand up. It was then that I realized that the boy had a muscular disorder because he had to climb on himself to get up. By that point, the staff had warmed up to these patients. They realized the plight of this man and his child, and they were eager to provide whatever help they could. Though the child’s condition could not be cured, we provided nutritional assistance and vaccinations, and told them to come back with any other health issues. The man was relieved and visibly relaxed as he and his son left the clinic.
“I was proud of my team that day—and proud to be working for International Medical Corps. We were able to help someone who otherwise would not have had access to healthcare.”
Seeking Out People in Need
Dr. Gaspar attended medical school in the Philippines. After graduation, she worked for a Department of Health program called “Doctors to the Barrios,” where she traveled to remote islands across the country to provide medical care to communities that did not have regular access to a doctor. Though the work was rewarding, after five years, she was ready to help others abroad, as she had dreamed when she was a child. That’s when she joined International Medical Corps.
In her current role, Dr. Gaspar oversees programs and planning across the Sudan mission, traveling to the field often to ensure that International Medical Corps’ lifesaving programs are running smoothly and our staff has the support they need. With the ongoing conflict, and extreme weather events, this has become more challenging.
“I visited one of our program sites in Kassala recently,” Dr. Gaspar shares. “The site has been affected by flooding and an influx of displaced families from other states in Sudan. It has been very challenging for our team. I met some of the patients in the clinics, and they told me how much our team has lessened the load they were feeling—being displaced, sick and so far from home. Hearing that encourages me to continue to do all I can to support our work with these vulnerable populations.”
Currently, the situation in Sudan is dire. The brutal civil war, which began nearly two years ago, has created the world’s largest displacement crisis. More than half of the population—25.6 million people—are experiencing acute hunger. Approximately 3.7 million children under 5, and 1 million pregnant and breastfeeding women, are acutely malnourished. International Medical Corps works closely with communities to meet these challenges head-on by, among other things, sharing lifesaving feeding practices.
“Throughout every project, we engage the community,” says Dr. Gaspar. “We meet with community leaders and ask for feedback from the patients in the clinics. We engage mothers to understand what the most prominent needs are for families, instead of assuming that we know what they need more than they do. We also train health workers and community leaders to help ensure that the services we provide will be sustained and improved over time. It’s one of the many things that sets International Medical Corps apart—we know things will change, but through training, the services we provide can continue, no matter what comes next.”
Learn more about our work in Sudan, and donate to International Medical Corps today to help people around the world affected by conflict, disaster and disease.