Byron Conner shares experience as missionary doctor in famine-stricken Ethiopia
A Christian physician’s work in the Horn of Africa country tells what it is to come face to face with a disaster that displaced and killed hundreds of thousands of people.
Dr. Byron Conner’s journey in Ethiopia will inspire other medical professionals to see their own practice as a calling to mission.
“The Face of Hunger: Reflections on a Famine in Ethiopia” (ReadersMagnet; 2018) by Dr. Byron Conner is a gripping personal account of the 1983-1985 famine in Ethiopia. This book will do more than just move readers to tears or shock them; Dr. Conner’s story will exhort readers, particularly professionals, to reflect on their vocation in life.
It was during one sleepless night in early 1984 when Dr. Conner, who was a physician with the US Public Health Service in Earlimart, California at that time, learned about the famine in Ethiopia. While surfing TV channels, he chanced upon the fund-raising presentation by World Vision for the victims.
Despite the pictures revealing the hardships of the suffering Ethiopians, Dr. Conner was not moved at first but as he sat and watched the same scenes replayed over and over, he realized the victims were indeed powerless and innocent.
“There before my eyes were wasted, emaciated children with their faces covered with flies and looking miserable beyond belief. The mothers of those children looked hopeless as they tried to breastfeed their skeletal children,” said the would-be medical missionary.
Dr. Conner then felt ‘someone’ should do something about the famine and he need not ask who that person should be. “Gradually, I started to feel that ‘someone’ should be me. I was nearing the end of my term of service on my job at the time, so I thought; perhaps I can go to Ethiopia to help out somehow.”
The scenes of the famine replayed over and over in his head that he felt someone should be doing something about the global calamity that threatened thousands of lives. He gradually started to feel that that “someone” should be him.
In famine-stricken Ethiopia, Dr. Conner experienced and witnessed situations that were truly devastating and heart-breaking. He grappled with hopelessness and depression at times. Nevertheless, the physician, a practicing Seventh-Day Adventist, persisted in his mission to help the Ethiopians whenever he could, especially in the face of starvation and infectious diseases.
“We can’t solve all of the world’s pain and suffering, but we can try anyway,” said Dr. Conner.
Be inspired by Dr. Byron Conner’s story. Read more about his experiences and challenges in “The Face of Hunger: Reflections on a Famine in Ethiopia.” Copies are available at Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Face-Hunger-Reflections-Famine-Ethiopia/dp/1948864568/) and Barnes & Noble (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-face-of-hunger-byron-conner-md/1124763847).
Don’t miss the book’s public display at the upcoming Miami Book Fair on November 11 to 18, 2018 at Miami Dade College.
Readers are encouraged to visit the author’s website http://www.byronconnerbooks.com/
The Face of Hunger: Reflections on a Famine in Ethiopia
Written by Byron Conner M.D.
Published by ReadersMagnet LLC
Published date: July 19, 2018
Paperback price: $9.14
About the Author
Dr. Byron Conner is a published author, an Army veteran, medical doctor, a father, and a missionary.
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Byron Conner M.D.- Contact Information
- Michael Morgan
- Author Relations Officer
- ReadersMagnet
- Contact via E-mail
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