ETP Takes: CMDA National Conference, Enugu State Teaching Hospital!

Hey hey people! For the very first time in my life I visited the Eastern parts of Nigeria guys! In order to get to the conference venue I had to pass through Oyo, Ondo, Benin, Edo, Delta, Anambra and Enugu (as the conference actually held in Evangel Camp in Ebonyi State) – it took exactly 12 hours on the road haha, my longest road trip ever – but it was worth every minute, plus my school people made the ride to and fro interesting; from heated discussions to Praise and worship and streetfood purchasing, the journey was lovely!

Saturday morning started super early with beautiful morning devotion led by the host school’s choir, then we had a session where we broke down the Christian Medical and Dental Association (CMDA) logo then headed off for breakfast.

Abia State University Teaching Hospital Delegation; photo courtesy Anualobi Caleb

Can I take a moment to commend the meals served at the conference? UNTH had to cater for over 1000 Christian Medical Students from across the Nation but not once did food run out, and it was always hot and fresh! They really put a lot of effort into the planning, there were always protocol members ready to pack up plates as soon as delegates were done with their meals, and they did their jobs cheerfully; it was beautiful and I found myself commending them all the time haha.

University of Port Harcourt Delegation, photo courtesy @cmda.s_upth

We had a mission talk which centered upon the theme of “Willing Men”, in that God wants Medical Students to spread the gospel – as some of us know CMDA’s tag line is “caring for the whole man: spirit, soul and body (1 Thess. 5:23)”, we were urged to practice holistic medicine which extends to the spirit of our patients.

Bowen University Teaching Hospital Delegation, courtesy @cmda_buth

Next we broke off into 18 parallel sessions then regrouped, before having a much needed Praise break to get us energized right before the relationship talk which was profound! So this speaker didn’t just give us the usual “pray for this and that” relationship talk alone, no she went further to give us salient points regarding our relationships, which I shall share:

To the guys

1.Let your help be help. No strings attached! Don’t support her with the mind that she will begin to belong to you – just help if you want to help without ulterior motives.

2.Don’t hold numerous girls down. Don’t raise several girls’ hopes up only to pick one and crush the remainder – be cordial but don’t go off projecting a future with each of them, no where to draw the line whilst you decide who you want to settle with.

3.Have integrity. If you had been close to a woman and she disclosed private things about herself to you, whether you and her go all the way or not, respect her trust and confidence in you, she cited how Joseph didn’t go telling all his friends about how Mary was pregnant before they got married, don’t involve others in your business unnecessarily.

To the girls

1.Be firm, stable and resourceful. Sister, have “your own”, don’t let your dependence on others put you in unnecessarily precarious positions. Stand on your own two feet financially and otherwise before joining yourself with someone else.

2.Don’t assume. What he didn’t say – HE DIDN’T SAY. Don’t help him put words in his mouth – you’re only setting yourself up to get hurt – by yourself.

3.Be teachable & humble. Girl, you don’t know everything – be open to learning from your partner and humility is key, you’ll need it to be able to submit to his leadership – it’s important you are able to see your partner as the head of the relationship, and later the house.

This relationship topic is huge so I’ll def expand later, but I just wanted to share some salient points from my experience at the CMDA National Conference – hope you enjoyed the post!