Hidden Heroes
NORTHERN IRELAND - Dr. Mitch Ryan, Senior Program Director of Earth Mission, received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Ulster University on July 4, 2023.
An Ulster University spokesman stated, “We have conferred Dr. Mitch Ryan as an honorary graduate for showing leadership in addressing health needs in a very challenging environment.”
In his acceptance speech, Dr. Ryan defines the true heroes, emphasizes the importance of community, and calls the rising generation to a life of purpose and meaning:
“Vice Chancellor, members of the Senate, esteemed colleagues, new graduates, and guests,
At my age and stage in life, not much surprises me anymore. But when I got the letter from the Vice Chancellor’s office offering me this honorary doctorate degree, I was honestly speechless—completely shocked. I didn’t see it coming at all. But then, I seriously started wondering, what had I done to deserve such a distinguished award?
I mean, my life is surrounded by heroes much more deserving than I. For the last 18 years, I have been working with the Karen people group who live in a volatile, uncertain, and complex setting, to say the least. Our organization has been training young Karen students to provide healthcare in remote jungle areas. I wish I had time to tell you the stories of young men and women who have given up the security of a professional career for an ideal, who have put personal dreams on hold for their neighbors, who give to the end of themselves.
We have a number of staff at one of our clinics who have chosen to stay in the middle of a city under siege. They are facing rising food prices, electrical blackouts and shortages of medicines and supplies. Our administrator, a young Karen woman, regularly crosses risky lines to get money and supplies to keep her clinic running. Although many of our staff have left, our medical director chooses to stay and treat patients in this same unstable environment. Why? Both of these young women could leave. Yet they have told me they want to support the community that they are a part of. Our cashier at this same clinic, who is also my Karen language teacher, recently gave birth to a son. She named him “Shining Hope.” Considering the circumstances, either she’s a bit crazy... or she has tapped into some source of deep strength.
At another location, we have doctors, nurses, and PAs, some from the cities, who now live in the middle of the jungle. There are no restaurants or shopping malls. No hot showers. No privacy. Most of the time no internet access. Simple food is cooked over an open fire. Often, many of the staff are away from their immediate families for prolonged periods of time. They, too, live with the reality of potential conflict. Still every day they teach and inspire students as they treat patients with kindness and dedication. One of our surgeon’s life motto is “to serve others before myself.” Many of our staff at all of our locations live out this philosophy in a very practical and real way despite the cost.
That’s the company I keep—the heroes that surround me and inspire me. The word hero is Greek, from a root that means “to protect; to serve.” From the beginning, the idea of a hero was connected with self-sacrifice, especially in dangerous situations. These Karen brothers and sisters continue to serve selflessly even as their society disintegrates around them. Somehow, they have found the strength to not give into the darkness of hatred, despair or fear. I have to ask myself... where does the strength come from to live like that?
Curiously, my work with the Karen has led me to another group of people who have also lived through troubled times without giving into the darkness. A church in Belfast has supported our work with the Karen for a few years now. That has included sending teams out to help with building projects, offering HR and financial advice, funding, and prayer. And although these two groups—the Karen and the Belfast church—are culturally quite different, I have noticed that they share two distinctive characteristics.
Both my Karen friends and my Irish friends know how to do community well. I am coming to believe that we as humans are hardwired for community. Numerous psychological studies seem to support this fact. Only in community do we have the strength to hold values and pursue activities that give purpose and meaning to our lives.
Now having said that, obviously, that is not true for every kind of community. Some communities use their strength to destroy. So what makes the difference between these generative communities and those destructive ones?
I think that question is answered by the second characteristic that both my Karen and Irish communities share. They both highly value giving: giving both to their own within the community, but also specifically giving outside of their own community. My wife, Caryl, and I as Americans come from outside of these communities... yet we are warmly included in both. They have given us places to stay. They have given us meals. They have given us their time. People in both communities have nurtured us and helped us to build our own dreams... for our own good. They truly are giving communities.
To you graduates here today: how can you use your education to live a life with purpose and meaning? As you go into new settings after graduation, I would urge you to put serious effort into this one simple thing: wherever you go, take some time to become an integral part of a giving community. Don’t go it alone. That is the beginning. And then when you have learned the whole truth of it for yourself, take that message of hope to the whole world. These days, it desperately needs it.
Ultimately anything I have been able to accomplish has come from God. But he has used a few giving communities as the means of accomplishing great things. That definitely also includes the micro-community of my own family where I was first introduced to, and continue to be empowered by, a life-giving community. First by my mom and dad. Later, and especially, from my wife Caryl and my sons Josh and Luke. So, it is on your behalf, the Karen, my Irish friends, Caryl, Josh, and Luke—on your behalf, simply as one member representing your giving communities, I am happy to accept this honorary degree. Vice Chancellor, members of the Senate, sincerely... thank you. We hope to do you proud.”
Dr. James Mitchell “Mitch” Ryan
A former USAF Major and ER physician, Mitch is a visionary who has spent most of his professional career working internationally alongside his wife Caryl, a licensed nurse. Together they have launched initiatives focused on providing excellent and innovative healthcare in regions of the world where quality medical care is limited. From 1995 - 2005, he founded and operated the Gilgit Eye Hospital in Northern Pakistan, supported a medic training program for the Karen people in Myanmar from 2005 - 2015, and in 2015 established the Earth Mission Physician Associate training program in southeast Myanmar.
He enjoys working with a team of professionals dedicated to serving people and teaching others how to do the same. He also co-authored a medical textbook that is utilized in Earth Mission’s Physician Associate training program. Mitch has a bachelor’s degree in Biology and received his MD from Wayne State School of Medicine. He completed his residency in Family Medicine and received a certificate in Tropical Ophthalmology from the International Center for Eye Health in London. Mitch maintains active U.S. medical licenses in Arkansas and Oklahoma. In 2023, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Ulster University.
Ultimately, Mitch is driven by his faith in Jesus Christ, in the spirit of Isaiah 58:6: “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?” To be a Christian is to be the hands and feet of Jesus. To love is to sacrifice.