The process of course takes place over the entirety of the book, which is for the most part a chronological series of events that hops from one person to another, from doctor to student. This includes Doctor Carin Hoek, a pediatrician from The Netherlands who reaches the same conclusion as Dr. Ellegala during her two year stay in Tanzania.
Bartelme's masterful command of narration helps a book about surgery, administration, and a bit of international politics read like a novel. The audience learns enough about each character to be vested in each one and not least of all the cause they are fighting for. This makes their impact all the stronger because it's a true story after all, one that continues to develop and can even be influenced by the readers themselves.
"A Surgeon in the Village" is more than just an inspiring tale of a Western trained doctor helping in an impoverished country. Bartelme uses Dr. Ellegala's story, and the story of the other doctors and nurses he interacted with, as a means of introducing a solution that would actually improve so called third-world countries. It seems the answer was never with the Western world, but within each nation.