Written by Gillian Fraser; October issue of JOY! Magazine
Dr Emmanuel Thobejane grew up in the small village of Luckau in Limpopo, the eldest of eight children in a close Christian home. His father is a pastor, and faith was part of everyday family life. Long before he had ever met a doctor, Emmanuel already knew he wanted to study medicine. Today, after years of training as a neurosurgeon and pain specialist, he is using that calling to help people who have often lived with pain for years.
Faith that became his own
As a child, Emmanuel went to church because that was simply what his family did. But as he grew older, especially after leaving home for university, his faith became personal. His road into medicine was not easy. His parents had very little formal education, finances were limited, and an application problem forced him into an unexpected gap year. Looking back, he says he did not even realise then how many obstacles he was facing. “We were taught that no situation is bigger than God,” he says. “Whatever challenge you find yourself in, God will make a way and you are not alone.” His parents encouraged him to dream beyond their circumstances and did everything they could to help him pursue medicine.
When medicine became a calling
After qualifying as a doctor, Emmanuel encountered a young woman with a gunshot wound to the head. She later died, but the experience stayed with him and strengthened his desire to specialise in neurosurgery. During his postgraduate years, medicine became more than a career. “I realised that medicine was a calling for me,” he says. The journey was demanding, but he also became more aware of the people God placed around him to guide, teach, and support him. After completing his neurosurgical training, he moved with his family to northern Namibia, where he helped establish a neurosurgical service in Ongwediva.
Looking beyond surgery
It was in Namibia that Emmanuel began to see another side of medicine. As the only neurosurgeon serving the northern region, patients were often referred to him because doctors thought surgery might be the answer. But some did not need an operation. They needed help managing pain that was affecting their daily lives. That experience led Emmanuel to train further in interventional pain management. He completed his fellowship in 2015 and found great fulfilment in seeing people who had suffered for years begin to regain some quality of life. “Nothing gave me more joy than seeing a smile from a patient who had suffered for many years without tangible relief,” he says.
There may still be another option
Today, Dr Thobejane works alongside Dr RP Raath at the Chronic Pain Centre in Pretoria. Their focus includes people whose pain has continued despite previous treatment, specialist consultations, or even surgery. Emmanuel has seen how chronic pain can affect work, family life, emotional wellbeing, and a person’s ability to function normally. His message is simple: do not assume that ongoing pain means nothing more can be done. He encourages people whose pain has continued for months despite medical care to ask whether assessment by a pain specialist may be appropriate. “There is hope for people living with chronic pain,” he says. For him, the work of the Chronic Pain Centre is a practical expression of the calling he discovered through medicine – helping people who feel they have run out of options to find another way forward.
This article appears in the October 2026 issue of JOY! Magazine. Read the digital version of this magazine here: joygifts.co.za
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Date published: 24/09/2026
Feature image: Sourced from original article published in the October issue of JOY! Magazine
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