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Below is one resident's journey in joining PAACS at Tenwek. Helping a young surgeon like this is one of the reasons we are going back to Tenwek. -Mike  Hello, my name is Fasto ladu Theoplose Yugusuk and I am a PAACS Orthopaedic Resident. I was born in 1983 in Juba located in the Republic of South Sudan. A civil war broke out in my country between North and South Sudan. As a result, my people suffered greatly including my family. Food was scarce and people were starving. My father was concerned for our family. He decided to send us to another village and we would come back after the situation was resolved. Unfortunately, once we left, we were not allowed back and were blocked in the village for six years without our father. In 1994, the Sudanese army captured our village. We were taken back to the city and reunited with our father.
After seeing the suffering of many during the war, I knew I wanted to help and serve my people. I eventually attended the University and became a medical doctor. During my medical training, I met a surgeon who told me about the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS). He suggested that I apply to the orthopaedic program through PAACS. I submitted my application to the PAACS program in Tenwek hospital in Kenya with the hope of being trained as an orthopaedic surgeon. During this time, I sought God and I prayed and asked for His guidance and help. I asked that His will be done. I surrendered the PAACS application and my life into His hands. I heard from the PAACS program two days prior to the interview asking me to come immediately to Kenya. My gracious God had opened this door for me with PAACS to become a surgeon. I however needed a visa and had only 48 hours to get it. I went to the Kenyan embassy was told that it would take 72 hours to get a visa. I prayed and asked God for help. If this were His will for my life, he would open the door. The Lord told me to tell the clerk that I had an interview in 48 hours. The embassy clerk asked why I wanted to go to Kenya. I explained that I was a doctor going for an interview to be a surgeon. He immediately told me to come back the next day and that the visa would be ready. My God answered my prayer and worked on my behalf to get the visa. I was thankful to him for opening yet another door to become a PAACS surgeon. I had never traveled to Kenya before and I didn’t know how to get to Tenwek Hospital once I arrived. I also didn’t have any Kenyan currency. God used a lady I met to help me find a taxi driver from my country of Sudan and he took me to Tenwek. God continued to help me throughout my journey and made a way possible where it looked impossible. I attended the interview and kept seeking God’s will. Two days after the interview, I received an email congratulating me. My dream had come true and I was going to be a surgeon. I was excited that God chose me to do his work. I did not earn admission in the PAACS program on my own abilities. He is the one who opened all of the doors and enabled me to be a part of the PAACS program, allowing me to serve Him. Surgery is my ministry to glorify God and serve his people. I hope to go back to South Sudan and be a laborer in God’s kingdom. There are only two orthopaedic surgeons in South Sudan. I hope to be the third in my country. It is my desire to help the people of South Sudan and testify of the goodness of my God. Thank you for your support of PAACS. May God bless you for your generosity and kindness. Thank you also for making my dreams come true and caring for the people of South Sudan by training one more orthopaedic surgeon to serve them. May God bless you for your generosity and kindness, Fasto ladu Theoplose Yugusuk
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 Gunfire and Easter Join us in praying for Kenya College students in northeastern Kenya woke Thursday morning to a terrifying scene as terrorists stormed their campus - killing 148 people. The BBC and others report that the attackers sought out Christians to put to death. We celebrate Easter as Jesus coming to our aid in his own death on the cross and then returning to life. It was a horrible price to pay but a tremendous victory in the end. Decades ago, World Gospel Mission helped form a local body of believers in Kenya - the Africa Gospel Church. Their current leader, Rev. Dr. Robert Lang'at, shares his thoughts on these two events... In yet again, the saddest and most perplexing situation in Kenya, as Christians of this great nation of great people, during this Easter season must meet, in the light of the most despicable and scandalous death of our redeemer on a cursed piece of wood and yet in the irony of things has become the symbol and the embodiment of the deepest, widest, highest and greatest love possible, meet the tragedy of violence, terror, religious bigotry and death with the best of revolutionary love that is beyond human description. The love of Jesus is the best counteraction against evil. We as children of our beloved nation should say with Paul "We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed – always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. " (2 Corinthians 4:8 - 4:11 NKJV). Let us be instruments of peace even if does not make sense anyway. God have Mercy on Kenya my motherland! It is this group of believers we go to serve alongside at Tenwek, around Kenya and throughout the region. Please pray for them with us - for grace and peace and courage. An Update on UsWe continue to prepare to leave for Kenya. Lots of logistics. Mike will spend a few weeks working at children's hospitals this month to pay the bills and avoid drawing a salary from the mission (until we are fully funded and can move). Next month we all travel to MTI in Colorado to receive training in linguistics and cross-cultural work. They have a great program for kids to help them transition well and thrive in their new location. We are grateful for such support. We hope to be completely funded in June so that we can leave. People who share our vision for children's surgery and training medical missionaries continue to get connected with us - but we still have a way to go. Please pray with us for the needed funds. Caleb's 1st Birthday! |
AuthorsMike (pediatric surgeon) and Julie (nurse/mother to two) living in Kenya, East Africa Archives
February 2021
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