By: Frank Ogden, M.D.
In 1970 I first arrived in Burundi to serve at Kibuye Hospital with my wife Maxine and 3 elementary school-age children. I was following several doctors who had served before me since 1946 when the hospital first opened, chiefly, Dr. Esther Kuhn, the founder, and Dr. Len Ensign. Others came for short periods. Ever since my freshman year at Seattle Pacific College (SPU) I had been preparing for this moment. That’s when God used a course in anatomy and physiology to confirm my call to missionary service.
What we found on arrival was a 42-bed hospital staffed by a handful of African nurses led by a Canadian nurse, Doris Moore. We had basic equipment with which to do medicine and surgery—a portable x-ray machine and a generator to power electric lights in the operating room. Kerosene lanterns were important for night duty in the wards. The water supply was usually good, though sometimes lacking. The pharmacy had basic medicines most of the time. We didn’t have fancy facilities and medicines; but God was with us, helping us meet the challenges.
I plugged right into building up services for the years ahead while doing my best to serve a population of 250,000. Since the road was only paved partway from the capital city of Bujumbura, our 100-mile journey to Kibuye was an all-day event, especially in rainy season. Nowadays it takes 2 ¼ hours.
Frank Ogden School of Medicine
Never could I have dreamed what was to transpire ½ century later, but here we are in 2020 and that small hospital with only one doctor most of the time has been transformed into a medical center with 229 beds and 18 doctors, half of them Africans. Also, there are 10 interns. Besides these, the hospital campus includes medical students and nurses in training in conjunction with the Frank Ogden School of Medicine, a division of Hope Africa University. Who could have imagined? The facilities’ expansion alone are amazing enough—two-story surgical ward, three-story pediatric building, two additional operating rooms, solar power, and an eye center, just to name a few. Recently Kibuye Hope Hospital has become a training facility for surgeons as part of the Pan-Africa Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS). We are so grateful for the team of Serge missionaries who have really developed Kibuye as the foremost Christian medical center of Burundi.
In the early days, there was no blood available so I had to devise a way to take it from a patient and store it until his operation 2 weeks later in order to give it back to him. Being the only surgeon I was quite busy caring for every kind of illness. Often people came from a far distance, even adjacent countries such as Tanzania and Congo. Epidemic typhus was a devastating epidemic. We had nearly 100% fatality rate until I learned that one 100 mg tablet of doxycycline would cure it. Pfizer Lab gave me the medicine for the clinical work and sent me to Czechoslovakia to present it at a medical conference. We have now eradicated typhus from Burundi. When I retired for the second time, finally hanging up my scalpel in early 2013, we left a one hundred thirty bed hospital as a referral center for 10 health centers. We knew that a team of young doctors was coming later that year to continue the work in the highlands of central Burundi. It was gratifying to me to help train the first class of medical students (from Hope Africa Univ) and attend their graduation in December 2012.
There were some setbacks in the progress to becoming the medical center it is today. A civil war came in 1972 that caused many of the hospital staff to be killed or flee. Then again in 1993, a second genocide caused chaos in the country and devastation to the hospital. Nevertheless, God continued to bless Kibuye through the troubled times, enabling faithful staff to offer healthcare and hope to many. Though I was absent for some years Dr. Dave Crandall, a general surgeon, began building the new hospital at Kibuye in 1973. When I returned three years later I completed the construction and appreciated working in this much larger facility with two operating rooms, maternity, wards, lab, and pharmacy. In 1990 I started the feeding program (Busoma) to prevent the malnutrition of children which has since grown into a major nutrition program with the help of Free Methodist International Childcare Ministry (ICCM) and other donors.
In 1993, while on home assignment in the US Maxine was found to have colon cancer. After a 3-year battle, the cancer recurred and I lost my wife of 39 years. In June 1997 the Lord gave me a new helpmate in order to continue working for Him in Central Africa. Carol Watson had been an evangelistic missionary of the Free Methodist Mission for 10 years in Rwanda prior to the genocide of that country. She had no trouble adapting to life in Burundi due to the similarities in language and culture. We served the hospital and the church full time until 2005 when I retired just short of age 70.
After that we went as volunteers, going for 3 months each year to help, often with the assistance of other short term doctors - especially Dr. Jerry Rusher and Dr. Patricia Rees. There were also three African doctors in residence. We built a 16-bed dormitory for medical students coming for clinical training, a new maternity, and a quadruplex for the expected arrival of the Serge Medical Team coming in 2014 with 6 new doctors. Thus, I could fully retire at age 78.
Now two of the graduates from our medical school have returned to serve at Kibuye after their specialty training in surgery and ophthalmology. Another graduate, a Ugandan, having trained in surgery in his home country, is now establishing a Christian hospital in his home area. We thank God for these first fruits of the new medical school.
It is very gratifying to look back on 50 years to see the phenomenal growth of Kibuye--- from a 42-bed, one-doctor mission hospital, to an important Christian medical center, Kibuye Hope Hospital (soon to be 300-beds) with multiple medical staff, including many specialists. All glory to God for His provision and protection for a half-century of service.