In Kinshasa, “chic” fashion boutiques sell “Justine” cosmetics from South Africa.  Justine cosmetics are advertised as “leading edge products combining the best ingredients nature has to offer with the latest advances in cosmetic science”. 

I met another Justine in a recent trip to Vanga.  This Justine was in the hospital, on the women’s surgical ward, a 24 year old, healing from fistula surgery.  A fistula is an abnormal passage torn in a woman’s body, through trauma or during childbirth, and it leaves her incontinent of urine or stool; foul smelling and socially unacceptable.   In a village far from the Vanga, Justine got pregnant with her first child, but had less than ideal prenatal care.  Her “home” delivery complicate and by the time her family organized meager resources to take her to a health center, the poorly trained “surgical assistant” badly executed a c-section and the surgery left Justine with a fistula, a large debt, and childless.  Several months later, when her family managed to pull together a bit more money, they made a two day walk to the Vanga hospital, where they heard they could get help.  Meanwhile, because of her incontinence, Justine’s wounds infected.  The surgical team at Vanga scheduled her for fistula repair surgery.  She could afford to pay only a part of that bill but she needed the surgery, so she had it.  Unfortunately, Justine will spend several weeks at Vanga.  Because of what delay did to damaged tissues, she will need at least one more surgery.  Certainly Justine’s family will never be able to afford a second one, but because of some generous financial gifts received by the Vanga hospital, and because the hospital team there serves Christ by taking care of the poor, Justine will have her second surgery. 

I sat on Justine’s bed, picturing the “Justine” I saw on a cosmetic bottle.  Would this Justine’s picture ever appear on a bottle of expensive perfume?  Two women in neighboring beds joined the conversation.  One told me she’d had fistula surgery 4 weeks ago, the other, only the day before.  They had similar stories – complicated deliveries, botched c-sections, permanently scarred bodies, debt.  Clearly, this Justine, with her tender, twisted smile, represented an important number of mostly young Congolese women, a young woman whose life is also a combination of the best ingredients, created by God himself, and into whom God breathed the breath of life, for God’s own glory. 

After Almighty God, the heroes in Justine’s story are the surgeons, anesthetists, hospital staff, and those who have trained them though the years – missionaries and volunteers – to provide the best medical/surgical care possible.  For 50 years, health care practitioners at the Vanga hospital have spent themselves tirelessly to mend bodies like Justine’s, bind wounds both physical and spiritual, and restore hope and wholeness.  Year after year, nursing students and resident doctors learn to do the same, in this harshest of environments where patients come with medical/surgical needs complicated by delay, poor technique, poverty and traditional beliefs and practices.  No patient carries health insurance, and subsisting on gardens and fields, most earn little more than a dollar a day.  So, other heroes in Justine’s story are those who have financially supported the work at Vanga through the years, in order that the hospital and its staff can stand in the gap, giving care in the name of the Greatest of physicians. 

If only Justine had made it to Vanga sooner.  She might be cradling a baby.  I trust that God, in his mercy, will completely heal her, and give her another child.  Her face may never appear on a bottle of perfume, but I know she will eventually walk the two days back to her village home because from her hospital bed, she’s found healing, and hope for her future, and God will find glory in her life.

On behalf of Justine, thank you for your financial support, for being a hero for her, and others like her.  Thank you for your support for the Vanga hospital, for financial gifts, White Cross, and for your prayers.  In spite of the challenges which are real, the Vanga hospital continues to provide good medical/surgical care, and remains a beacon in this country where light for young women like Justine, is needed as much as ever.