Mending bones, healing hearts

It’s a busy morning at Machakos Orthopaedic hospital in eastern Kenya and surgery is about to begin. Peter Ndambuki, the patient, was injured on a construction site in 2019, smashing his heel. He received no compensation as a day labourer and has been unable to work since. There is a look of hopelessness in Peter’s eyes as he is lowered onto the operating table – a man who seems to have lost everything.

The anaesthetist, Dr Speciosa, whispers something in his ear and Peter visibly relaxes. Then I see something in the operating theatre I have not witnessed before. The lead surgeon, Dr Levis Nguku, begins to pray and the surgical team bow their heads. Dr Levis asks God to guide the operation and places Peter in His hands.

Husband and wife team, Dr Levis and Dr Speciosa (Specky) Nguku set up Machakos Orthopaedic Clinic in 2015 with the aim of giving patients comprehensive and compassionate treatment, particularly in the realm of bone and joint health.

“Disability in Kenya affects close to half a million people. When we founded Machakos Orthopaedic Clinic, there was only one orthopaedic surgeon between Nairobi and Mombasa, which spans about 500km. There was no way one doctor could cover all that,” says Dr Levis. “Our vision was to offer surgical care at almost a fifth of the price in the rest of Kenya, creating access to quality and affordable healthcare.”

 

Specky was raised a Catholic and regularly attended church as a child. When she was nineteen she was invited by a teacher at high school to watch the film, The Omega Code, along with other students.

“The main character, Lane, had a moment when he felt he was going to die and asked Jesus to save him,” she recalls. “The teacher asked if anyone wanted to be born again. I was not sure, so I didn’t raise my hand.”

Later that night, Specky had an asthma attack but couldn’t find her inhaler. She felt like she was going to die.

“All I could think about was Lane in the movie. I asked Jesus to save me. I felt better and the next day I knew something was different. I went to see the teacher who had shown us the film. We prayed together. I was advised how to read the Bible and grow in God’s word. I asked God if it was His will to study medicine and I realised I could serve God through my skill.”

The son of born-again parents, Levis surrendered his life to Christ when he was nine years old.

“I remember it vividly. The evangelist Reinhard Bonnke was having a crusade in a stadium near where I lived. The loud speakers were projecting the sound. My younger brother and sisters were playing in the house at the time and I told them to be quiet! When Evangelist Bonnke asked if anyone would like to be born again, I raised my hand.”

It was at Makerere University in Uganda that Specky met Levis when they were both taking postgraduate degrees – Specky in anaesthesia and Levis in orthopaedics.

“He told me stories of his mission work in Tanzania and Kenya and described the challenges for people living in rural areas, where access to orthopaedic care was limited,” says Specky. “I learned of the great need for anaesthetists in rural hospitals.”

Mission work was something that Specky was already deeply interested in. Whilst studying for her first degree in medicine at the University of Nairobi, she went on mission trips to island communities living on Lake Victoria.

“I saw the great need for doctors, and how patients evangelised to responded to the call,” she says. “I decided I wanted to serve as a missionary and one day run a hospital.”

Early on in Machakos Orthopaedic clinic’s development, the founders sought advice from the Transformational Business Network, TBN, which supports early-stage entrepreneurs. TBN receives funding from the Argidius Foundation, which helps small and medium-sized businesses grow and generate employment in low and middle-income economies.

“We see prayer and ministry as the most important aspect of our work,” says Specky. “We pray for all our patients especially those who are struggling with health issues. There are numerous occasions when Levis is led to pray with patients and their families when they face tough decisions.”

The clinic staff runs free weekly physiotherapy at the Machakos School for the Physically Disabled and a free clinic once a term.

“We do outreach medical camps every three months to rural areas,” says Specky. “We tend to see elderly patients who struggle with arthritis and back pain. We administer joint and back injections which help relieve the severe pain. At the last camp, we saw 121 patients who otherwise couldn’t afford to see us because they can’t get to the clinic.”

Staff share copies of The Gideons’ New Testament with all patients having surgery.

“We pray with our patients and many times we have seen them come to Christ and get born again,” says Specky.

Levis admits that it can be stressful serving as a missionary doctor.

“This is because of the constant worry managing the payroll and paying salaries on time. It’s a journey of faith since we trust God to provide for us by sending us patients who can afford to pay. The conflict and turmoil in our hearts is when the patient can’t afford treatment, and you want to serve them, but the clinic needs to make money so that you can pay your bills. It’s a constant dilemma. However, God has been good to us and has always provided for us. By keeping costs low for patients, we get higher numbers coming to the clinic, and by getting higher numbers, the business becomes more sustainable. Our current goal is to perform at least two surgeries every month for free.”

In their local church, Specky teaches teenagers and pre-teens in Sunday school. Levis is an elder and serves on the leadership team. In the clinic, Levis leads the staff in Bible study and devotions once a week.

The Christian faith of the founders is at the core of the clinic’s ethos, explains Levis.

“We believe that the work we do is not based on how good our hands are or how good our brains are. The outcomes are up to God. We put our faith in God knowing that we have this skill, we have this knowledge, but we can only treat the patient. It’s God who’s going to heal so we commit each patient to Him.”

On 30th August, 18-year-old Joseph was admitted to a hospital, where the two doctors eventually attended to him. A tumour had been discovered in his leg a year earlier. Twelve sessions of chemotherapy at another hospital had failed to prevent cancer spreading.

“His leg urgently needed amputating,” Specky says. “He was bleeding and needed platelets (which help form blood clots to slow or stop bleeding) but it wasn’t possible to get them from the blood bank. We weren’t sure Joseph would make it through the night. He was confused and pleaded with us to remove his leg. I told him that, until the bleeding stopped, we couldn’t operate. We prayed with him and he became more lucid. That is when he gave his life to Christ.

Then something remarkable happened. Normal levels of platelets should be 150-450. Joseph’s had dropped to 29. They came up to 153, then 439. We couldn’t quite believe this so asked an independent lab to check the numbers. With the same sample, the results were 471.

We gave him plasma, the bleeding stopped and we able to carry out surgery. During the operation, he wanted to talk to his mum to tell her to charge his phone so that he could watch the Chelsea match afterwards. When he was admitted, his eyes were deep yellow. The day after surgery, they were white. I think God performed a miracle with the platelets.”

Levis says he has seen numerous cases of recovery, which he cannot explain in human terms.

“We had a challenging case of a man we did a knee replacement on. At the end of the surgery, the knee was still slightly bent. When he came to the clinic some weeks after the surgery, I took a break to gather the strength to tell him how we did not get his knee straight.

I then asked him to bend his knee. When he straightened it, his knee was perfectly straight. Now, if that’s not a miracle, then I don’t know what is.”

For more information about Machakos Orthopaedic Clinic, including becoming a partner of their work or donating, please visit their website: www.machakos-orthopaedics.org 

Postscript: Peter’s surgery in February was followed by a second operation in March 2024. He has made a full recovery.

(Picture Courtesy: Allan Gichigi)

By Angela Robson

Angela Robson is a multi award-winning writer and film-maker. She has reported from many of the world’s hotspots, starting with Sierra Leone at the onset of the country’s civil war. Her travels have given the world untold stories from over fifty countries – that of Ashaninka Indians in the Peruvian Amazon, isolated refugee camps on the Syrian border and UXO scrap metal yards in northern Laos, to name a few. Angela experienced a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ in 2021. Connect with Angela via Instagram or www.angelarobson.org