Dr. John Baigent heard a gentle knock at the door. He and his wife Lesley had just sat down for a breakfast of grapefruit before beginning another busy summer day at Hôpital de Meskine. The screen door allowed the comfortable African breezes to flow through the house.
"Who could this be?" Dr. Baigent recalls asking. Lesley was first at the door. When I got there I found her talking with a tall, good looking young man whose faced seemed familiar, although not much else about him did.
I turned to Lesley and asked who it was. She seemed unsure. Then, together, we both exclaimed, "Guipelbe!"
And with that name came a flood of emotions and the memories of the tiny boy from Chad with the big smile who captured the hearts of people a continent away.
When 10-year-old Guipelbe Moundou of Chad walked through the doors of the missionary hospital four years ago, he was a boy crippled by an accident and facing a life without hope. He and his father never dreamed they were about to embark on an adventure of healing made possible by a flood of generosity from people they were yet to meet.
In the winter of 1998, his father, Thomas, brought Guipelbe on the long journey, crossing the border of Chad to travel to the far north province of Cameroon after the boy had fallen from a tree three months before. Dr. Baigent, medical director, remembers Guipelbe’s condition. "It was terrible. It completely divided his urethra, and after two operations in Chad and two here in Meskine, he could only pass urine with great difficulty." Guipelbe would "cry with all this effort," the doctor recalls.
In the midst of his suffering, the small energetic boy captivated Dr.Baigent and the hospital staff with his continuous warm smile and bright personality. Guipelbe made friends with the children of the medical missionaries and was quick to learn English. Still, Dr. Baigent had used all of the resources available in Meskine and was unable to give Guipelbe the help he needed.
Soon the doctor began to formulate a plan. Dr. Baigent knew surgeons in his native England who could assess Guipelbe’s condition. Would it be possible to have the boy sent to England where he could have the only surgery that could give him a normal life? It seemed against all odds, especially in the far north province of Cameroon.
First, at that time the primary way of contacting the rest of the world was through unreliable phone lines or, even worse, a mail system that sometimes took weeks. Also, Guipelbe, like most Africans born in the bush country, did not have a birth certificate. That piece of paper becomes precious when trying to obtain travel permission. The cost also seemed prohibitive. Travel to and from England, as well as the surgery, would cost at least $30,000. Finally, how could a boy and his father - who spoke only the Fulani trade language of Fulfulde and had never traveled outside the bush country of Africa - manage such a trip?
Once news reached England of Guipelbe’s plight and Dr. Baigent’s plan, the response was immediate. "Christians and friends contributed to a fund to pay their expenses," Dr. Baigent said. Christians gave financial gifts of nearly $20,000 to help Guipelbe travel to England and receive medical care. Former missionaries who spoke some Fulfulde, along with Baigent’s pastor, hosted the boy and his father.
Miraculously, within two months of arriving in Meskine, Guipelbe had a future. "After we obtained a passport in N’djamena, the capital of Chad, and a visa in Yaounda (Cameroon’s capital) - neither easy - he and his dad flew to England," Dr. Baigent remembers.
The trip marked many firsts for Guipelbe and his father: their first flight, their first bath tub with running water, their first experience with freezing temperatures, and their first television movie. Most importantly, they were surrounded by people of another language, another culture, and another skin color. Through it all, Guipelbe warmed the hearts of all whom they met.
"Two surgeons and the anesthetist gave their services free in the private hospital in Brighton (south of London). During a three-hour operation one Monday evening in February 1998, the scar tissue in his urethra was excised and his urethra repaired," Dr. Baigent said. "Six weeks later, Guipelbe and his father were back in Chad."
This summer, Guipelbe, now 18, gained his father’s permission to travel alone from Chad to visit the doctor who helped him. "What a lovely time we spent with him," Dr. Baigent said. "He said his health was excellent, and he played soccer every day in his village of Lere, Chad. Clearly the operation he had in Brighton was still just perfect," Dr. Baigent said. "He showed us an excellent school report he had brought with him. He said his ambition was still to be a doctor."
Later that week, Guipelbe visited the Baigents again. "After watching some soccer on the television, he stayed for a meal with us," Dr. Baigent said. "Many old memories about his visit to England were chatted over amongst much laughter as he cleared a huge plate of meat and rice. There’s no doubt he has a good appetite," Baigent said. "For us it was such a joy to see how he has grown into a fine young man - very polite and full of life."
Guipelbe’s father, who was treated by Baigent three years ago for tuberculosis, is also now in excellent health. "He now has two apple trees from the seeds which he took home from England and planted," the doctor said. "He has constructed a shade to protect them from the fierce sun in the hot season. This year they flowered for the first time."
Like the tender care offered those apple seedlings today, so was the gift of care given to a young, helpless, hurting boy four years ago. Guipelbe’s life today - as he matures into manhood and follows his dreams of being a doctor - is truly the fruit born from one doctor’s vision and the selfless acts of many around the world.
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