Jack Voelkel
Helen Roseveare: Courageous Woman Doctor in the Congo
I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:10,11).
While a medical student at Cambridge University, Helen Roseveare attended a missionary gathering in North England. There she declared publicly, “I’ll go anywhere God wants me to, whatever the cost.” Later, she remembered:
Afterwards, I went up into the mountains and had it out with God. "O.K. God, today I mean it. Go ahead and make me more like Jesus, whatever the cost. But please (knowing myself fairly well), when I feel I can't stand any more and cry out, 'Stop!' will you ignore my 'stop' and remember that today I said 'Go ahead!'? (R: Cost).
Several times during her life, the Lord was to remind her of this bold commitment.
Active, restless, and eager to be admired
Born in 1925, Helen was raised in a comfortable English family. She admits that as a child she was “endlessly active, restless with animal spirits, always in mischief, with an urge to excel, to be noticed, to be the centre [sic] of the group, an inner need to be admired” (R: Give…, p. 12), characteristics with which she struggled, in one form or another, all her life. One day in Sunday School the teacher talked to the class about India, and she made a quiet resolve that one day she would be a missionary, a child’s determination that never faded (p. 13).
Growing older, she loved the quiet atmosphere and rich ritual of her Anglican heritage. But, on leaving services, she felt a great lack, “no power, no companion, no help to answer the daily needs and meet the daily problems” (p. 19), only a great sense of emptiness and futility; a great void. She felt that God could meet both her need and the crushing, overwhelming problems of the world she was studying about, but she asked herself, where is He? How can I find Him? How can I become part of His pattern, and lose myself in Him? (p. 20).
Finding Jesus at Cambridge
Feeling steadily drawn to medicine, she enrolled in Cambridge University. Entering the dormitory, conscious that she knew no one and feeling very much alone, she was surprised to find a note on her mirror which read:
If you don’t know anyone, and have nowhere to go after supper, come and have coffee in my room, no. 12, at 8 pm. (signed) Dorothy
Through Dorothy she came to participate in the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union (CICCU), attending the daily prayer meeting, the Bible Studies, the weekly biblical expositions, the evangelistic efforts. She formed precious friendships with fellow students. For the first time she read through the New Testament. She began to comprehend intellectually what Christianity was all about, but she still felt she lacked something. Then at a student retreat she opened her heart to God and experienced his forgiveness in a personal way.
When she gave her testimony on the final night, Dr. Graham Scroggie, a veteran Bible teacher wrote in her new Bible, Philippians 3:10: “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.” He said to her,
Tonight you’ve entered into the first part of the verse, “That I may know Him.” This is only the beginning, and there’s a long journey ahead. My prayer for you is that you will go on through the verse to know “the power of His resurrection” and also, God willing, one day perhaps, “the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death” (R: Cost, p. 33).
She had no idea on that night of joy how literally these words would be lived out in her experience.
The call to missions in Africa
By this time her childhood interest in missions had matured into a sense of God’s call, and after graduating from Cambridge as a Medical Doctor, she applied to the World Evangelization Crusade (WEC) for service in Africa. After six months of orientation and training at the National Headquarters, three months of deputation, eight months of French language study in Belgium, and a course on Tropical Medicine in Holland, she was on her way; a missionary at last, 28 years old, but knowing precious little of what awaited her.
She was assigned to the north eastern part of Congo (later called Zaire), where she was the only doctor for two and a half million people. One day while driving to a meeting, her supervisor spoke to her of the Lord’s dealings, of the possibilities of success as a missionary.
If you think you have come to the mission field because you are a little better than others, or as the cream of your church, or because of your medical degree, or for the service you can render the African church, or even for the souls you may see saved, you will fail. Remember, the Lord has only one purpose ultimately for each one of us, to make us more like Jesus. He is interested in your relationships with Himself. Let Him take you and mould you as He will; all the rest will take its rightful place (R: Give..., p. 75).
Her work began in a temporary mud-and-thatch hospital. With the help of local workman, this graduate of Cambridge made and fired her own bricks and built the buildings they needed. It was her torn and bleeding hands (from working at the kiln) that impressed the Africans that here was not only a white, professional woman, but one willing to pay the cost to stoop down to their level. They taught her to use an axe, to choose the right tree to resist termites and rotting; to select good clean grass and durable fibres for thatching. She learned how to plan the layout of the building with regard to the prevailing wind, and the slope of the roof to withstand the tropical rainfall. She struggled to learn Swahili, the local language.
The stresses of pioneer medical service
Within eleven years, a 14 acre plot of land had been turned into a 100 bed hospital and maternity complex with all the necessary buildings and services. Many tens of thousands of sick were treated, scores of whom would have died without the help of the hospital. Each year 100 patients underwent surgery; 100 young men and women were trained as hospital orderlies and assistant midwives; and all the patients heard the Gospel through the ministry of the hospital chaplains. In addition, she established 48 rural health clinics in the immediate vicinity of the hospital.
But during these years, stresses and strains developed. The mission assigned Dr. John Harris to the hospital, and was put in charge. She had enjoyed her independence, had developed her own priorities, and chafed under this change. She became irritable and resentful. She was exhausted from overwork. She had conflicts with her African colleagues. Her time with the Lord had suffered greatly, and she had less and less interest in prayer and Bible study. The sensitive national pastor saw the symptoms and invited her to spend a week in prayer and fasting at his home. After several days, the Lord broke through. She later wrote:
I joined the Pastor and his wife round the fire….As they earnestly prayed, slowly the Spirit of God reached through into my heart and broke down the barriers of pride, the frigid restraint, and revealed so much of self. He helped me to unburden my heart, to reveal all the rottenness and sense of failure, the fears and criticisms, the pride and selfishness. Then, so gently and quietly, Pastor Ndugu…led me to look away from myself to the Christ of Calvary. He dealt with the need of restitution on certain points, the need of apologizing and asking forgiveness on certain others, and a great calm came (R:Give, p. 104).
The longing to be married
Five years after arriving in Africa, she took a two year furlough, with further medical training in England. During that time, as she reflected on her lonely work in Africa, she hungered for marriage; the companionship of a man with whom to share the burden or ministry. The Lord said to her, “Pass the buck to me; I can carry it. Lean on me; I can support you. Love me and let me be a husband to you." But, as she said later, “That wasn't the sort of ‘spiritualized’ husband I wanted: I wanted a husband with two arms! I told God that he just didn't understand” (R. Cost).
She made friends with a fellow student, a single, attractive Christian physician. She set out to win his love and hopefully his proposal for marriage. She bought new clothes, fixed her hair, and even resigned from the mission. But as time went on, she realized that her attitude was essentially rebellion against God and His purpose for her life. Repeatedly, but insistently, the Lord began to deal with her, showing her that her hunger for marriage had become an idol. He brought her to repentance and obedience.
The passionate longings and yearnings all seemed to have been replaced by a quiet acceptance. There was a sense of resignation, perhaps; a consciousness that I had no right—no right to quote terms, no right to expect grace, no right even to feel, to feel saved, or happy, or at peace. I accepted utterly that, by the immense immeasurable grace of God and according to His predetermined counsel, Christ was in me and that He should now live out His life and purpose as He saw fit (R. Give…p. 116).
She reapplied to the Mission, and they sent her back to the Congo and the hospital. The Harris’ were tired and ready for furlough. Once again, she was in charge. But change was in the air. The Congo had declared its independence from Belgium and Uhuru! Freedom! Liberty! was on the Africans’ lips. But worst of all, there was mutiny in the army, and civil war broke out. Though most missionaries fled the country, she elected to stay. In time, the rebels (Simbas) took over the hospital compound, and she was a virtual prisoner for five months. She witnessed the outpouring of hatred of Africans against the white men’s failures: injustices, cruelties, hardships, cheap labor, abuse of women, etc., along with many, many illustrations of mercy and service, such as her hospital. She received the brunt of this hatred. The rebels were brutal and coarse, rough and domineering. Their language was threatening and obscene. They stole everything they could lay their hands on.
Continue to part 2
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