Orphaned at age 12, Isuku Isuku (nicknamed Socrate) has experienced some tough times in his short life in the far west of Congo. Compared to many other orphaned Congolese children, however, he was fortunate in that a local woman, Mama Micheline Kakene Kikar, had agreed to be a foster mother to him and two of his siblings.
When Mamu Mujinga brought her sick baby boy to Good Shepherd Hospital, she was at the end of her rope. The Congolese woman walked 160 miles to get her son the help he needed. No doctors near her home could treat Kasawu’s rare colon condition. At Good Shepherd, Dr. John Fletcher, a Presbyterian mission worker, and a medical team were able to perform the lifesaving surgeries Kasawu needed. Kasawu was able to make a full recovery thanks to the treatment he received at the hospital founded by Presbyterian missionaries and now run by Congolese Christians.