Restoring Hope, One Face at a Time : Life-changing reconstructive surgeries at AIC Kapsowar Hospital

By Anne Mbugua – CHAK

High in the tranquil hills of Kapsowar, a quiet revolution of compassion is underway. Here, at AIC Kapsowar Hospital, a dedicated team of plastic and reconstructive surgeons is doing more than repairing tissue, they are giving people back their faces, their confidence, and in many cases, their place in the world.

Many of their patients arrive from South Sudan, where advanced surgical care is scarce. Among them are survivors of Noma, a fast-moving infection that attacks the mouth and face, destroying tissue and leaving behind severe disfigurement, along with lasting difficulty eating and speaking. For these patients, the wound is never just physical.

“They just want to look normal. They want to be whole,” says Laura Rhodes, whose words capture what drives this entire mission.

A mission born from compassion

It began a decade ago with Dr. Bill Rhodes, a board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon, and his wife Laura, serving in Juba, South Sudan, through Samaritan’s Purse. Their original focus was cleft lip and palate surgery, but along the way, they kept encountering patients whose injuries went far beyond what a temporary mission setup could treat. Limited by time, equipment, and facilities, the couple carried the weight of every case they couldn’t yet help.

Bringing patients to Kapsowar

Rather than turn patients away, Dr. Rhodes and Laura found another way: partnering with Samaritan’s Purse pilots to fly patients from South Sudan to AIC Kapsowar Hospital in Kenya, where the complex, multi-stage surgeries they needed could finally be done safely. Today, Kapsowar is home to two American-trained, board-certified plastic surgeons, Dr. Rhodes and Dr. Niles J. Batdorf, a specialist in reconstructive, hand, microvascular, and nerve surgery. Together, they are performing operations that restore far more than physical features, but lives.

Healing with heart

For the Rhodes family, this work is rooted in faith. “You only need to look at the life of Jesus to see who captured His heart, it was the least of these,” Laura reflects. Dr. Rhodes describes it as a calling: “It’s been a pilot project to see how, from Kapsowar, we can reach out to some of the neediest parts of our planet, people made in God’s image, people who God loves. It’s exciting to be agents of His mercy and compassion.”

A Beacon of Hope

Dr. Rhodes calls his patients “the strongest and best of the human spirit” — and it shows. Despite everything they’ve endured, their courage and quiet joy leave a lasting impression on the entire medical team. Each restored face carries its own story of redemption, and together they’ve made AIC Kapsowar Hospital a living example of what faith, skill, and partnership can accomplish when turned toward the people the world too often overlooks.

About AIC Kapsowar Hospital

Established in 1934 as a small dispensary, AIC Kapsowar Mission Hospital has grown into a 130-bed regional referral hospital. It is the largest hospital in Elgeyo Marakwet County, located 90 minutes north of Eldoret. It is taffed by both North American-trained missionary doctors and Kenyan-trained physicians and surgeons, the hospital is committed to providing timely, responsive care, training African healthcare specialists; reaching underserved communities across the region; and sharing the compassion of Christ with every patient who walks through its doors.

About Noma

Noma (cancrum oris) is a rapidly progressing infection that primarily affects malnourished children living in extreme poverty. Left untreated, it can be fatal, survivors often face lasting disfigurement and difficulty eating and speaking.

Partner Spotlight: Samaritan’s Purse

This global Christian humanitarian organization has been instrumental in making this work possible, providing the logistics, transport, and partnership that bring South Sudanese patients to advanced care in Kenya.