Meet Rogers and Cissy. The founding members of The Walter Foundation Church. Here is their story.
Cissy Was running an orphan center when she got the news that her husband Roger had been involved in a car accident on his way back from work as a social worker. He suffered two broken legs in the accident and his co worker died. Some people came to Rogers aid and took him to a free clinic after first taking all his wages. At the clinic it was suggested that Rogers legs couldn’t be saved and he would have to have them amputated and this is where I came in.
I had known the family for two years as a donor to the orphans ministry. Cissy contacted me one day and told me what had happened to her husband. As a Christian I felt from the Holy spirit that this was not Gods plan for them and I told her to take him to another clinic. So she took him to another clinic who believed that his legs could be saved. This clinic, one of the many along the Nile had better equipment and access to x-ray equipment and found that Rogers legs could be saved. I had very little money to offer them for the procedure so they chose to just believe that the Lord would provide and they let them try to save Rogers legs. At the same time cissy was having bad stomach pain, which had been enduring for many months. While they were at the clinic they decided to get an E-ray for cissy as well and it was seen that something was not right with her stomach. But there was nothing they could do for her at this clinic. We gave a very small amount of money, all we had to Cissy to help pay for things but i knew it would not be enough.
I said to Cissy one day that they needed to go to a private hospital. She said to me “how would they be able to afford this? I told her I didn’t know but believed that it was the Lords will. After only a week Cissy told me they were going to take Rogers and her to the Kampala international Hospital. This was good news and bad news because it was an expensive hospital. But i prayed and told her the lord would provide as I believed that he would and also that the doctor’s there would see that Cissy had a stomach problem. When they arrived there roger received further treatment and more E-xrays to ensure his legs were set correctly. It was then that one of the staff noticed that Cissie’s abdomen was becoming enflamed and red and they decided to give her an MRI scan to find out what was wrong. It turned out the Cissy had problems with her bowel and would need to have an ostomy surgery and a stoma bag. this was terrible news as the costs was huge. In the USA this would cost between $50,000 to $100,000 to perform.
She called me and I did not have any money for such a big operation. But the Holy spirit told me that they would operate on her and that money would come. I told her to do it. When she came out of surgery the costs to treat Rogers and Cissy was over $2,700 US Dollars. that was like $4.000 NZ dollars which I didn’t have. I went to a local church and explained this situation and asked for help for funding but they wouldn’t support the situation because they new nothing about Cissy and Rogers. So i asked them to get a receipt from the cashier in the hospital and i gave that to the church as proof it was genuine. But still they did not think they could support them. what was i going to do?
I started fasting and praying. At the time i was helping a man with a used caravan business who i would do repairs for. so i started giving away what i earned form this work. I also sold my Caravan and bought a cheaper one so i could give Cissy some money from this. I also made contact with two Christian people that i knew. One in New Plymouth, Trevor Chadwick and a couple Karen and Richard who i had only just got acquainted with. Both decided they wanted to help the Ugandans. Then the man i was fixing caravans for also wanted to help and all together we had enough to pay for the first part of her operation. We had no spare money to feed them in the hospital at the time so another patient in the hospital paid for them to have one meal a day. It was gods Grace. A month later Cissy and Rogers were allowed to go home but would need to come again in a month for the Stoma removal and reconnective surgery. So a month later Rogers called me and asked what to do as they still had no funds for this. I prayed and I felt the Lord said he should take her there anyway and the lord would provide. He felt the same thing so he took Cissy back to the hospital. i was worried because I had nothing more to sell to try and make some money. But the lord said to go so Rogers went. They stayed there a week and the cashier said that they would need to pay for the surgery before the received it and that they still had an outstanding amount for Cissy for the previous surgery. The lord reminded me about the good Samaritan who paid for someone medical treatment but I said lord I have nothing. But in obedience i told Rogers to tell the cashier that God would provide as he has done for the previous surgery. But still they did not allow it to proceed. then Rogers called me and i got a picture from the lord like a vision where the doctors were standing together to decide if they should operate anyway and the lord stood amongst them and I heard him say yes we will. That very night they took Cissy in for surgery with no money.
Rogers and I were so surprised that the lord was doing all this. But we were so grateful that he was. A week after the operation the director of the hospital stopped allowing medication for Cissy’s recovery because we had not paid anything further. I again tried the church but got nothing. The people in Whangarei could not help. This left only me trying to find money for them and Trevor in new Plymouth. I got a further $500 from my employer and after a month we had only enough to pay half of the costs. The Cashier decided that even though rogers hadn’t paid the full amount they could go home again but would need to pay soon. This was not good for the cashier as he had allowed 9 people to return home who hadn’t yet finished paying and so they fired him. when Rogers and cissy went home i told them that they had to stop the orphanage program as I believed that the lord was going to do a new thing in their lives. This was very challenging for Cissy who had once been an orphan herself and really felt for the children.
but they obeyed and soon found homes for the children with other relatives. Two weeks later there son Walter got very sick. He had been unwell for a little while but it was thought to be malaria. They took him to a clinic and they did some tests but couldn’t see what was wrong with him. A week later they took him to a bigger clinic with more equipment and an intensive care unit. but a week later after not being able to diagnose what was wrong with him Walter died. This was such devastating news for Rogers and Cissy but also for us. How did God let this happen and why? It began to shake my faith and my understanding of God and his love. why had he allowed all this help for Cissy and Roger only to let Walter die? After reading the book of Job in the bible i understood that God has Sovereign choice over all things and we may not always understand why he does what the does. But I did get a sense that if god allows something to happen he has a very good reason for it and that he asks us to keep trusting him regardless. We struggled to find even enough money for the funeral and a coffin. Rogers stayed at the morgue for a week because without a coffin he could not take the body. i thought this was strange but found that in Uganda sometimes Bodies go missing and organs are sold on the black market. i wonder at places like these and realize I really know nothing about the poverty in the world. finally we had enough money for rogers to take his son home and bury him.
Then Rogers got a call from the Cashier asking for money because since he had lost his job the hospital would not give him his last salary. Roger felt he needed to go and see the Cashier and so went to Kampala. The Cashier was in a bad state, not having a job and no food. I had a little money so I gave it to Rogers to give to the Cashier. Then my wife who is an artists received a commission payment to do a book illustration and my friend in New Plymouth decided to help with the rest of the bill rogers and cissy owed and together we paid everything that was owed. Then while Roger was there the idea for the Walter foundation Church was born. The cashier was given a 3 month reprieve to have his job back so that he can recover all the money still owed by other patients. So here we are at the end of the story. We believe this idea of finding a way to help people who do not have the ability to pay for medical treatment was all along the Lords idea and was far beyond where we thought this would all go. But here we are. Roger and cissy, with the help of a hospital cashier have become the reason this organization seeks to offer the same opportunity to support others in need. All we have is a very big God to do the impossible.
If you would like to support this ministry please contact us. admin@thewalterfoundation.org