From Refugee to World-Class Surgeon

When Medical Director Dr. Fasto Ladu makes his rounds at CURE Children’s Hospital of Niger (CURE Niger), the bright eyes of his hopeful patients remind him of someone: himself.

“Many of my patients come from extreme hardship,” he says. “I see myself in them.”

With a poverty rate of nearly 50 percent, Niger is one of the most underserved nations in the world, and terrorist violence often displaces families.

Niger’s circumstances mirror Dr. Fasto’s life growing up in the 1980s in Juba, today part of South Sudan, during the Second Sudanese Civil War—a conflict marked by famine, mass killings, and widespread displacement.

When he was ten, he and his five siblings at the time were forced to flee with their mother to a nearby village, leaving school and his father behind in Juba.

Through it all, the family leaned on their Christian faith. “It taught us . . . to be resilient. I just trusted completely in the Lord.”

A Clear Calling

Dr. Fasto has continued to trust the Lord throughout his life. After a life-changing illness as a teenager and witnessing the suffering and lack of medical care during the war, he began to consider the medical field.

Although the war delayed his schooling, he eventually returned to Juba, finished secondary school, and earned his medical degree from the University of Bahr El-Ghazal College of Medicine and Health Sciences in South Sudan.

He was also trained in pediatric orthopedic surgery as part of the first fellowship class at AIC-CURE Children’s Hospital of Kenya (CURE Kenya). It’s an investment that multiplies as surgeons like Dr. Fasto expand access to life-changing care in underserved communities by training future surgeons.

After his fellowship, he became a Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon and the Program Manager for Training, Research, and Development at CURE Kenya. Like those who had shaped him, he now had the chance to train future surgeons.

“Jesus Christ is my model,” Dr. Fasto says. “He made disciples. Children need to continue to receive care. And the only way to continue that care is to make disciples. In this case, that’s our surgeon training.”

Dr. Chelsea Shikuku, who did her residency at CURE Kenya, says Dr. Fasto genuinely cared about her future.

“He is a dedicated teacher with fantastic hands-on skills,” she says. “Definitely a practical example of resilience and trusting in the Lord.”

Dr. Fasto had been serving at CURE Kenya for about a year when he felt God calling him to serve where the need was even greater—in Niger.

Serving for a Greater Need

In January 2023, Dr. Fasto and his family moved to Niger, where more than 98 percent of the population is Muslim and healthcare is scarce. In fact, CURE is the country’s only hospital that offers specialty surgical care for children with treatable conditions.

“After I became a doctor, I thought I would serve my people of South Sudan,” says Dr. Fasto. “But I realized my people are . . . people of the world—all people God has created.”

Dr. Fasto is striving to provide sustainable healthcare for future generations in Niger. But he believes his work goes beyond the operating room—it’s about restoring hope and ensuring the children CURE serves know they are loved. He’s sensitive to the religious differences of many of his patients but believes God’s work is evident.

“Through CURE, there is testimony that Christ is alive. I believe there are still miracles happening. We see them every day,” he says.

Thank you for your support, which makes the life-changing work of Dr. Fasto—and every dedicated professional at CURE—possible.