Healthcare Pioneers in the Kasai
William “Bill” Rule grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he heard missionary pioneers William Sheppard and Dr. Eugene Kellersberger at his church, the First Presbyterian Church. He decided as a youth that he wanted to be a missionary doctor in Congo. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed post-graduate training in obstetrics and surgery just as World War II broke out. In 1940, he sailed for Congo as a missionary for the Presbyterian Church, U.S.
Effie Crane was raised in a family of ministers and missionaries with a heart for mission service. After graduating from Flora MacDonald College, Effie applied to work for a short term in Congo as a teacher for children of missionaries. She was at Lubondai in the then-Belgian Congo, when Bill Rule arrived to serve as physician on that small station.
Bill and Effie met each other in early 1941, and they married the last day of 1941. Together in Africa, they served for 33 years and had six children.
In 1954, Bill and Effie teamed with Congolese and American missionaries to found the IMCK (Institute Médical Chrétien du Kasai), a nurses training school and a dental assistant program for Congolese. With the medical team, Bill Rule conducted medical clinics, treated tropical diseases, delivered babies, operated, attended to hospital patients, helped administer the Leprosy and tuberculosis groups residing nearby for treatment, and taught Bible classes to staff and students. In addition, the team taught the new nursing and dental curriculum in French.
At Lubondai, skilled missionaries and Congolese built the campus for students and expanded medical service facilities. In the early days, Effie planned and prepared daily meals for the resident students. She also spent hours unpacking and organizing Red Cross supplies and shipments of much-needed supplies from churches and hospitals. Effie’s skills in home economics, such as sewing, and in music were fundamental to providing community services and teaching Congolese.
After independence in 1960, the school moved to Tshikaji, near the city of Kananga. At that time, two remarkable matters occurred. First, the government deeded, for free, about 50 acres at Tshikaji for the IMCK. Secondly, the First Presbyterian Church of Winston Salem, NC, donated a large sum to repair campus buildings and infrastructure.
There was a growing need for a teaching hospital on the Tshikaji campus where the nurses could receive practical training. In April and May of 1969, Bill and Effie traveled to the U.S. and began a special itinerary. The Women of the Church (Presbyterian Church U.S.A.) had pledged their annual offering to begin the building of the hospital.
Bill traveled for eight weeks and visited 68 churches in fifteen states to speak to the women of the churches. They raised $400,000! There were multiple other contributions from a variety of sources, and building began in 1972. The Good Shepherd Hospital was dedicated in January 1975.
William passed away in 1999 and was followed by Effie who passed away in 2013 at age 96. Thanks to their commitment to the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo and their faith in God, their work has born rich fruit and their vision has been realized. Today, IMCK is a Christian medical teaching center on two campuses, which provides spiritual and physical health care for many in need as well as education for nurses, midwives, nutritionists, lab technicians and technologists. Thanks to the Rule’s and Miller’s hard work and your support as partners in this mission, the lives of many of our Congolese sisters and brothers are been saved.