Month: November 2021

October 2021 Update

Dear Family and Friends,

Last time we wrote our newsletter, we were preparing to return to Chad. When we arrived in July, everything was green and lush, the temperature cool as we were in the midst of rainy season. In the last two weeks, the weather has changed!

Things are drying up, it seems like the blow dryer has been turned up on the extreme dry setting, humidity has gone down from 70-80 % to 40% and dropping.

But we are so grateful that we are still having cool nights which makes life so much easier!

PRAISES:

  • We didn’t have any real hiccups during our travel back to Chad- all ten pieces of luggage and motorized wheelchair arrived and we had no problem with customs. We are happy to be back!

Bert keeps on saying: “I am having the best time of my life!” His Parkinson can’t keep him down!

The new sidewalk that goes from our house to the hospital and his motorized wheelchair have truly been a blessing as he can go back and forth easily. It is amazing to see his stamina and courage to keep on going even when he feels so tired that he doesn’t think that he can put one foot in front of the other but an emergency arises and he arises to the challenge!

He has been doing surgeries especially thyroidectomies (the last one was five and a half hours long) and breast surgeries, seeing patients in clinic and taking call.

I continue to be busy with supervising construction., working closely with our nursing supervisors and guest house management.

  • Thanks to a generous gift from Samaritan Purse, housing for a surgeon was started mid-June and will be completed in about a month. We are so blessed to have Alphonse, our onsite buildings manager, guiding his team calmly and with strength.

Being a land-locked country, prices of goods in Chad, which have always been high but now with Covid, disruption of the availability of goods, prices have soared even more, and trying to keep within a pre-Covid budget can be difficult!

  • Building started on our early detection and treatment of breast cancer ministry at G2 thanks to a donation from a couple in the States.

Construction started in September and we are hoping to be opened early December. The word is out as we are seeing more and more patients coming to G2 looking for treatment for breast cancer.

At this point, we can only offer surgery but are hoping to be able to also offer chemotherapy in the future.

Another aspect of this program is to train nurses and other women how to detect breast masses so that early detection and treatment can be offered.

Our community health team will also be involved in this program.

  • God has also provided the funds through Guernsey Overseas Aid and Development Commission, UK, to for a physiotherapy building.

Our physical therapists, Mathhieu and Cria, are doing an excellent job seeing over 300 patients a month but more space and a better-ventilated area will be greatly appreciated by staff and patients.

  • God is continuing to bless and protect the team here at G2.

After evacuation due to political unrest, home assignment and disruption due to Covid, all fourteen adults and eleven kids are back!

  • We have had several visitors in the past month and more to come in the next 2 months.

Lawrence Jones, our chaplain with CHSC, was able to visit and encourage us.

Bill Wright, Power Quest, came to fix our broken x-ray unit and work on our solar system.

Daniel Fele, from Nigeria, came on a vision trip to look at starting an agricultural project to reach the Kotoko, an unreached people group in Dougia, a village about one and a half hours away from G2.

But the most exciting news is that new believers coming to Christ and being discipled and others open to hearing more about Jesus!

PRAYER POINTS:

  • A SURGEON is urgently needed!
  • We have not had much rain this rainy season which has been good in that our road in and out of the hospital has not be difficult to manage, but many of the crops have not had the needed water to grow properly.

The millet, rice, and corn crops, which are staples for the people of Chad, are going to be very poor this year.

People are already talking about a famine in the future and high prices.

We are already seeing more malnourished children at the hospital. Many people in Chad live hand to mouth!

  • Solar power is what is used on the compound. We have been plagued with problems with our solar batteries due to difficulty of finding good ones in Chad, and prices are exorbitant (each one cost about $400- need four to eight batteries/house). Another problem is that these batteries don’t hold up well in this extreme heat.
  • For wisdom and unity amongst our national and missionary teams as decisions have to be made daily.
  • To realize our goals of providing the best care to our patients under difficult circumstances so they will see Christ’s compassion in our work.
  • For the new believers that their faith might stay strong as they count the cost of living a new life in Christ and that those helping them grow in their faith might have much wisdom as their guide them in their walk.
  • Our children in the USA and Australia, personal stamina (as the weather is getting hotter, discouraging issues at the hospital and life), safety, health, and spiritual growth (our goal is to continue to grow spiritual to be a blessing others).
  • Could you join us and praying Psalms 83:18 over the work at G2: “Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord- that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.”

We want to continue to thank each of you again for being part of our team keeping us in your prayers and supporting us financially!

We would love to hear from you with praise and prayer requests!

In Him,
Bert and Debbie
Psalms 119:114

July 2021 Update

Dear Family and Friends,

Greetings from SC! 

Missionary life isn’t always the easiest as one gets settled in a place just to have to leave in a few months again. Last-minute visits with family and friends begin as we wind down our time in SC and are getting ready to return to Chad on July 16th. 

As we get ready to leave, the last-minute emails start arriving from the field asking if there is still room for needed supplies for the work. 

Next, frantic shopping starts: buying the various supplies and trying to remember what we thought we would want to bring back when returning (as we get older it is harder to remember 😊). Amazon becomes our best friend!

We have been sorting through the various medical supplies that we received, then packing, unpacking, repacking, trying to fill every nook and cranny but still making sure that no suitcase is over 50 pounds!

The last days can be very tiring but what keeps us going is knowing that we are returning to the work that God has called us to.

We look forward to seeing our team, both national and missionary, and the country and people that we have come to love.

The last few months in Chad have not been easy for the staff on the ground. 

On April 11, rebels entered Chad from Libya in a coup attempt.  

The president of Chad, Idriss Déby, passed away on April 20th after sustaining injuries on the war front.  His son, General Mohamat Idriss Déby, was named interim president with a transitional council of military officers.

Because of the insecurity in the country due to the rebel’s advance on N’Djamena and then the death of Déby, most of our missionaries had to be evacuated to their home countries.   

Kalbassou, our Cameroonian nurse/surgeon and General Director of the hospital, Maïmouna, his wife, and their children, and Paul and Celine Boni, French nurses serving with SIM France/Belgium, and their two children remained at G2 as their government did not require them to evacuate.  

There is still some tension in the country, but missionaries are returning to Chad at this time. 

Claudia Wahl, German OB/GYN serving with CFI, returned about three weeks ago. 

Claire Bedford, British pharmacist, and Brian and Jackie Chilvers, British nurses, returned July 4th. 

It is amazing to see how God has protected the hospital and staff during this turbulent time and we can praise Him for how He continues to bless the medical ministry!  

We have been asked many times about COVID in Chad.  There were almost 5,000 cases and 174 deaths according to the Chadian government, but we are not sure how accurate these numbers are because of the lack of testability and reporting outside the capital. 

Our hospital has to refer all cases of possible COVID to the government hospital.  The Sinopharm and Pfizer vaccines are now available in Chad.

We have met many people who have asked us for information about Chad so we thought we would share these facts about Chad with you. The source is Wikipedia.  

  • Landlocked and located in what is known as the “dead heart of Africa”.  This name is given due to its distance from the sea and its largely desert climate.
  • Is eight times smaller than the USA, the 5th largest country in Africa with a population of about 17,000,000.
  • Colonized by the French and became independent in 1960.
  • Ranked 187 out of 189 on the UN’s human development list.
  • Capital: N’Djamena.  G2 is about 20 minutes north of N’Djamena.
  • The country is separated into 3 regions: in the north desert (Sahara Desert), in the middle Sahel (where G2 is located) and Savannah in the south
  • Official languages are French and Arabic but has over 100 different languages and 200 ethnic groups.
  • Life expectancy- 54 years. Under-five years old mortality rate- 113.8/1000 live births as compared to 6.98/1000 live births in the USA.  (Source UNICEF).
  • Literacy rate is only 33 percent which is one of the lowest literacy rates in Sub-Sahara Africa.
  • Currency is the Central African Franc (CFA).  $1= 575 CFA. 
  • There are only 345 physicians in country with very few specialists, for example no oncologist in country.
  • Chad has religious freedom:  51.8% Islam, 44.1% Christian and 7.7% includes animism and 7.7% other.
  • Crude oil is the country’s primary source of export since 2003 but most of the population does not benefit from the oil export.  Much of the population live below the poverty line.

PRAISES:

  • For the safe travels and quality time with family and friends during our time in the States.
  • Interest in our early detection and treatment of breast cancer ministry.
  • God continuing to bless the team on the ground and protect them through difficult times.

PRAYER POINTS:

  • A SURGEON is urgently needed!
  • No problems at customs with the supplies we are returning with.
  • Our health and safety as we return to Chad.  Bert continues to do well and now has a motorized wheelchair that will help him get around the hospital.
  • That the Lord will show us exactly what projects we need to concentrate on during our time in Chad.
  • For wisdom and unity amongst our national and missionary teams as decisions have to be made daily.
  • To realize our goal of providing the best care to our patients under difficult circumstances so they will see Christ’s compassion in our work.

Thanks again for being part of our team keeping us in your prayers and supporting us financially!

In Him,

Bert and Debbie
Ephesians 6:10-20