October 17, 2017:

Container #1 arrived!

Eric and Janet Tangen (above in pink blouse) and Debbie (below in scrubs) worked with some of the staff to empty the container of everything except the parts that will be used to install our new solar power system.

The Powerquest team arrives tonight and they will start installing the system tomorrow (October 18, 2017).

This system will significantly improve patient care as well as work conditions for our staff.

October 27, 2017:

Container #2 Arrived!

After many weeks of suspense and frustration and prayer, both of the containers with supplies from Samaritan’s Purse/WMM have been offloaded at Hopital de Guinebor ll!

Greetings from Waco, TX where Debbie and I are visiting my son, Greg, and our daughter in law, Lily, and our granddaughter, Hannah. We’re having a great time, but a few urgent needs have presented themselves. 

Possible Trainer For Our OR Nurses  

Our good friend, and brother in Christ, Tim Musick, CRNA extraordinaire, who administered the anesthesia for my recent knee surgery, has found a very well trained and experienced Ugandan certified nurse anesthetist whose wife is also an anesthetist, who are perhaps willing to spend one year training our Operating Room nurses in general anesthesia at Hopital de Guinebor ll (G2).

Please pray that this will all work out as having good general anesthesia is one of our greatest needs.

Need a New X-ray Machine 

Our current X-ray machine is broken and inadequate.  

Bill Wright and his team will be at G2 Oct 17-November 7 to install our new solar power system. Bill is an electrical engineer and also has much experience in Biomedical.  

The best price I have seen for a new portable unit is $35,000. One of Bill’s contacts will sell CEF a unit for only $23,000!

As a bonus, Bill and his team will transport the new machine, install it and train our personnel how to use the machine. A gift from the Lord!

But, we need to come up with $23,000 by October 9.

If the Lord blesses and the funds are there in time, Bill will pick up the machine and do all the above.

Having our own XRay machine will greatly improve patient care and will pay for itself many times over.

If you wish to help us obtain the XRay machine please send your contribution (soon!) to:
CEF
PO Box 2652
Lexington, SC 29071

General Anesthesia Machine

We need a general anesthesia machine at the CEF hospital in Chad. We were wrong in thinking there is one from Samaritan’s Purse in either of the containers that recently arrived at G2.

We expect to have anesthetists by January who will train our Operating Room nurses in inhalation general anesthesia, but this cannot happen if there is no anesthesia machine.

There is a portable machine that John Souto, Biomedical tech with WMM/SP says holds up well on the mission field. It is made In Kentucky.

If we come up with $11,100 (the company gives $1000 off to missions), Bill Wright and his team can take the machine with them when they go to Chad on Oct 17th to set up our new solar power system.

There’s no other container scheduled for Chad, so it would be great to be able to purchase the much-needed machines and have these new (not used) pieces of equipment available by October 9.

It’s short notice — sorry — but I just found about all this today myself.

Please contact friends, Sunday School classes, prayer groups, etc of this very real need. 

Travel Mercies & Recovery

We leave Friday for New Orleans to spend the weekend with our med school son, Joel.

Next Monday we return to SC where Debbie will prepare for her return to Chad Oct 7 and I will work on improving my physical condition.

I will return to Chad Oct 14, and I need to be ready to hit the ground running ( or at least limping well) and back to an intense work routine.

Eric and Janet Tangen

Eric and Janet Tangen from our Lutheran Brethren partner in Seattle will leave for Chad for a visit of ten days next week. 

Eric is a builder and is seriously considering serving long-term with us at G2 as our plant manager. I think this will be his fifth or sixth short-term trip to Chad so he knows the project well. This will be Janet’s first trip to Chad. She is considering serving as the manager of the housing and guest facilities as well as in nursing education.

The hope is that the Tangens will be available to serve long-term starting in June 2018 when the Oubres leave.  They are sooo needed!

Join us in prayer that the Tangens’ construction business and home will sell soon.

Thanks for all your prayers! They’re greatly needed! Pass this on, please. 

Blessings,

Bert

 

I’m in Lexington, SC now and had an appointment with Dr. David Lee, an orthopedist, on Sept. 5th.

Arthroscopy is now scheduled for this Friday, September 8th at 2:30 pm.

Thanks for your prayers for my surgery and recovery, and your continued prayers for the ongoing work and needs of the hospital in Chad.

Bert

I have had the best eye examinations ever plus two new pairs of eyeglasses including frames. One pair is for use in surgery which I have much needed.

Total cost to me –$00.00! Thank you, Lord!

Eyes, for my age, are in very good condition. No glaucoma or retinal disease.

Now if I can just get the knee working better! I have a doctor’s appointment in South Carolina on September 5th. 

Thanks for your prayers and support!
Bert

Praise

We praise God for a great visit with our son Philippe and his wife Brenna. Here are a few photo highlights:

We’re now in Australia with our daughter, Heidi, our son-in-law Petter and our grandsons, Hudson and Sawyer and to experience the joys and challenges of caring for a very active three-year-old as well as a one-year-old.

Praise in Chad: We praise the Lord for the progress of construction of the new surgical center. Hopefully, we will open it in January.

Another praise item is the 40-foot container from Samaritan’s Purse full of medical supplies and also equipment needed for our new solar power system is now in N’Djamen.

And since there hasn’t been any rain in a few days, Bollore may be able to get it to Guinebor in the next day or two. Another 20-foot container arrives in a month.

We praise the Lord for blessing this project in so many ways!

May many more souls be saved over many years at this spiritual and medical oasis in a very dark land.

Prayer Requests:

My problem knee prevents many normal activities related to activities. I had an MRI of my knee this week in Brisbane so maybe a decision can finally be made concerning surgery or not. If yes, it will be done in SC.

Please also pray for the team at the hospital in Chad. There’s a team of two full-time Chadian doctors and three short-term doctors during our absence as well as a staff of eighty nationals.

We also need prayer for the patients and the 20-foot container to be able to make it to the hospital despite heavy rains that have made it difficult for anyone to make it to the hospital.

These are our praise and prayer items for now.
Blessings,
Bert & Debbie

That’s Brenna swimming close to a whale shark.

The latter is a fish, not a whale, and it uses its huge mouth to filter out plankton, not Brenna, as its main food.

 

We traveled this month to South Korea to visit our son Philippe and his wife, Brenna.

After 28 hours in airports and planes, we arrived in Seoul. Philippe and Brenna met us and we continued on the 2.5-hour drive to Yangyang where they live and work teaching English.

The next day we went with Philippe to observe as he had two classes to teach before he and Brenna start their vacation.

It was good to meet his Korean colleagues and watch him (and admire him) interact so well with his students. Brenna teaches at a different school.

The next day we went to the DMZ and visited the site of the next Winter Olympics, including the site for the ski jump.

We won’t make the real event but Philippe and Brenna already have their tickets!

Next, we’ll fly to Brisbane, Australia to spend a couple of week with our daughter Heidi and her family. 

I’m still having pain in my knee so I’ll have an MRI done in Australia. If I need surgery, I’ll fly back to the South Carolina for it.