Bert and Debbie Oubre – Page 2 – Hope and Healing for the Nations Through Christ

March 2021—Musa Suffers Persecution For His New Faith; Plans Begin for New Women’s Center; and Oubre Family Update.

Dear Family and Friends,

“When morning gilds the skies,
our hearts awaking cry;
May Jesus Christ be praised!
In all our work and prayers,
we ask his loving care:
May Jesus Christ be praised!”

This song came to mind as I (Debbie) was watching the sunrise with its beautiful reddish, orange hue across the sky as we settle back in Lexington, South Carolina for a few months. That is our prayer that Jesus Christ be praised in all our work and our daily lives!

Our time at G2 (Guinebor 2) flew by and we have now been back for three weeks already. Time does not stand still, does it!

Our flights back were uneventful, and we were wonderfully welcomed home by our dear friend, Gail Ferguson. We have settled back into “our” home in Lexington.

Philippe and Brenna were able to come and surprise us the weekend we got home!

On the 19th of March, we were able to celebrate with Joël being accepted into the ENT residency program at The University of Louisville. He and Jenny will be living there for five years.

Heidi, Petter, and the children live in Australia and we have not been able to see them for a year and a half because of COVID.

The work at G2 continued at a fast pace. January is usually a very busy month for the hospital as the governance board meets yearly. This year was lighter as we did not have any guests due to Covid, and so we met on Zoom with people in six different countries. We were so grateful that the internet worked well during the meetings! New partnerships are developing which will allow the hospital to grow with more specialties.

Other exciting news is that some of our patients and others in the village have accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior! PRAY as they are being discipled and that they will stand strong in the Lord even through difficult circumstances.

Meet Musa- (name changed to protect the individual). Musa had come to visit his sick sister at the hospital and while he was there, he picked up one of the New Testaments, in Arabic script, that are in the ward. As Musa read the New Testament, he was impressed by who Jesus was. Our Ethiopian chaplains visit the wards daily, talking and praying with patients and their caregivers.

It was during one of those visits that Musa started talking with them and asked to know more about what he was reading. During one of these talks, Musa accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior!

He could not wait to tell his family and friends about the joy and peace that he was experiencing. He encouraged them to accept Christ as well. That did not sit well with this Muslim family!

Musa was thrown in jail by his older brother, who was an officer at the prison, for over 4 months because of the family’s anger towards him because of his change of faith. Four months later, he was released from prison. While in prison, the chaplains and other Christians visited him, encouraging, and discipling him in his new faith.

After his release, he visited with Bert and told him that nothing could take away his newfound faith and joy! Unfortunately, Musa was again found by his family. They kidnapped, beat, and tried to kill him.

During a machete attack, Musa put his hands up to try to protect himself. The tendon in his left thumb was severed, leaving him with a useless thumb and a mangled hand.

Through it all, his faith in Christ remained strong and he was finally able to escape and return to our area. Musa returned to the home of a local pastor who had discipled him prior to being kidnapped.

All along, Bert had asked about news of Musa, but didn’t have any until this pastor friend called Bert and told him the good news that Musa was still alive, having escaped from his family, standing very strong in his faith even through persecution, and what had happened to his thumb.

Bert met with Musa and was so excited that he was continuing so strongly in the Lord! Musa repeatedly told Bert that he would never deny Christ no matter what!

Surgery was scheduled a few days before we left Chad. It was a success! He can extend his thumb again. We all praised the Lord!

PRAY for Musa as his faith continues to grow stronger and that he continues to not be ashamed of the gospel.

Another issue is that all his legal documents have been taken by his family and now he needs to get them replaced which isn’t always easy in Chad. Without them, he can’t legally travel, get a job, etc. PRAY for wisdom for our team as they help Musa navigate through this issue!

Plans for a new women’s center at G2 Hospital are being made so that the women of the area can have more accessibility to care especially when it comes to breast cancer. Breast cancer is often not detected at early stages in Chad because of the lack of knowledge. Patients tend to go the traditional medicine route first, they lack funds to pay for surgery, and some are too far from the
hospital.

Bert has a passion to teach others about the importance of breast checks. He would like to train a team of women to go into the communities and teach the locals how to check themselves.

Mel Spears and Jackie Chilvers will be restarting our community health later this year and will also help with this new program. The new center will have an outpatient component, a breast cancer detection room, and an office for our OB/GYN, Claudia Wahl.

The inpatient component will have a new maternity ward with six beds for labor patients, six delivery rooms, an operating room, an antenatal, and a post-partum ward. A women’s ward and two private rooms will also be part of the new center.

Our plans are to be in the States till June/July and then return to Chad for a season. We would love to catch up with you to share what the Lord is doing in Chad. Thanks again for your continued prayers and financial support!

In Him,
Bert and Debbie | Ephesians 6:10

We’re Taking Hope for Beating Breast Cancer to Women in Chad

Isaiah 43:19 says “I am about to do something new…”

As I reflected on this verse I thought it applied to me and my life and my service here in Chad.

Breast cancer is such a terrible thing. It’s almost always beyond cure once we find it here. We have had a few cases where we have found it through breast exams.

Mammography exists here but it’s not practical. Most people don’t know how to read them, and even I’m limited with what I know of it. It’s very expensive too.

We will have to depend on breast exams and teaching women to examine themselves. If we can train one person in each family, we could have that person do breast checks.

My plan is to train maybe four women at G2 and also four women at Dougia. They could do examinations for free or a small charge, and if they have a lump they could be referred to our center at Guinebor 2 and Dougia.

The reason I would like to go to Dougia is there are two people groups that we are currently not reaching here. The Kotoko and Kanembu are those two groups.

Once I have those two teams trained, they will refer back to me, and I will go out to the village myself with the community health team.

The breast exam will only be part of our work in community health and will be part of women’s and children’s care.

We do not have funding for it currently but anyone who has a personal experience with breast cancer or lost a loved one will hopefully be compassionate to these African women whose only hope is this kind of service.

I first developed a hatred for breast cancer in high school when I would go to my high school sweetheart, Alayne Knight’s home and noticed there was something wrong with her mom. I found out that she was fighting breast cancer and had had lots of medical procedures.

This pain shaped my future wife’s childhood and youth because her mother was always suffering.

Alayne even had a premonition that she would die of the same disease. Her mother died at age 43 and Alayne did as well. We lived with her breast cancer for 6 years. She had a lump and two positive nodes of breast cancer. She refused chemotherapy and seemed to have beat it and after her mastectomy and reconstruction, she developed vicious metastasis in her liver.

Cancer took Alayne’s life, but not before she professed her faith in Jesus Christ. I was saved and my commitment to the Lord, and it was real.

Now I’m at the ending of my career, I am 80, and I’ve developed Parkinsons. I’ve been able to still do surgery even though I can’t stand long.

I didn’t expect to be able to come to Chad after all the health issues I’ve faced, but here I am.

This simple method of creating a breast exam system and community care that I am proposing has the potential to save the lives of many women!

I feel like I’m a solider in a the war against breast cancer, and we need others to help in the fight!

Any interest in being involved can be sent to to oubrebert@gmail.com.

No financial donation is too small!

The address is:

CHSC
PO BOX 132
Fruitvale, TX 75127

Thank you for your support!

Dr. Bert Oubre

Latest Update — October 2020

Dear Family and Partners,

Greetings from South Carolina! Fall is in the air, the trees are changing color, and the weather has been great. It is a crazy time for us as we have been busy making preparations for our departure on October 27^th back to Chad. We have been making last-minute phone calls, packing suitcases, ordering medical supplies, having meetings, and visiting with friends and family.

Our time in the States has been quite different than other furloughs, but also a time of rest, reconnecting with family and friends by phone, and social distancing. We have been able to spend more time with Philippe, Brenna, Joel, and Jenny than we have in years! It has been a great blessing during this difficult COVID 19 time.

The highlight of our time in the States was Joël and Jenny’s beautiful wedding on October 10^th in Johnson City, Tennessee. Unfortunately, Heidi, Petter and the children were unable to attend due to travel restrictions. Hurricane DeIta and COVID 19 did not damper the mood and it was such a joyous occasion to see the two take their vows before God and man. A night to remember full of joy and laughter! Please pray for them as they embark on this new journey we call marriage!

We continue to praise the Lord that the number of COVID cases in Chad have remained relatively low and that all staff members at the hospital have remained COVID free! We are looking forward to being with and working with the staff soon. Our amazing team at Guinebor 2 Hospital continues to keep busy.

Let us tell you about a case, unfortunately not unusual! “Moussa” (not his real name) is a thirteen years old boy who was brought to the hospital by his parents because he broke his right arm and left leg in a motorcycle accident.

The family, being poor, thought it would be easier and cheaper to take Moussa to a traditional healer who bound up Moussa’s arm tightly.

Unfortunately, the dressing was much too tight causing the arm to lose its blood supply, and the arm became gangrenous.

The parents, who had originally asked the traditional healer to help them, decided it was making their son worse so they brought him to Guinebor 2 Hospital. They had noted that there was a bad smell coming from the arm.

Kalbassou and the staff were able to set the child’s left leg without any problem, but were not so fortunate with his right arm because the arm had developed gangrene and a bone infection. The only solution was to amputate it above his elbow.

Because of generous gifts given to the hospital’s “Poor Fund” by friends around the world, the family was helped with their bill and were so grateful for Moussa’s care and financial help! Pray for this family that they will be touched by Christ’s love because of the care they received at the hospital!

We are so looking forward to getting back to Chad and being with our staff and missionary friends again, but it will be hard to say goodbye to family and friends.

We want to thank each of you who has helped us with prayer, financial gifts and other ways of encouragement during our prolonged stay here in the States! We had intended to be here for about 5 months post-Bert’s total knee, however, because of COVID, another unexpected major surgery, and various health-related complications, we have now been here for almost 9 months. We will be returning on October 27^th.

We thank you for continuing to pray for:

1. Bert’s health,

2. Our trip back to Chad (with lots of luggage),

3. That no problems would arise with customs in Chad because of all the supplies and equipment we are transporting for the hospital, and

4. The readaptation to the October/November heat and dust as the rains have ended the beginning of October.

Prior to leaving the States, we are required to have a negative COVID test. Upon arrival in Chad, we are required to quarantine the first week, repeat our COVID test on day six with a negative COVID result before we are released to go back to work at the hospital.

Thanks for your continued prayers and financial support. Without you as “our team” we couldn’t continue our ministry for the Lord in Chad!

In Him!
Bert and Debbie Oubre
Psalms 9:1-2

October 2020 Update

Newsletter 3, October 2020:

Greetings from Guinebor 2 Hospital (G2)!

Although the covid 19 pandemic has, mercifully, been less severe here in Chad than in many other countries, it continues to make its presence felt, primarily through the heightened economic pressure it has placed upon an already very poor country.

Here at the hospital, the prices of many of our consumable products have continued to rise, and their availability to decline, while the capacity of our patients to pay for the goods and services we provide them has reduced.

Keeping our pharmacy well stocked is becoming more and more of a challenge and, now that the generous COVID 19 relief grants we received from BMS, CEF, SIM-France, and through individual supporters via CHSC, have all finished, we’re facing acute financial challenges.

To make matters worse, the hospital recently – and in our opinion unjustly – lost a court case which had been running against us through different levels of the legal and appeals system for almost two years. This resulted in a substantial fine and the demand to pay it within 8 days.

We managed to pay the first half to keep the bailiffs from the door (the plaintiff is well connected and had access to the power to seize assets if we refused to pay), and have negotiated some delay on paying the remainder, which God has provided for through a generous individual donation. However, even paying that first half was a big hit for the hospital which functions on very tight margins at the best of times, without the means to save for such eventualities, and in a country without viable insurance protection.

The hospital management team has been wrestling with the tri-fold challenges of rising prices for drugs and consumable supplies, reduced numbers of patients (partly seasonal during these heavy rains, partly due to COVID 19 and its socio-economic impacts), and the fact that most patients would not be able to afford it if we increased the prices we charge them.

To prevent continual stress around paying for pharmacy and lab bills, we want to establish a “revolving drugs fund” whereby all revenue from pharmacy sales and lab tests is set aside specifically to pay for laboratory reagents and pharmacy bills (these amount to more than $15,000 / €13,500 / £12,000 each month).

In order to do this, we first need a cash injection to do a major re-stock of both our lab and pharmacy – the latter most urgently, as we’re starting to run out of many drugs including those desperately needed for malaria.

We also have pressing material needs, such as replacing the 16 solar batteries in our main building (we just managed to replace the 8 in our wards in August), which are almost dead, meaning that the lights go out soon after 5pm in our 24/7 pharmacy, and the fridges in the lab and pharmacy lose power, unless we run the generator at night and burn more fuel.

We know that times are difficult for everyone right now, but if there is any way that you can help us to meet these urgent needs then that would really help us to keep treating all the patients who come here.

Our international church in N’Djamena has been studying the book of Acts recently, and we are reminded that when progress is being made for God’s kingdom it often meets with opposition.

We’ve been blessed to see much progress this year at G2, but we are now also feeling the pressure of that opposition, through the court case, the increased security risk, and our financial challenges. We need God’s grace to persevere through it so that our labors for him will be sustained and continue to bear fruit.

The Team at G2:

G2 hospital has always attracted a mixture of long and short-term mission workers, in addition to our core team of Chadian staff.

We have recently been blessed with a real answer to prayer in the form of an obstetrician/gynecologist. Dr. Claudia Wahl was already serving in Chad through the German mission agency Christliche Fachkräfte International (CFI) and will now be working with the maternity department at G2 until the end of 2021.

Maternal and infant mortality remains one of Chad’s many big health challenges and so we are very glad to welcome her skills and her contribution to the team here at G2. May God bless all her efforts!

After many months of school closures, it’s been a blessing that the two international schools re-opened in late September. As well as being good news for all the G2 mission children, this has also freed up their parents to work more at the hospital.

In particular, Bizunesh and Genet, the wives of our two Ethiopian pastors, are now ministering alongside their husbands here at the hospital, which is a real boost to sharing the Gospel here, especially for our female patients in this very gender-orientated culture.

We’ve also experienced the potential of our new football/soccer field for use in outreach ministry to local boys, although, unfortunately, the combination of the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic and recently heightened security situation has meant that developing this exciting new ministry is on hold again for now.

When working in Chad, it seems that steps forward can often be followed by steps backward, which can be discouraging, but we will keep persevering.

Lives Transformed at G2 Hospital:

After the intensely dry hot season, the rains that start in June are very welcome indeed. The air cools and the landscape rapidly transforms from a barren desert into lush green grassland.

It does not take long however before much of the area around the hospital becomes flooded. Not only does this see some roads become impassable and others much more challenging, but the cases of malaria increase relentlessly through July, August, and September.

This affects every age group, but we see all too readily that it is often the children who are more severely affected. Amina* is one such child. [*Name changed to protect her identity.]

Amina* & her mother, after successful treatment for severe malaria. [*Name changed to protect her identity.]

Amina is 10 years old and was brought into the hospital at the beginning of September, having been comatose already for 3 days.

Her malaria test was positive, and she was admitted for treatment in the pediatric ward with daily injections and IV fluids. The malaria parasite destroyed her red blood cells and caused her to become anemic. Thus, she needed blood transfusions. And as she was unable to eat, we also started feeding her through a tube into the stomach.

Each day we saw a small amount of progress until finally after 7 days of being in hospital, she opened her eyes for the first time.

All of the staff who had been caring for her were delighted to see the amazing recovery that she made. The photo above was taken another 4 days later. She was still a little weak, but able to walk, and she replied with a smile when we asked if she was ready to go home.

See & Learn more about G2 Hospital:

BMS World Mission made an excellent short video about the work here at G2 hospital. If you haven’t seen it yet, then please watch the “Operation Chad” film. Watch it here.

We also now have a G2 facebook page!

Prayer Requests & Opportunities to Serve:

We are still in urgent need of a Surgeon. If you have these skills and are willing to serve, whether long or short term, then please do contact us at Guinebor2@gmail.com

Please pray for our financial situation. By the grace of God, we have kept the doors open and staff paid through the last 6 months, but bills and needs continue to mount without respite.

Pray for journey mercies for our staff coming into work and the children who live here going out to school each day. Three months of heavy rain has severely deteriorated our un-surfaced/dirt access road and made getting in and out of the hospital an endurance test for people and vehicles alike. Our ambulance was stuck in mud for two hours recently with vital oxygen bottles and vaccines in it.

Continue to pray for strength for Kalbassou, our General Director, who has also been our only surgeon for the last seven months, working almost ceaselessly.

Pray also for the safe return from the USA of our founder and surgeon, Dr. Bert Oubre, and his wife Debbie, due back in Chad later this month.

Please pray God’s protection over this hospital and this country, not only through the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, but also against the increased threat from Boko Haram, who have become much more active in closely neighbouring Nigeria and Cameroon, and are also present here in central Chad.

Keep praying for the work of our two Ethiopian pastors/chaplains and their wives, and for all those they are reaching here with the Gospel.

G2 Hospital is very grateful for all the volunteers, prayers and financial support we receive from all over the world, including from AIM, DWAM, Encompass World Partners, Humedica, CFI, CHSC, SIM-France, CEF, BMS World Mission, and individual private donors and churches. We could not keep doing what we do without your ongoing support.

May the Lord continue to bless you in all that you do!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7

July 2020 Guinebor 2 Hospital Update

Welcome to the second quarterly newsletter from Guinebor 2 Hospital (G2)!

The last few months have been challenging for everyone, everywhere, due to the global spread of the Corona Virus and the necessary restrictions and limitations imposed to counter it.

Chad was fortunate to have been less severely affected than many other countries in terms of confirmed case numbers, but we are yet to see clearly the full impact it’s had in terms of increased mortality and the suffering caused by the economic burden of business closures and transport restrictions.

Here in Chad the government designated a hospital in nearby Farcha as the official testing and treatment centre for Covid 19. Therefore our primary concern at G2 in relation to Covid 19 has been how to minimize the risk of it entering the hospital while continuing to ensure that everyone who comes to the hospital gets the care they need for all the other medical conditions which are so prevalent here.

This involved creating a new sheltered triage area outside the gate, banning visiting-hours, establishing hand-washing stations everywhere, re-purposing our carers village as an isolation area for suspect cases (of which we’ve had several, but thankfully not many), improving all our cleaning routines and external security, improving our power generation to keep oxygen concentrators running, and equipping our staff with protective equipment including masks, gowns, gloves etc and additional training.

These actions all incurred additional expense at a time when our normal hospital income took a real hit from the combined effects of the Covid 19 business and travel restrictions and the annual reduction in patient numbers during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.

God is good, however, and ensured that the hospital got additional help from some of our partners, notably medical, cleaning and protective supplies donated from MSF, the Chadian Ministry of Health and SIM, and cash grants from BMS, CEF and some individual donors. We are so grateful for all those who gave generously, especially during this time of hardship for so many. Without this support we could not have kept functioning throughout April, May and June.

Patient numbers are now higher again, and the health needs here remain as great as ever, especially with the rains bringing the start of malaria season.

The Team at G2

G2 hospital has always attracted a mixture of long and short-term mission workers, in addition to our core team of Chadian staff. With the airport and borders closed for more than 4 months, we’ve had some volunteers who ended up serving here much longer than they had expected to!

With much patience and prayer, Dr Penny Hyde (UK) and Eric Tangen (CEF, USA) were eventually able to return home on special evacuation flights in April and May, and American Theatre/Operating Room Nurse, Tyler Fair will fly home on 2nd August, once the airport formally re-opens.

We thank them all for their service here, and for “going the extra mile” with us during these challenging times, both here and in their home countries.

For those of us who live here, the 6-month closure of all schools has also been a real challenge, as it has elsewhere. Home-schooling our children through the heat of Chad’s hot season and working at the hospital at the same time was not easy, but everyone helped each other.

The G2 children were the most excited of all when the rainy season finally started during June, bringing strong cooling winds, spectacular lightening storms, mud and green grass instead of sand, and some truly enormous puddles to be played in, jumped over, or driven through with much splashing!

The G2 soccer/football field we created in February on an expanse of unused sand is now complete and its fresh grass needs regular mowing.

Lives Transformed at G2 Hospital

Ahmat (His name is changed to protect his identity), a farmer from a village some 100km away from G2 hospital, was feeling troubled one night and, unable to sleep. He was walking in the dark and tripped and fell down a well. He broke his right leg so badly it sheared right through the femur and he also bruised his left knee. He spent a long and painful night in the well before help came in the morning to get him out and find transport to come to G2 hospital.

When our Hospital Director Kalbassou Doubassou saw his leg X-ray he was shocked. This would be a difficult operation with a break that severe. He prayed to God for wisdom and then worked hard with the surgical team on Ahmat’s leg.

With considerable skill and two hours of surgery, he was able to fix the broken femur with three screws. The leg is now healing in plaster and Ahmat has been discharged to return back to his farm, his wife, and 4 children, all of whom are dependent upon him.

Had his leg remained broken, or had he gone to a local witch-doctor whose remedies would probably have resulted in the eventual need for amputation, Ahmat’s life would have been ruined, and his family impoverished.

Thankfully, he was able to come to G2 hospital, which has a good reputation for surgery. Although Ahmat will need to keep his leg in plaster to strengthen for another two or three months, at least now he’s home in time for planting season, and he can supervise his children planting the new crop of millet and peanuts, using wooden crutches made for him by our physiotherapist, Matthieu.

After planting season he will return for removal of the plaster, a post-surgical check-up, and some physiotherapy. Ahmat said he is happy with the treatment he had here and thanked Kalbassou for saving his leg.

New Equipment & Services:

We are very grateful for a private donation to purchase an Immuno Analyser for our laboratory, enabling us to perform many new diagnostic tests, including PSA and TSH (prostate & thyroid tests) for the first time, for money raised by Staunton Alliance Church, which paid for our new mobile surgical lamp, and to the Dawn Laurel Foundation which donated money for a new delivery table, Operating table, and ceiling-mounted Operating lamp.

Our new mobile surgical lamp provides better light for surgery.

We also now have a G2 facebook page! You can find us at Hopital Guinebor 2

Prayer Requests & Opportunities to Serve

We are still in urgent need of a Surgeon.

If you have these skills and are willing to serve, whether long or short term, then please do contact us at Guinebor2@gmail.com

Please pray for our founder and surgeon Dr Bert Oubre, who is in the USA after recovering from knee surgery. Pray that he and Debbie will be healthy and able to return to Chad soon.

Please pray for Kalbassou, our General Director and currently our only Surgeon. May God give him energy, strength and wisdom for all the work he does, especially while Bert and Debbie are still away.

Please pray God’s protection over this hospital and this country as we emerge from the restrictions of Coronavirus, and also as heavy rains bring the start of malaria season and occasional flooding and storm damage.

Pray that we will be able to treat patients with the many diseases and conditions which shorten lives and cause so much suffering here in Chad.

Please keep praying for the work of our two Ethiopian Pastors/Chaplains and for all those they are reaching with the Gospel.

G2 Hospital is very grateful for all the volunteers, prayers, and financial support we receive from all over the world, including from AIM, DWAM, Humedica, CHSC, SIM-France, the Cutting Edge Foundation (CEF), and BMS World Mission.

We are also proud to announce a new partnership with the Neuenbürg hospital for anaesthesia training, funded by GIZ (German international development agency)

May the Lord continue to bless you in all that you do.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9

July 2020 Update

Joel, Jenny, Debbie, Bert, Philippe, and Brenna

Dear Family and Partners,

Wow! What a year this has been so far! So many things happening around the world starting with fires and floods in Australia, China, Pakistan, volcanoes erupting, locust invasions, protests, riots, and of course the Coronavirus that has closed many countries to travel, caused economic disasters, loss of lives, anger, despair, loss of hope, isolation, increase in suicides, time of reflection, new ways of meeting and greeting friends.

There are too many negative consequences due to COVID 19 that we could talk about but… we know who holds this world and who holds our hands through all these various trials!

Our time in the States did not turn out how we had planned it either.

Bert was to have a total knee surgery in February, then plans for physical therapy for 2-3 months, celebrating with my Mom’s 90th birthday June 12th (which was canceled because my mother fell and broke her hip on the 9th of June), traveling to visit our partners and family updating them about our work, getting ready to go back to Chad the end of June.

Those were our plans, but things didn’t go as planned.

Bert had his total knee on February 17th, but then on April 23rd, Bert started to feel nauseated, with abdominal distention. So being a surgeon, he started assessing his abdomen and decided that we needed to go to urgent care for a possible bowel obstruction.

He had surgery the next day for a small bowel obstruction, was hospitalized for twelve days without visitors post-op. It was a difficult time for all and the recovery has been long and hard for Bert. He is slowly gaining back his strength.

At this time, Chad’s borders are still closed to incoming planes so we are still seeking the Lord’s direction for when we will be going back.

One of our fears was that Chad would have many cases of COVID, but the Lord has protected that country and there are less than 1000 cases. But this has affected the hospital’s income (decrease by 30%) as fewer patients came to the hospital because the bus taxis were not able to travel as usual making them have to use taxis that are too expensive for most of the population.

But God intervened and the hospital received several donations to help pay the staff salaries, buy supplies and we are glad to say that no staff had to be furloughed during this time. No staff member was diagnosed with COVID for which we praise the Lord!

Even in the midst of what we consider a disaster, God has used the hospital to take care of those who need medical help.

Meet Fatime

When Fatime was 1 yr old, she picked up a hot piece of coal and burned her hand.

Unfortunately, her parents took her to a traditional healer and she did not get the care that she needed. She arrived at the hospital a few weeks before we left with her hand totally deformed with all fingers contracted down like a boxing glove—a totally useless hand.

Bert talked to her parents and it was decided that he would do surgery on her little hand to release the contractures and try to free up her fingers to make her hand more useful. They were also told that it would take more surgeries and physical therapy. Fatime did well through the first surgery.

When we left, the hand was healing well, but she needed more skin grafts. The OR team, led by Kalbassou and Tyler, continued the care for this beautiful little girl. We are told that she is coming along well and she is healing. She will still need more specialized surgery when Bert gets back. We pray that this family will see the love that was shown to them and will want to know more about the true Messiah.

Meet Jenny

Other exciting news for our family, our youngest son, Joel finished LSU Medical School (no graduation ceremony because of COVID), is doing his preliminary year of a surgical residency in Johnson City, Tennessee, and was engaged on May 31st to Jenny Land, a travel nurse.

Joel and Jenny are getting married on October 10, 2020.

Thanks for your continued prayers and financial support. Without you as “our team” we couldn’t continue our ministry for the Lord in Chad!

In Him,

Bert and Debbie Oubre

Lamentations 3:22-24

Showers of Blessings!

Dear Supporters and Partners,

As 2019 comes to a close, we reflect on the last 12 months. It was a year filled with exciting times of new adventures and progress as well as difficult times and challenges. Even as we walked through “desert” moments, we were reminded constantly of how good God is through the showers of blessings He sent. It has been a year marked with His provision and faithfulness and we are so expectant for what He is going to do in the new year!

Here are some of the blessings that we have received over the year and we feel that God is moving within the work in Chad.

Housing during our stay in the States: We frequently joke that we are homeless, as we sold our house in Columbia, SC, before leaving for Nigeria in 2014. We have always had a safe, quiet, and relaxing place to stay when we return to the States plus a car or two put at our disposition.

We were back in the States just a week before Debbie had to have back surgery because of severe sciatic pain. We thank God that the surgeon, who is a brother in the Lord, was able to operate so quickly and that Debbie woke up with no more sciatica.

We were able to visit with our children, Philippe and his wife, Brenna, in North Carolina, Joël in Louisiana and Greg, Lily and our grand-daughter, Hannah, in Texas. We also had the privilege of celebrating Debbie’s parents’ 65th anniversary in Pennsylvania and visit other family members.

Sharing with old and new friends about our work in Chad was such an encouragement as they continue to pray for our ministry and support us in this endeavor.

A very generous couple donated funds to remodel the old sterilization/laundry building into two one-bedroom apartments that should be finished in the next month adding much-needed housing.

Our team is growing- a French nurse couple and the two children arrived in October. Two British couples and their children will arrive in January. Four more short-term missionaries (2-6 months of service) from the USA, Germany, England, and France will be arriving in December/January. Our compound will be overflowing!

We have had many opportunities to share about our hope in Jesus with those around us!

Our Ethiopian colleagues are doing a wonderful work as chaplains as they visit, encourage, and share the Gospel with the patients.

Working alongside our teammates, both missionaries and national, sharing, discussing, planning, laughing, and at times crying is a blessing that we can’t take for granted!

The hospital received a sizable grant from the Swiss government which will help us improve our x-ray and laboratory services, purchase a larger generator and build a new building for ultrasound, prenatal clinic, and well-baby clinic. Many also donated to help buy much needed new delivery tables.

But the biggest blessing is to be used by God in his work! We are imperfect vessels, but our prayer is that we allow Him to mold us for His work.

Thanks again for all your support. We want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and God’s richest blessings to you and your family!

Bert and Debbie!

If you’d like to partner with us financially, click here to contact us and we’ll be happy to send you more information.

We’re thankful to be working with Crossover Global.

Crossover Global (a trade name of Crossover Communications International) has maintained “good standing” as a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) since 1996.

Duplex Debbie Building Project

The “Duplex Debbie” Building Project is going up! This project will provide needed short term missionary housing.

The small building below was our first sterilization building.

It is now part of our new duplex homes to be used by the short term missionaries.

“Duplex Debbie” was my smart little wife’s idea. She also developed the building plans, made our needs for this project known, prayed, and found the funds.

The Lord blessed her efforts and guided her and our building team through the building process in record time.

Time to install the doors, windows burglar bars and screened porches.

The Bible mentioned that it’s not good to put old wine in new wineskins. We would prefer to be putting a new ambulance in this new vehicle shed instead of our old one, but we were passed over last year when ambulances were given by the government.

Our latest building site.

And another of Debbie’s trees bites the dust.

This block of buildings will house the new Ultra Sound room, well-baby clinic, and vaccination room. There will be a covered waiting room for these patients as well as for X-ray patients.

The X-ray department is also being enlarged and improved. The new X-ray equipment should be functioning next month.

The entire hospital team of 90 full-time employees and the 20 temporary construction workers are excited to see G2 “movin on up.”

We will have a little celebration when the newly renovated and enlarged labor and delivery department is dedicated next week to the Lord.

Many thanks to those of you who have given to or prayed about any of these projects.

May the Lord bless you.
Bert and Debbie Oubre

Urgent Need: Donate Toward New Labor & Delivery Tables

I (Debbie) have a cause I would love to share and have people donate towards.

I have been a Labor and Delivery nurse for over 37 years. I wouldn’t work anywhere else!

Here in Chad (where Guinebor 2 Hospital is located), maternal and infant mortality is one of the highest in the world (top 5 in the world).

We work and strive to deliver the best maternal/infant care possible. We deliver an average of 150 babies/month.

Our current delivery tables need to be replaced as we have recovered them many times. If a patient moves down too far on the table they can fall off. And we can’t put the back up anymore. Etc.

Would you be willing to help us by donating money toward buying at least 2 new tables? We really need 4 new tables.

Each new table costs about $1,000.

Email us at b.oubre(at)crossover(dot)global if you want to give to this great cause!

Thanks!
Debbie Oubre

Six-Month-Old Baby Girl Gets a New Chance at Life

When six-month-old Achta was born, her tumor was the size of a large peanut according to her parents. Her 79-year-old surgeon and his team performed a tumorectomy and gave her a new chance at life!