Prayer Letter

Thank you for your prayers regarding the solar power system at the hospital. We've made one more step forward with the system, replacing 3 inverters which has helped, but there's still more to do. Equipment is on order from China and should arrive in December. However, one of our solar technicians is American and the visa situation between Chad and the USA is still not resolved, meaning many American workers have already left Chad as their visas have expired and many more, including our solar technician, are leaving in December. Fortunately, with 'cold' season our energy consumption is at its yearly low, so the system is coping with demand right now, but that won't last once the temperatures increase again in March.

During November we've had more visitors to the hospital including two Doctors from Sweden who are here for 6 weeks, the chair of the hospital's board, along with his wife and a previous colleague from Germany who's here for a couple of weeks along with her husband. It's always fun to have new people around and the hospitality team (there are three of us) has done admirably catering for the needs of the visitors. I've also been overseeing some refurbishment of the main guest house, which has been led by Alphonse, the hospital's head of construction and maintenance. We've needed to remove the suspended ceiling in the lounge/diner and kitchen and put in a more stable fixed ceiling. So that's been a messy, dusty job but we're getting there. I've also been overseeing the overhaul of the solar power system on one of the other houses. All the houses at the hospital have their own independent solar systems, separate from each other and separate from the hospital.

From the management team side of things I've been helping Agnès, our head nurse who's on the management team, in learning how to clearly and accurately write up the notes of our weekly meetings and send them out to the relevant recipients. As a team, we've been working on the finance budget for 2026. Please pray for us in that, as getting it to balance is no mean feat! The turnover of the hospital is getting bigger every year and as in most things finance, the expenses are always at risk of overtaking the income, especially as we are continuing to endeavour to have our prices as low as possible so that we remain accessible to as many as possible. Another thing we're currently in the middle of is negotiations with the staff union reps over salary increases. That is another juggling act, and we'd appreciate your prayers in that too. The union reps are a good bunch and to be honest, I don't envy their position as go-betweens, it's not something I'd relish doing.

As far as pharmacy goes, things are ticking along fine, and I think we've finally got our heads around the new IT system. Valerie has been on leave for November, so it'll be good to have her back next week, as another pair of hands are always helpful. We'll need to do a huge stocktake at the end of December. The rolling fund is doing well and still functions like it should which is a great help in ensuring consistency of stock availability. However, we can only buy what's available and at the time of writing there is no sodium chloride 0.9% or ringers lactate infusion fluid available to buy in N'Djamena. The medically minded among you will know how big a deal that is in terms of patient care. This type of situation is rare but not unusual for Chad. This is God's hospital, not ours, and ultimately, He's in control. He demonstrates that in situations like this, as just when we found out there were neither of these items available, and we had enough stock to last about a week, a government pharmaceutical depot gave us a donation of them both, that is enough to last us for a couple more weeks! Praise God!

Doctors who work in the public (government) hospitals have been on strike for most of November, just providing emergency care. This is having an impact on us with increased patient numbers and also issues in not being able to refer patients on to other healthcare establishments when needed.

I had a wonderful month in the UK during October and was able to switch off from Chad and the hospital which was much needed. I enjoyed being able to catch up with friends and family, spend a weekend away with close friends, go on a retreat with one of those close friends, and also show an American friend I know from Chad my country. It was great to be at 'home' and enjoy the UK for a bit. The photo shows one of the many rainbows I saw during the month I was in the UK, while I was by the sea (I tried to see the sea a lot, as I really miss it here in the desert!).

In other news that is really exciting for us here at Guinebor…….the last bit of the road towards the hospital is currently being tarred! I have included photographic proof! I still can't really believe it. It's been two years since they started the work, and two rainy seasons have destroyed bits of it in the meantime, but since it stopped raining this year (in October) the road has been shut, heavy machinery brought in and the road was levelled out and became the smoothest and flattest I've ever seen it. Even with these promising signs, I said to colleagues that I wouldn't believe it was being tarred until I saw the black stuff. Well, this week, the black stuff arrived! Hopefully it won't take long to be finished and opened. This last part of the road being tarred will be a game-changer for us at the hospital (as well as for everyone who lives in the area). Patients will be able to access us easily, we'll inevitably get even busier (a great thing obviously but it'll likely present challenges too), no more getting stuck in the mud in rainy season or people falling off motorbikes into puddles, vehicles will generally get less damaged. Praise God for this development in the infrastructure of the village/suburb of Guinebor 2.

As mentioned above, the situation regarding visas for Americans wanting to enter Chad and Chadians wanting to enter America remains unresolved. A few bilateral diplomatic discussions have been had but there is no apparent movement on this for the moment. From our side here in Chad, it is now having a practical and emotional impact in many areas.

Praise and prayer points

Praise points:

Cooler temperatures

Solar power system sufficiently working for the moment

The unexpected donation of urgently needed infusion fluids

Refreshing break in the UK

The road being tarred

Prayer points:

We could get the solar working even better and that the generator back-up would continue to function well

Safety during construction/maintenance projects

Great wisdom for the management team in creating the 2026 finance budget and also in staff salary negotiations

Supplies of infusion fluids would be available again soon (and not at elevated prices)

For a successful resolution to the government Doctors' strike

For the US and Chad to find a way to resolve the visa issue

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and a blessed 2026. Thank you for your ongoing support!

Blessings

Claire