Prayer Letter

As it's cooler, the demands on the hospital's electricity supply (solar generated with generator backup) are lower and we're able to pretty much meet all our energy needs via solar. The new inverters arrived from China last week. However, as per my last newsletter, our regular solar technician, an American missionary, is now in the States as his Chadian visa expired in December. There's still zero movement unfortunately between the two countries to resolve the issue of each one refusing to give visas to nationals of the other.

The work in pharmacy continues on well, although due to her having to cover other people's work in the department, Valerie is feeling less confident in the work of the stockroom (ordering, receiving, supply to other departments). I hope to work with her more on this from March, when we'll revise some of the work schedules of the others to free her up a bit. The situation with infusion fluids continues on. Stock is still really hard to find in Chad. One of our suppliers has found an avenue to get some to us but due to the fact it's difficult to find, the price has gone up. Typical supply-and-demand issues but it's frustrating, as we have to pass the slight increase in cost on to our patients.

The management team of which I'm a part has had a busy January with our annual meetings (in-person board meeting, hospital AGM and meeting with Chadian government officials from the ministry of health, local council, NGO office etc). Annual reports of hospital activity and finances for 2025 were presented and it was encouraging news all round, for which we give God the glory. We managed to pin down the 2026 finance budget and have it approved by the board.

The discussions regarding pay with the union reps stalled somewhat but have not ended yet. Everything is fine and being done in good spirit but it's a mammoth task and one that is resulting in the management team needing to revise some hospital policies in tandem with the pay discussions.

The Doctors in the government hospitals continued their on/off strike until the middle of January. This strike, coupled with the newly tarred road (more on that later) meant that the last quarter of 2025 was extremely busy. As an example, the average number of births at G2 during 2025 was 240 per month but our midwives delivered over 300 per month in the last quarter of 2025 and again in January 2026. We praise God for this but please pray for energy for all the hospital staff, as there is rarely any downtime during shifts these days.

It was fun to have visitors from various organisation with us in January for the annual meetings. BMS was represented by two staff and they kindly took the BMS mission workers out for dinner one evening. We went to a yummy pizza restaurant in N'Djamena, the photo shows us waiting for the food to arrive!

So many of you over the years and recently have asked about the tarring of the road towards the hospital and I am extremely happy to report that it is finished! The photo shows the part just by the hospital. There are now only about 200-300m of dirt track between the hospital gates and the tarred road. As I mentioned in my last letter, this is a real game changer for so many reasons, and I still get excited when I drive on it! Sounds crazy but when I think of the years of stress and mud that we've lived through in previous rainy seasons, I can't help but be relieved that that is now a thing of the past. The local mayor visited G2 last week and he even said that he'd try and get financing for tarring the road right in front of the hospital into their 2027 budget. We'll see!

Christmas at G2 was a quiet, low-key one as usual but I appreciate the fact that Christmas here is more simple, less over-the-top and we can reflect on Who and what we're celebrating. Between the BMS workers at G2, plus a British mission worker family from another organisation, we managed to rustle up a wonderful roast chicken dinner on Christmas Day!

One of the other sets of visitors who came to G2 in January were from a small Swiss NGO called “écoute-moi”. This organisation seeks to set up audiology services in N'Djamena and has been working in conjunction with G2 for about 3 years, carrying out auditory checks on babies, cleaning out ears and so on. Space for them to work in, with soundproofing, has proven difficult to find at G2 and so last year, rather than building something from scratch at G2, the organisation sent an “audiology department in a shipping container”. It was sent from South Africa in April/May 2025 and was delayed and delayed in arriving to Chad. We were all wondering whether the container would actually arrive in time for the team to work on it but, in typical God-ordained timing, it did…..two days before their arrival! I took delivery of the container on a Saturday morning, the photo shows it being put into place by cranes. The Swiss team, in conjunction with Chadian workers, worked really hard and in less than two weeks, they'd created a functional space that the audiology team are now using.

Praise and prayer points

Praise points:

Solar power system sufficiently working for the moment and the arrival of the inverters from China

The encouraging reports on hospital activity and finance that we were able to present to the board

Time with visitors in January

That the road is finally tarred

A simple but positive Christmas

That the audiology container arrived just in time

Prayer points:

That we will find a way of installing the new solar inverters now that our American colleague has left Chad

Valerie as she continues to learn and remember systems and processes in pharmacy stock management

Wisdom in the ongoing discussions with staff union reps regarding pay and other HR processes

Energy and wisdom for the staff as we work in and manage an increasingly busy hospital

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

For those of the Islam faith here in Chad as they start Ramadan soon, that they would have revelations of Jesus during this time

Thank you for your ongoing support, I appreciate it so much!

Some of you will be aware that I will be in the UK on home assignment in May and June 2026. Below is my schedule of church/group visits. Do feel free to come to one that is near you, it would be great to see you and update you in person on the work at G2!

Blessings

Claire

Sunday 10 May – lunchtime/early afternoon – Upton Vale Baptist Church, Torquay

Wednesday 13 May – 9am – Northumbria Community morning prayer group (Zoom)

Sunday 17 May – 10.30am – Bluntisham Baptist Church

Wednesday 20 May – 7.30pm – South Molton Baptist Church

Sunday 24 May – 10.30am – Folkestone Baptist Church

Tuesday 26 May – evening meeting – Brighton Road Baptist Church, Horsham

Sunday 31 May – 10.30am – Wellington Baptist Church

Sunday 31 May – 6pm – Barnstaple Baptist Church

Tuesday 2 June – 7pm – Griffithstown Baptist Church

Wednesday 3 June – 6.30pm – Moriah Baptist Church, Risca

Sunday 7 June – 10.30am – Caversham Baptist Church

Sunday 7 June – 6.30pm – Union Baptist Church, High Wycombe

Sunday 14 June – 10.45am – Abbey Centre Baptist Church, Northampton

Sunday 21 June – 10.45am – Higham Way Baptist Church, Burbage