I’m not certain the origin of the above saying but I remember it from my childhood. It popped into my mind as I sat down to write this article for our newsletter because it seems to sum up where we are at this stage of our mission. I probably should explain.
Right now in Chad, CEF has just finished the ten foot security wall around the area that will house the outpatient clinic. This begins the first hospital project as we start out to accomplish of our mission of building teaching hospitals across sub-Saharan Africa in order to bring spiritual and medical healing to the people .
We have designed ordered, and paid for the clinic building which will be the first structure of the hospital complex. This building was fabricated in the United States. The various components have been loaded in a shipping container and are onboard a container ship heading to
“ALL DRESSED UP AND NO PLACE TO GO”
I’m not certain the origin of the above saying but I remember it from my childhood. It popped into my mind as I sat down to write this article for our newsletter because it seems to sum up where we are at this stage of our mission. I probably should explain.
Right now in Chad, CEF has just finished the ten foot security wall around the area that will house the outpatient clinic. This begins the first hospital project as we start out to accomplish of our mission of building teaching hospitals across sub-Saharan Africa in order to bring spiritual and medical healing to the people .
We have designed ordered, and paid for the clinic building which will be the first structure of the hospital complex. This building was fabricated in the United States. The various components have been loaded in a shipping container and are onboard a container ship heading to the seaport in Cameroon. From there it will be trucked overland to the hospital site in Chad. We look for the container’s arrival sometime in May.
Volunteer workers, paying their own way, will travel from the States to Chad to assemble the building. When they leave, the shell of the clinic will be complete. Today, we haven’t yet obtained the funds to finish the inside of the clinic. We are praying that these funds will become available so we can get the clinic open to the people.
Back to the title of this article. Today, there are doctors, nurses, and technicians that want the opportunity to bring medical and spiritual healing to people through this clinic. They are ready to go; some for short term missions, some to spend years there as full time missionaries. They are ready to go, but they have to wait for the clinic to
open.
Can you help ? Can you buy a cabinet, a light fixture, a door, an exam room table? Every cent of each dollar you contribute goes directly into completing the clinic. We’ve included a return envelope for your tax deductible contributions. Can you help?
From Where We Started, We’ve Covered a Lot of Ground
It has been exciting to see the Lord create something out of nothing other than a few willing servants and a vision to help Chadians physically and spiritually. The CEF vision is of course much bigger and that is to establish medical centers across the waist of the whole continent of Africa in the lower part of the 10/40 window. We intend for these centers to be oases in a physically and spiritually parched land. We are also involved in a parallel medical center development in South Sudan.
In the Fall of 2002, we did a survey of the medical needs in Chad. We made stops at fourteen different cities and villages. We spoke to people in the government, to missionaries, to NGO officials, to national doctors, pastors and others. The conclusion of this survey was that it was clear that the need for improved medical care is very great in Chad. It is one of the poorest countries in the world. The prevailing opinion was that the best contribution we could make would be to develop a referral medical center (hospital) with specialty coverage and that it should be in or near the capital city, N'Djamena.
Since that trip, we have made many other visits to Chad. We have met three different Ministers of Health in as many years. We have met and worked with many other government officials. All of them were very certain that there is need for a referral hospital. We are now in phase one of the hospital construction. The perimeter security wall for the outpatient department has been completed. The government's attitude now is that they would like for us to build the hospital and get it running as soon as possible. That is also our desire. However, we know that this project will be done in God's time and in His way. We are completely dependent on Him for direction and for the resources. The Chad government donated the land but there will be no government funds available for the construction or personnel training.
Wayne and Pam Elliott had a short course in French and have been in Chad since August 2005. Wayne is serving as the Field Director and Pam will be involved in administration. It has fallen on Wayne to oversee the initial phases of construction, despite the fact that he is not a builder.( Typical missionary experience! ) We are very proud of how the Elliott's have stepped into the harness and have done what has been necessary. Wayne and Pam are already helping unbelievers and believers alike. It hasn't been easy and the political climate remains very tense. We praise God for the Elliotts!
Some people hear of God's work abroad and are convicted to quit their job and go serve in a foreign land. However, many aren’t ready to make that great a commitment. They quench the Spirit and miss a blessing. We are proud of CEF board member and nurse, Debbie Williamson, who did just that. Debbie has quit her job and just arrived in Sudan where she will work on the medical center that CEF is partnering in. She will live in a small Sudanese village for a number of months.
Tech Serve, a mission based in Arkansas, will soon send out a construction supervisor to oversee the building of the outpatient department and missionary housing. We will continue with construction of an in-patient department when funds become available.
It will be necessary to train most of our own hospital workers. We are considering about six months of classroom lectures and then another six months of practical work before a certificate is awarded. Until this is done, unless the Lord sends us some qualified national medical workers, the teaching and patient care will be done by the expatriots.
So much has been accomplished since 2002, but there is much left to be done! A lot of talk has turned into a lot of action! PTL for enabling and equipping!
CHAD, AFRICA: A NATION NEEDING OUR HELP
A recent article in National Geographic states “ Chad is still one of the poorest countries on earth, and N’Djamena (the capital) is one of the worst-kept cities in Africa.”
Why is CEF there? Our Mission Statement states that we want to bring medical and spiritual healing to the African people. Where better to start than in a nation that is at the bottom. Muslims are active in Chad, building mosques in villages and using their tactics to secure converts.
There are few paved roads and minimal electricity. There are less than a dozen gas stations in all of Chad even though it is the number two producer of oil in Africa. Roadside vendors sell gasoline in old glass bottles that once held soft drinks or other liquids.
The medical situation in Chad is acute. In this country, which is twice the size of Texas, there are only 319 doctors! You’d find more than that in one of the Houston Hospitals. Chadians have a life expectancy of about 48 years. Malaria, AIDS and a host of tropical diseases take a terrible toll on these people.
CEF will bring doctor and nurses. We’ll upgrade the training of Chadian doctors and we’ll train others to become nurses and technicians. We are bringing hope and healing. We are there because what we bring is so desprerately needed.
Wayne and Pam Elliott had a short course in French and have been in Chad since August 2005. Wayne is serving as the Field Director and Pam will be involved in administration. It has fallen on Wayne to oversee the initial phases of construction, despite the fact that he is not a builder.( Typical missionary experience! ) We are very proud of how the Elliott's have stepped into the harness and have done what has been necessary. Wayne and Pam are already helping unbelievers and believers alike. It hasn't been easy and the political climate remains very tense. We praise God for the Elliotts!
