Welcome to our latest Blog and thanks for your continued
interest and support.
Another month has flown by and the hot season is now
starting to kick in, can't say we really noticed that much of a cooler period!
The daily temperatures are now constantly in the low to mid 40c or around 112f,
so can be very draining. Our fluid intake has obviously had to be increased to
ensure we don't become dehydrated but an added benefit is the drastic reduction
in the number of mosquitoes. They are still around but in much smaller numbers
and is very tempting to sleep without a protective net to give us more air, we
did try this the other night but woke up bitten in various places so perhaps is
a little too soon. Everything is now very much drier so as soon as there is any
breeze or slight wind the dust is blown around which causes breathing
difficulties and blocked ears and noses. The temperatures will now steadily
climb over the coming months with no respite until the rains in July. This will
be our first experience of the hot season so will be interesting to see how we
cope as work and school will continue in the same way, but presumably at an
even slower pace. Early afternoon is a particularly difficult time as all you
feel like doing is lying down to sleep.
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| Wards in need of lighting |
Over the past month we have had various visitors from our
partner organisation in America, including the founder and the new CEO. They
have been here to review the work and to plan how best to move forward with new
initiatives. The issue as always centres rounding funding and getting new
people to come here to work for longer periods. We have other guests scheduled
for the upcoming months including an American doctor, a retired doctor and his
wife from the UK who will be here for around 8 weeks plus a young female pharmacist
from the UK who will be with us for a year.
It is always good to receive new visitors, but managing the expectations
of what can be achieved in short periods of time is always challenging as
obtaining materials and equipment can be a frustratingly long drawn out
process. We need to leave our western time-scales and watches in the departure
lounge of the airport from where we come from!
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| Hospital at night ! |
The number of patients coming to the hospital has stayed at
high levels despite all other hospitals being open in N'Djamena and the
surrounding district. This puts additional pressure on the hospital and the
need to expand our services but we are limited by our funding, facilities and
staffing numbers. The recent completion of the X-Ray building and now having
the ability to take onsite X-Rays is a great addition to our services. We have
also started on the final phase of installing solar lighting for the wards
enabling better care of our patients at night to be provided. This should be
completed within the month and will be a major benefit to all.
Despite the successful completion of projects and
initiatives the outstanding list of new projects to undertake continues to
grow. So good planning of the priority of the need and managing of resources
available will be required. This can be
frustrating as there are real benefits to be had from each separate project and
we are all impatient to implement improvements for the benefit of all who come
here for help.
We are now looking forward to a break at the end of this
month as we are scheduled to go on a retreat with our fellow BMS workers here
in Africa. We will all meet up in Pretoria for a 5 day break and will be great
to meet up again with some of the people we trained with at IMC last year and
also other workers we have heard about but never met. It will be great to see
what others have been doing and how they have been coping with the various
challenges they have faced. We will also take a week's holiday at this time and
plan on going to the SA coast to relax and see the sea, something that we have
missed.
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| Start of our new home |
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| Foundations completed |
Another piece of good news is that our home at the hospital
has started to be built. It has been a difficult process trying to find a
suitable builder, agreeing a plan , a price and a work schedule, but has now
been achieved. The builder started work a couple of weeks back and has made
good progress and he plans to have it completed before we finish language
training at the end of May. This will enable us to move in and start work full
time at the hospital during June, which will be a blessing as we have recently
been given notice that we need to vacate our existing accommodation by the 1st
June.
Love Malc and Sue