Dear friends welcome to our last Blog from Chad.
This will be the final chapter of our life here in Chad, as
we depart in August we shall be leaving with mixed feelings. When we left the
UK on 19th June 2012 we had no end date to return knowing we would
be visiting family and friends each year but felt our home and life would be in
Chad for a number of years to come. That has turned out not to be the case and
after a little more than 3 years we return to the UK with a couple of suitcases
less but with many memories and experiences which will remain with us forever. For
those of you who read our prayer letter we have explained why we felt it was
the right time to leave.
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| Little Sue |
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| Daily Chores |
Life in Chad at times has been hard, for us the language barrier
was always an issue especially for Sue who likes to chatter and found this
difficult to do, but has improved her acting skills no end as at times when at
a loss for the right word she would resort to acting it out. The heat and the
dust which at times are overbearing we won’t miss, but is something you do
actually get used to. The cold showers are not great and the crazy, dangerous
way they drive here will be things we won’t miss, but there are also many
things we shall, particularly our Chadian colleagues and friends who have made
our time here memorable. The simple life, not worrying about consumerism and
the pressures of living in a fast moving western culture also have many
attractions.
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| Friends |
We informed our Chadian colleges this week that we would be
leaving Chad on the 9th August and were overwhelmed by the response,
I think they, like us, thought we would be here for many years. They were sad
and tried to say all the things they could think of to make us stay and it was
then that we really realised the enormity of our decision but also knew that it
was the right decision. Our house help Nemercie was particularly upset as we
won’t now be around to see her little Sue grow up and be the support for her in
the coming years. She has become part of our extended family and is therefore much
harder to say goodbye.
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| Dangerous Driving |
Although we are returning to the UK with no employment and initially
no home we know that God will provide. We placed our trust in God when we came
to Chad that he would guide and protect us and we are doing the same again as we
return to the UK. We return the same people but also changed in many ways and
we pray that we can use those changes in some way once home.
We are looking forward to being with our family and friends
who we love and are greatly looking forward to becoming grandparents for the
first time in October.
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| Wild Life |
These last few weeks at the hospital have been very busy.
Normally at this time of year during Ramadan and the start of the rainy season we
see the number of patients drop. But although the number arriving through the
gate has started to tail off, those needing admission have remained at a
constant level, particularly the number of sick children we are seeing. The
rains so far have been sporadic with a heavy down pour once a week which is
good for us as it means the road has a chance to dry out allowing us to get
into town once a week, but also for the patients to arrive here.
At the hospital we have been finishing off the major
projects such as the wall and the maternity building plus putting things in
place for when we leave. The list of things to do is slowly going down and the
packing of suitcases has started. Deciding what we should keep and take back to
the UK with us has started although not surprisingly there is very little that we
now have that would be of use once back in the UK. A few locally painted
pictures and handcrafted ornaments will be our reminders of our time here along
with our many photos and fond memories.
We understand that Chad has been in the news back in the UK for
all the wrong reasons, which is very rare, and has been an unsettling past few
weeks, but normality has started to return, thankfully.
We look forward to seeing some of you as we will be visiting
churches and supporters once back in the UK before finally leaving BMS to start
our new but as yet unknown futures.
Love
Malc & Sue