The Lord blesses our labors

 


Many things we've done on our humanitarian mission these last few weeks seems like they've been assisted by heaven.  For example, the shop that builds the desks that we donate to schools hasn't been able to keep up with the demand. It's critical that we have all the desks in place so that we can finish the project and the contractor can get their final payment. We Need 200 more desks in three weeks in order to be able to complete the project. Our current contractor could only commit to 60. 

We got a unsolicited phone call the other day from a wood shop owner who said he would like to do business with us. He brought by samples of his chair. The quality of construction surpassed that of our current contractor. The price was the same. He has the capacity to produce all the chairs we need in the time required. On Monday we will give him his first order of 140.

Another example was, we were requested by the principal in one of our school projects to install fans in all of their 32 classrooms. Because our budget was already approved we would have to find the money for the project by leaving out some other portion of the project. The school decided that they would rather have 100 less chairs in exchange for the fans. My supervisor who has to approve all of the changes was uncomfortable with that trade-off and would not approve it unless I could produce some sort of substantial justification.

We got an unsolicited phone call from the head district education officer asking if we could discuss that very issue. He stressed how important it was and gave several reasons why it was for the benefit of the students. He also explained how the school could use other means to ultimately replace the chairs that would be absent. Because of his level of authority and reasoning no other justification for proceeding forth with the project was needed.

There were several other examples also, such as getting 5 of our projects for a total of over $500,000 unexpectedly all approved.  The Lord doesn't always makes things convenient or easy for us but in these cases he did.


We visited the Tubmanburg Regional Government Hospital this week. It is another hospital that we were recommended to help by the Minister of Health. Just like the others it is a pretty scary hospital. The government budgets $100,000 in maintenance and improvement each year for the hospital. In the last eight years the hospital has not received anything. As a government hospital they are not allowed to charge for their services and so they have no other sources of income for maintenance or improvements.

They do not have any sheets or linens for the patients. If you want bedding linen you have to bring your own. They were feeding the patients with a grant from a charity but that has run out for the rest of the year and so if you're a patient and want to eat, you have to bring your own food. When patients have no one to provide food the doctors and nurses feed them out of their own wages.


The operating room light to the left no longer works so they installed a floodlight in the ceiling. The trouble with it is the shadows it casts.

This is Dr Whesseh Who is the hospital Medical director. What a good man. He received his medical degree in China and could work elsewhere but he chooses to work here to serve and bless his fellow countryman.

We have started a new school project. It is the Wein Town Public School.  We are going to build a five classroom building with two offices. We will repair the roofs of the other three buildings and install electrical wiring. A six stall restroom will be constructed. We will also provide them with about 400 chairs.

We get tired on Sundays. The round trip for church is about three and a half hours. A lot of the road is bumpy and rough. It's hot at church . Today we had to make an extra side trip to pick up a missionary and bring him into town so he can go to the dentist tomorrow.  We got home, took a shower to get unsweaty and then took a nap.  Sundays are always challenging but worth it. We really like being with the African church members.

Comments

  1. RobertaOctober 28, 2023 at 8:04 PM

    Seems like an almost impossible mission but you and the Lord have accepted the challenge. Love and miss you.

    ReplyDelete

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