One Day Hospital Project….

 

 Dear Friends and Family, 

The new "one day hospital" project is here!  For the last five months we have been under fire to get things done around here to be ready for the four containers that had all the new buildings in them.  Ground needing clearing, extra dirt brought in for leveling the area that we would put cement slabs.  A compactor machine was needed for preparing the ground for all the slabs that needed to be poured.  Metal brought in for putting in the slabs.  Then one of the most challenging was the cement itself.  Where to find hundreds of bags in a country like this was difficult.  Then the challenge did not stop there because to get the cement here was another challenge in itself.  If you can remember our flooding and water problems, well this created a problem with the roads.  Then to bring in load after load after load of gravel and sand.   Managing the workers that numbered from 10-75 on certain given days.  Preparations needed to be made for Maranatha to come in to help put up the structures.  Lots of emails and phone calls from the states to get this project to be a success and right in the middle of it all is Jamie.  

This project of the "one day hospital" started back when we were in the states on our furlough during the months of April - July.  Dr. Olen had met Garwin McNeilus when Garwin brought his granddaughter Athens to Bere to work in the Nutrition center.  During his short visit to Bere he noticed many of our great needs.  He instantly began to talk with Olen and then Jamie while we were in the states.  Then when he got back to the states we made a quick trip to Minnesota so Jamie could help design the "one day hospital" and they could talk about our needs.   And ever since it has been a non stop focus on what needs to be done next to get the project done. 

As soon as we got back to Africa the preparations for the slabs where being done.  Mr. McNeilus sent 11 men over here from Uganda and from Zambia.  These guys have worked with Mr. McNeilus before pouring slabs so the training needed was very limited and they have been such a blessing to the project and Jamie.  They just jumped right in there and got one job after another done.  

It took a long time to complete the cement slabs because each one had to be done by pushing one wheel barrel full of mixed cement and then another.   It also took some time to get the containers here.  There was an incident of a man taking some money that was to be used to get the containers here.  That wasted some time and added a lot of frustration.  But another man was found to get the containers here and extra money was sent.  And it was such a happy day when we heard the big trucks outside the gate with all the containers, all but one.  But that one finally showed up too a little while later.  

Garwin McNeilus flew in to help with the final touches before the containers arrived and then he helped organize the process of getting everything off the containers and how things should be laid out to be most efficient.  It was crazy to see how much stuff could be put into those containers.  Garwin's crew has all of the packing down to a science.  All the guys that helped load the containers in the states where here to help unload them and start the process of building the structures.  

We now have all the structures up for a 4 room hotel, many duplexes, some smaller volunteer housing and 3 bigger houses.  But that is not all!  A new maternity ward, operating room, private ward, dentist building and aids health building.  Five pavilions have been put up.  One pavilion is for the school and church to use.  Another pavilion is  for the volunteer housing.   Then the other three are for the new part of the hospital.  So exciting!  It is looking so great! 

It is such a blessing to have these buildings sent here.  I know that many people have been a part of getting these things here like Maranatha and Adventist Health International and many other individuals.  But, I want to give a special thank you to Garwin McNeilus for all the time, energy and money that he himself has put into this project.  I just know that God will bless him for what he has done here in Bere.  I know right now we only have structures but what can be done inside those buildings is what is going to save souls for the kingdom.  To be a part of this has been a blessing to our family.  An enormous amount of work, but a blessing.    

 

Jamie and I have worked as a team to help this project to be a success.  But the man that really deserves kudos is Jamie.  I am so proud of the work he has done here.  His heart has been poured into this project.  He has had to work all hours at different times to get everything here to get the job done.   He didn't do it alone, and he had lots of helpers, but to be over a project like this was a big job.  But he tells me that when you have an employer like God, He gives you the strength and the knowledge you need.  He has told me that many times he had to pray for an answer on how to get a job done that may look impossible in a country like this one but God always helps Jamie work it all out.  

Jamie will be working on these buildings for the next year putting in electric, plumbing, walls and who knows what else but, it is amazing to see how far they have come already. 

Well, we just wanted to share what Jamie's life has been all about since we have been back.  Here are a few pictures of the new addition.  

Love and blessings, 

Tammy Parker 

The Justice System in Chad

The Justice System in Chad

It was a beautiful sabbath day. All the volunteers came over for a potluck lunch after church. It is the only day of the week that we don't have a guard on the premisses. So this day one of the volunteers from Bendalay brought the new motorcycle she has been using here. She left it outside the gate because there was no one around to unlock the front gate. No one thought anything of it because they do it all the time. After lunch a few of us went down the road about five miles to do what we call a branch sabbath school. It is mainly children that gather under a mango tree to listen to a short bible story and sing a few songs but our hope is that the attendance will continue to grow and maybe one day we can put up another one day church.

It wasn't until everyone got back that this volunteer went to get her motorcycle but it wasn't there. She came to our house to ask if one of us moved it but there was no one. Everyone goes out looking for it. I get on the phone with our normal guard to tell him to keep his eyes open for it and to tell his friends too and we will give a reward. After about an hour of looking and walking down the road asking people we have nothing. We all gather together in our living room and we decide that we need to pray about it and give it to Him. All of this is all God's stuff anyways.

Someone called Fredrick, this is one of the locals that do a lot of our translating. The guy that called Fredrick told him that he knew where the motorcycle was. He saw it out in the bush somewhere and he also saw who took it. Jamie and some of the other guys go out to look for it and sure enough there it was. Someone was stashing it until they could come back and get it. The guy had cut a lot of the wires already so it was not drivable but they pushed it all the way back. We were so amazed that we got it back. God is good! We had a short prayer to thank God for His never ending love and His concern even about the little things. We knew who took it and decided to wait until morning to talk to the police. Oh and by the way, we figured out that this was taken between 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm in broad day light. Unbelievable!

When Jamie went with Fredrick to report the stolen motorcycle they were told that there was nothing they could do because they know that kid and he steals all the time but he does not have any money so there wasn't much they could do. And that was that! Finished! Later Jamie was told that the best thing we can do is get a bunch of big guys together and go to the guys house and beat him up. That is the justice system here. Crazy!!!

The very next day Jamie was called into the justice office because there was a guy that wanted money from Jamie for bringing gravel to the job sight. Now I'm sure you are thinking that Jamie should pay someone if they brought gravel and we think so too if Jamie had asked for it. This guy brought three loads without being asked. Jamie told him to come and get it because he was not going to pay for it. We don't need it and didn't order it. This guy just wanted money. He had been asking Jamie for the money for the past two weeks and even brought a big guy overt to talk to Jamie to intimidate him but Jamie never did budge so then they went to the police. Jamie ended up having to pay for it he was given no choice. What is wrong here? It is things like this that makes you crazy. And to make us even more crazy this same guy asked Jamie if he could bring him a truck load of sand. Jamie just looked at him like are you crazy? No!



Love,
Tammy

A Christmas Program Ends in Disaster

I wrote this blog back in December.  When I got my computer fixed that month I lost 3 letters I wrote.  So I will be sending out two that I found in cyberspace.  So if you read it and see that it is outdated like this one, you will understand why.  

Dear Friends and Family 

I can't believe it is the holidays already.  It is definitely different here during the holidays.  You almost have to remind yourself because you don't have the constant holiday reminders in all the stores or on the television like you do in the states.  There is nothing like that here.  The weather is still just as hot as ever during the day but it is cooling down in the evenings.  We do what we can to keep the kids and the volunteers in the holiday spirit.  

Speaking of one of the volunteers we have three new student missionaries that I have not really introduced you to yet and they have already been here for over 3 months.  One is Ross a pre-med student from Andrews University.  He has been helping out in the lab at the hospital and learning about the tropical illnesses here.  He has also been going on rounds with the doctors and also has had many hours in the operating room  He is such a joy to have around here.  He has a very inquisitive mind.  I love to hear what he has to say because he is always teaching me something new or making me think about things that I never really spent time thinking about.  He also has a great sense of humor and I can always be guaranteed to be laughing any time we are together.   

Another volunteer that is blessing here is Kristin Chung.  She too is a pre-med student from Andrews.  She has jumped right into doing everything and anything she can to serve the hospital even leading out the janitor crew.  This seems like such a small roll but it really isn't.  I think that cleanliness is what the hospital struggles with the most in this third world country.  She is also working on project 21 a couple of days a week.  For those of you who do not know what this is, well it is a project where you go out into the villages around Bere giving medical education.  She also recently organized a very successful, two week, evangelistic series at the hospital.  I am telling you these volunteers are very self driven which are great characteristics to have here.  They are a real blessing to have around. 

The one volunteer that our family has worked the most with is Jordan.  She is an English major that chose to work at the primary school here in Bere teaching English.  It has been no easy task but she has stuck in there.  She loves to work with kids and read and teach.  She has a real energy that lights up a room and our family has been blessed to have her tutoring Brichelle everyday.  She comes to the house everyday at 8:30 and works with Brichelle on her school work no matter how crazy things get at our house they are staying very focused.  I can't say enough good about her and what she means to our family.  I will be forever in her debt.  Recently she came to me with the idea of doing a Christmas program at the school with the students.  When she mentioned it I jumped on it.  I have always wanted to do a program or some kind of outreach with the students but knew that it was too big of a task alone.  So we agreed to do this together and go for it.  So now we are having a Christmas program on the evening of December 20th.  I am so excited about this.  This will be a big outreach to the community and this is exactly the kind of thing I have been looking toward to do with the kids but just needed the help.  We are working everyday with the kids on their memory verses about the birth of Christ and songs and even a little play that Jordan wrote.  She did such a great job.  II will keep you inform on how it goes.  This is the first time ever that this has ever been done here in this area.  I have asked some kids about the story of the birth of Jesus and some tell me they just don't remember how it goes.  The bible is just not as available to them.  I am very excited to see how it goes.  A thousand invitations have gone out.  It may be more than we can handle but if it works out what a great outreach.  Keep us in prayer!  

Thanks for being a great support to us in all of this.  We can't do any of this without you.  We couldn't even be here without your help.  Thank you for untying my hands financially where we can just move forward like this when an idea comes up.  May God bless you all during this season as we think about the great gift that God gave to us.

After the christmas grogram:

The Christmas program was a success.  The kids did a great job with their songs and memory verses.  Everyone really seemed to enjoy the program.  Something funny that happened was as soon as our Mary was going to get on the donkey it was having a baby.  Everyone laughed and so she had to just walk onto the stage with Joseph.  We were told later that it is good luck because most people do not even get to see a donkey being born here.  Then I had the idea to give them free juice and cookies afterwards.  Boy was that stupid.  I will never ever do something like that again.  A big group of people like we had just can't control themselves.  Long story short is that we got mobbed.  Naomi was there with us helping us and she literally got run over and stomped on.  I couldn't believe it!  It was overwhelming to be right in the middle of it.  It was so out of control that Jamie was worried for my safety because he saw everyone pushing and screaming and out of control and I was right in front int he middle of it all.  Our thoughts were to just get everything inside the compound.  As we were running for safety the crowd started to steal everything.  We had mats set out for them and they stole some of those things and other things that we had on the stage.   I was really sad that it ended like that but I guess I will know that it is a lesson learned that we can't give away free stuff to a crowd of people like that.  I think it is really sad that a spiritual program had to end like that.  But I guess Satan always tries to get the last word in.  I am ashamed to say that once we had everything inside I was shouting telling everyone to go home.  I was sad that at the end my heart was hardened toward the people.  So I thought it was a success but ended in a disaster.    


Love, 
Tammy

  

 

 

Temda s story

Lessons from Temda's story


Today is sabbath and I just got back from taking a walk by myself to try and get myself together again after another busy week. I walk up to my door and find a woman there that I had sent to the hospital with her sick granddaughter. When she came to me a few days ago I didn't even recognize the little girl, Temda, that I had taken care of for the past 1 1/2 years. She was one of my first baby milk babies. She is special to me because of that and because she got excited to see me every time they came to visit. She is different, other children sometimes cry at the sight of a "Nasara".

About three days ago I saw Temda and knew she was in trouble. Her eyes were sunken into her face as she was on her grandmothers back her head flopped back as far as it could go as though there was no life in her. The flies were just swarming her little face. I was horrified at the sight of her and I went through emotions like anger at the grandmother for waiting this long to bring her to the hospital. I started to cry because I knew it was going to take maybe more than the hospital has to offer to keep her alive.

The IV was hooked up and attempts at keeping her alive are going on as they do for all the little ones with malaria. This time there was not much response. A day later the grandmother gets sick too and she too is hooked up to IV for malaria. I come by with food to be sure that someone was taking care of them. I get there to see about 5 people there for her so I have some peace of mind knowing she will be ok. But as I left something told me I need to take the little girl Temda. She needs more than what she is getting. But I didn't listen.

The next morning I send Naomi over to check on them and I send her with bwee, which is like a breakfast rice porridge. Naomi comes back in tears. She can't believe that this is Temda.

Saturday I thought the grandmother was coming to me to tell me that they were hungry but instead she was coming to tell me that Temda was dead. What? I just didn't want to accept it . Why? This little one is special, why did she have to die? I go inside the house and begin to cry. I am trying to get myself together so I can figure out what there is to do next. I knew that I needed to help the grandmother. I go to my closet and pick out a blanket the someone made for new babies. But I take this one out to the grandmother and tell her that I want her to wrap Temda up in this from me. I walk to the hospital with her and help her wrap the lifeless baby up. I pick her up and give her my last hug as tears flow from my eyes. The nurse comes over to hold the baby for me. As we get the other things together for them to leave. I give the grandmother some money to take a motorcycle back home. And that was it.

But for me it doesn't just end there. I continue to go over things in my mind and to all others that would listen to me. Trying to process what I should have done different. Trying to make myself feel better by saying that she is probably better off this way because the life of girls here are just too hard. This way she can be raised in heaven. What a better place to be. But the bottom line is that this sinful world took another innocent life. She was a beautiful baby girl and I don't want her life to be just another baby that died. I want to remember her and learn from her death. Maybe I need to listen more to that small voice telling me to do something more even though it is incovenient for me. I don't ever want my laziness to get in the way of a life again. I don't know for sure if God was asking me to do more but in my heart I knew that I could of and then I wonder would that have made the difference? Would more of my efforts save her? I want to not just hear God's voice when He is asking me to do something but by this lesson I hope from now on I will act on what I hear and do something more than I am.

May we all need to listen more to what He is telling us and be doers of His work.

Love and prayers,

Tammy

School Events

School Events

Well school started October first and the children and the teachers love their newly remodeled and improved school. It has been so wonderful to be apart of this whole transition. Everyday I go to the school and do what I can to help them get the school running the way a real school should be run. Sometimes it is some of the most simple ideas that are foreign to them. But it seems as though they are eager to learn and things are moving forward. It is just a lot of work. I sure could use someone at the school full time if anyone is interested in a leader position at a French speaking 3rd world country school, please let me know.

This year I have not come right out and asked for help with tuition for the children but I have still had a few donations for it anyways. I want to thank those of you who have been dedicated to the children in this way. It really has been a blessing for the kids that would otherwise not be able to have this christian education. I did several interviews to be sure the right children are being helped. But one of the reasons I didn't ask is because this year I have other ideas that I am going to need help with. I am trying to fund raise now for building one more building for the school. I want to do a building like the one that we have already for the children in the grades 7-10th grade. I have a hope and dream to complete the school and all I need right now is a building with 5 classrooms.

When I was in the states on furlough I talked with the Architecture department of missions at Andrews University. They were able to come up with all the numbers of how much this project is going to cost. I gave them all of the costs for each of the items in Chad and they did all the figuring. They came up with $66,000.00. I know that this sounds like a whole lot of money and it is. But what I would like to do this year is raise some money to be able to at least get the building up and then finish only one room so that the 10th graders can move up to the next class next school year. It is the cement that cost so much here. It is about $25 a sack of cement. But I thought that if I could just do the cement in one room on the walls and the floor that this will bring the immediate cost down. Then we can complete a classroom each year to continue moving these kids up a class. I have been doing a lot of ground work for this already and we have sent Valery, the vice principal, to Cameroon to study and get his license to open up these next classes. God has helped me raise $10,000.00 specifically for the building already but need at least another $25,000.00 before I will break ground. This is where all of you come in. I know that this just seems like an incredibly huge dream but after being here for three years I have seen God work and I now know for sure, from experience, that with God all things ARE possible. If it is His will it will all happen but we each have to do our part starting with me just asking for help. I know that every $25 will make a difference.

Please help me raise this money. I can't do this alone. The reason this is so important to me is because after tenth grade these kids have no other option but to go to public school around here. And the public schools here are terrible. I would never consider allowing my child to ever go to one. The teachers come drunk all the time and encourage the kids to drink with them. Then several days the teachers are not even in the class to teach. It is such a vulnerable age and I think if we can keep them in the christian school there is a better hope for their future. If the kids even wanted to continue with an Adventist school they would have to move away from their families and most of them would not be able to afford that. Or even if they could there is not always the possibility of knowing someone in that area for them to stay with.

I truly believe in the christian education system. I believe that the only way of changing the mentality of the people here is through the children and the next generation. Please help me do this. Please consider being apart of the project. Get your schools or churches involved to help. Let this be apart of your end of the year, last chance to give a donation project. This is a real need for these kids and for the future of this place. I need to start soon if I am going to be able to get even one room finished before next year. Thank you for everything you have helped me accomplish so far it has been amazing to be apart of this.

God bless you all as you pray and consider supporting our addition at the Bere Adventist School.

Thank you so much,
Tammy Parker

All donations can be sent to:

Harrison SDA Church
P.O. Box 969
Harrison, TN 37341

Earmark: Bere Chad project
And send a small note inside the envelope stating that your check is for the "Addition of the Bere Adventist School"

Sent from my I-phone
Jamie Parker
Director of Maintenance
Hopital Adventiste de Bere
Chad, Africa

Prayed for the Possessed

It was a Friday afternoon and I was over at Samedi's house. This is Tony's grandfather, the man who has worked at the Adventist Hospital for thirty years. He started there as the janitor and now is doing surgeries. He has at least 25 family members living with him and there was a little construction going on over at his house so I went over to check it all out. Tony told me that his brother Weiba's wife was hit with something in the night. The people here have so many crazy voodoo ideas of what is going on with their lives that I tried to understand what he was telling me but it just didn't make any sense. But what I did get from what he was trying to explain to me was that she was trapped with evil spirits tormenting her. She is about 15 or 16 years old and just had a baby 3 weeks ago. She never goes anywhere and so Jamie and I were thinking that maybe she was crying a lot because she has postpartum depression and that the people here just don't know about things like that. But then while I was there I could hear her cries, they were piercing. I felt for her. It was so much that I kept thinking about her long after we were gone.

Later that evening I asked Tony if he would go back over to their house with me because there is another little 2 year old girl (Temda Tammy) that is sick and I wanted to check on her and also talk to them about Weiba's wife and see if she was doing any better. I was brought into their salon where they have what is like wooden patio furniture in there without any cushions. I immediately feel a wall of heat in the room, it was like walking into a brick oven. I am shown, by Jolie Tony's grandmother, where I should sit. She comes to shake my hand again after sitting down, which is a ritual that they do. You are greeted with a hand shake when you first get to their house and then again once you sit down, it is very time consuming but part of the culture and you actually get use to it. Temda was doing much better but they are still concerned about Weiba's wife. They said that she is now having fainting spells. She is possessed by three of her dead brothers which insulted Samedi and Jolie and insisted on receiving money. I was thinking to myself, even the dead is asking for money. They did give her money and the spirits settled down for a while and let the girl rest but now she is having these fainting spells. While we are in this room talking about her, she comes walking in without my knowledge. Then I see her behind me on this big rug that they have. Weiba is right behind her as she walks toward the wall. All of a sudden it was almost like she ran into a wall but from the side of her like she was hit with a board and then she falls straight to the ground without bending her knees to protect herself. When I saw it I couldn't believe it and I was instantly full of fear. The room was very dark and as I am witnessing this it feels a little darker. I instantly look over at Tony and he covered his face with his hands. I felt fear at first and then as I was able to process it I felt a comfort in knowing that I am safe because God IS with me. I had a real feeling like I needed to pray for her. I just sat and listened to Samedi and Jolie as they talked about the poor girls fainting spells like this. After the conversation settled down I could feel my conscience telling me that I needed to pray with her and for her. I am a missionary and this is the exact thing that I am here for to be used as a tool to push Satan away. So I looked at Tony and asked if he thought it would be ok for me to pray with her. He looked at me with a proud smile and said that it would be good. He told his grandparents what I had said and they instantly stood up and said, "koura" which means thats good in Nangjere and I followed them to her room.

We walked outside and music was playing by the many children that were wrestling on the mat right outside her room. Samedi said something in Nangjere to them and the music was turned off and every person in that compound entered the room with us. I respectfully took my shoes off outside and walked into a dark room. I could see her laying on a mat next to her newborn baby. I felt so much compassion for her. I knew that what I was getting ready to do was what God wanted me to do. My insides were turning. I was doing a lot of thinking of what I needed to say to God in this very important prayer. I began to pray. I knew that the only person in the room that knew what I was saying would be Tony and even though I was in a room with about 25 people I felt alone with God. I prayed. I begged for mercy on her part and claimed promises that God has given us in the bible and demanded Satan to leave this girl in the name of Jesus Christ. When the prayer was finished the Holy Spirit could be felt and I felt so peaceful.

Tony and I walked back home in the dark. I asked him what he was thinking and he told me that what I did for his family was very very good and he gave me a big smile. I just thank God for giving me the strength to be here for doing what He wants me to do.

Sent from my I-phone
Jamie Parker
Director of Maintenance
Hopital Adventiste de Bere
Chad, Africa

Bertha and the Flood!

Bertha and the Flood 

It has been rainy season and usually the water is all gone by now.  But this year there is so much water that we have not been able to go anywhere.  Many people have lost their houses.  So many people are living in the market schools. They have lost everything.  Many of the rice fields have been ruined because they are all under water.  It is so sad to me because they put everything that they have into their rice fields because they know that it will feed them for the rest of the year.  What are they going to do now?  They have to start all over in life, starting with rebuilding their houses out of the mud once again just so that they have a place to lay their head at night.  

There is one lady though that I feel like God has been helping her in life.  Her name is Bertha and I have written about her before.  She can't walk and one night starting at 3:00 am  she crawled to my house because she will burn her knees if she goes anywhere during the day.  She heard that their was a lady at the Adventist Hospital that is helping people.  She was starving and so she crawled for 6 hours to get help, to get food.  When I came back from furlough I didn't know how to find her because I knew her house was one that was under water because of the location.  She finally came back to see me.   I was so relieved to see her and know that she was ok.  

Naomi and I went outside to visit with her on the mat.  I also had some things to give her from a couple people in America that had heard her story and wanted to help.  Someone gave her knee pads so she can get around a little more during the day with the hot sand.  She was so excited and told me that she was thinking about how much the knee pads will help her when she has to go to the place at the school market to go to the bathroom which is basically out in the field.  She said maybe they would help her to not get so much feecees on her from all the piles out in the field.  When she said that I tried to keep a straight face and not a devastated one at the thought.  

We also asked about her house and how it survived the flood.  She told us the story about how the water came rushing in from the river into their village and before she knew it her house was crumbling around her.  She was able to make it out  but the current was swiftly taking her away.  She was able to grad ahold of some tall grass.  Everyone she knew left to find somewhere else to stay that was dry.  But Bertha got left behind holding on for dear life to the tall grass and that is where she stayed for almost two days before one man asked others where she was.  No one knew and so in the night he ran back to try and find her.  Of course he did and carried her all the way to the market school.  Thank God for that man.  She said she was so scared because she said that she didn't know how to swim.  

I just feel like she went from hardly having anything to literally nothing and hanging on for dear life.  Thank you the few of you who have sent money to help her and others like her.  The sad stories are endless.  Thank you for the giving funds and allowing me to be that person to be able to say yes I have it and I will help you.  I am able to help Bertha rebuild her house.  Thank you so much for caring for those you don't even know.