<<Salutation>>
It’s November! Each week we are so amazed at how quickly time flies by! Our time here on Earth is surely short, we need to make the most of it!
October started out with a visit from Daniel, a young man who does female reproductive health talks and also vitamins for pregnant and nursing mothers. Daniel came all the way from Enugu to learn how to make the Days for Girls Kits. Odelia and I had a wonderful time-sharing ideas and teaching Daniel how to best make the Days for Girls Kits and we also had a reproductive health talk and de-worming, vitamin distribution in our hall. We had close to 200 women and children as well as youth leaders for this training.
The new staff lodge building is coming along very well. We should be able to complete this building Mid December providing housing for 6 additional hospital staff. We have been blessed to have not had any severe injuries or accidents. Please keep praying for safety in our building endeavors.
The hospital staff is doing a wonderful job of taking care of our VIP’s (Very Important Persons) that come for care. Dr. Joseph told us last week that an older man with severe hyper-tension and in a coma was brought in by his family and they were sure he was going to die. A week later the man checked out of the hospital and his family was so thankful for the care their loved-one received.
In preparation for the UN’s Day of the Girl Child on October 11 Tina did three consecutive, weekly radio call-in shows on being a girl in Nigeria and the dangers and how parents can help. The response was great and we are thankful for this opportunity to reach our community with education.
Dr. Joseph and Tina have also visited our health-club schools in October. We have 4 schools that we have chosen to run student-led health clubs in this year. Dr. Joe talked to the boys about reproductive health and STI’s and Tina talked to the girls about reproductive health and Days for Girls. Tina went back two weeks later to sell the half-kits to the girls at a much-discounted rate so that the girls would have something to help them with their menses for 3-4 years.
Reading classes, business classes, and preparatory classes are all going well and it is a busy here at GECHAAN. The TTP Prep students took their entrance exam on November 8, we will have 10 new students starting with trainers in January! It is a good busy and so encouraging to see staff growing in wisdom and leadership skills and young people turning into business owners, confident in their skills and decisions.
We had the Leadership Summit October 18 and 19. There were 45 in attendance and everyone went away praising the speakers. Each year attendees ask better and better questions on how to apply what is learned.
The clinic and hospital are in a constant state of renovation and moving keep up with the ever-increasing demand for services.
Unfortunately, about 4 weeks ago we had a lightning strike near the compound and while it was not a direct hit, and no one was injured, it caused a great deal of damage. We lost 6 Inverters that turn the electricity stored in batteries to electricity for equipment use, 12 tv's in the guest house, plus some staff tv's, our tv and all audio video equipment in the house, 2 satellite lnb's, Internet Modem, 2 wireless access points 2 network switches and the router. 3 printers/copiers, about 20 or 25 light fixtures, a few computer power supplies and several network cards in the computers. It has been a challenge but we are getting through it. We have repaired a few things and have a lot more to do. The next months will be challenging as we try to get back to "normal." We are still trying to figure out what to do about electricity. We were hoping to move more toward solar and batteries but the batteries that we have are all over 2 years old and with all of the inverters damaged we are needing to rethink all of this. We need to get to the point of 24-hour electricity so that we can start a blood bank in the hospital which is desperately needed. Unfortunately, there is nowhere close to us for inverter repair and we have not found a place we trust to fix them. Replacing all of the inverters would most likely run $15K - $20K plus additional batteries. We are still adding up the cost of all the other repairs which will run several thousand dollars. As you can imagine this, has had a significant financial impact on ministry so if you are able to help us with a gift of any amount it would be greatly appreciated. Click here to give to the Project Funds.
In His Service,
Dan & Tina Gibbs
Standing Beside
Visit our website at www.StandingBeside.com
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