The incredible work you support in Chad

Kalbassou Doubassou, BMS worker, advanced nurse-surgeon and Director of Guinebor II Hospital (G2) opens his May prayer letter with the word: “Thankful”. “Isaiah says that those who trust in God renew their strength,” Kalbassou adds. “The eagle, the lion and the cubs tire, but those who trust in him do not tire.” When you’ve had a month as busy as the one Kalbassou has just had, it’s clearer than ever whose strength you need to rely on to get by.

Kalbassou often starts his days by performing surgery – whether it’s an operation that he’s got planned in, or the emergency surgeries that he’s woken up to perform at all hours of the night. In one month alone, G2 can receive over 570 patients in its emergency department. Every mother who has a safe delivery via C-section, or patient who has surgery to fix a broken limb experiences nothing short of a miracle considering the tough circumstances that so many live in in Chad. Without the hospital, they might turn to traditional healers or risk buying medicines from unregulated street vendors, many of whom can unintentionally make their patients catastrophically ill.

Kalbassou’s work is carried out against a tide of challenges that come from working in Chad. May is a notoriously hot month, the peak of Chad’s scorching dry season. Temperatures inside buildings can reach up to 40 degrees, a difficult climate for anyone to work in, let alone perform life-saving surgery. Then, there’s the political instability the country has experienced in recent months. A recent newsletter from G2 Hospital shared that the country has fallen even further down the UN’s Human Development Index (a global measure of average national health, wealth and education), now ranking at 190 out of 191 countries, trailed only by war-torn South Sudan. And along with all of this, there are basic problems of accessing enough hardware and medicine for the hospital, such as getting hold of screws to fix fractured limbs.

In the midst of all this, how does Kalbassou get the strength to keep going, and to keep bringing hope? Well, even after suffering from the flu and experiencing a period of personal struggle, Kalbassou rejoices in the fact that “the Good Shepherd is always in control”. There are huge encouragements even in hardship. Two little girls, Halimé and Khadija, suffered a terrible accident when a wall fell on them as they were playing, but fortunately Kalbassou was there to help. “They received treatment and today a relationship has been created between the two families and me because of the good results,” Kalbassou writes. A situation that could have driven two families apart through despair and blame has instead united a community. And Kalbassou is determined to do more.

Recently, he treated a man who had been suffering persecution from his family owing to his decision to become a Christian. “Even those who were not happy with the salvation of their family members give good testimony about the hospital,” Kalbassou explains. “The older brother of our brother in Christ, who had persecuted him so much, thanked me for taking care of his brother and his cousin’s wife.”

It’s clear that Kalbassou sees his role as being about much more than fixing broken bones, administering anaesthetic and completing paperwork. It’s about equipping G2 Hospital to bring hope in every shape and form to those suffering. To round off Kalbassou’s busy month, he shares a story about those he and his wife support when the ward lights go off and the staff go home. “My wife and I went to a church 45 kilometres from N’Djamena where we visited a blind brother in Christ who needs a home and we committed ourselves to helping him and his elderly mother,” Kalbassou shares.

It’s been a busy May, but Kalbassou is praising God for everything he’s doing and teaching him. The Chadian Minister of Health has granted more land to be given to the hospital for its use. Kalbassou has passed an online orthopaedic training course. And, as a Cameroonian living in Chad, he’s learning new ways of working interculturally, too.

“In the professional context it is good to listen,” Kalbassou explains, “even if you think that the reasoning is not correct, in order to better know how to deal with the problems of your patient population.” Since taking a listening, conciliatory approach, Kalbassou has noticed there’s been less violence and anger in the way some patients respond to bad news. “Even when someone is angry about a situation,” he explains, “my intervention in a spirit of conciliation puts the person concerned in a good mood.”

Kalbassou’s work doesn’t end as this month comes to a close – he’ll need to find new reserves of energy to do it all again in June! Fortunately, Kalbassou knows exactly where his strength comes from: “The Lord is gracious,” he says, “to those who hope in him.”