I should clarify. Some people have gotten the feeling that the church has left us out here on the dark side of the moon to fend for ourselves. That’s not true.
We are supported emotionally, spiritually, organizationally, and administratively. And we are getting paid. While it’s true that we could make a lot more money in the States, it is hard to beat the cost of living here. We are quite fine as far as finances go. We feel the ‘reward’ for the job is far different than the pay, and there’s no other place we’d rather be – discomforts, frustrations and everything else considered.
Some people have wondered why the church doesn’t give us all the money we need in order to make the hospital services here at Bere free. We feel that the hospital needs to continue to earn the money for costs that recur, things like buying medications, paying salaries of the hospital help, routine maintenance of the facility.
We leave open the option you can help Bere Hospital financially, because our dreams are bigger than just recurring costs, more than keeping up the same health work that we’ve been doing. We dream about a mission bigger than just 60 beds in a hospital that serves the 50 villages near us in southwestern Tchad.
The Adventist Church supports us in a lot of ways, but it doesn’t have unlimited resources. It has a budget, and it does wise planning. The Adventist Church also has other hospitals, scores of them, and they dream too. Who am I to say that our hospital is more worthy of church money than the hospital in Haiti, devastated by an earthquake but still serving patients? God knows where He needs the money, and He’ll see to it that the money gets there. We leave it to the folks with the global view to decide where the budgeted money goes. We just make sure you know about our dreams, and we leave the rest for you and God to decide. We ask you to funnel any financial support through the church, or Adventist Health International in most cases, because it helps us create accountability for your donations. We think that’s a good thing. (It also helps any gifts you might share to be tax-deductible!)
So when we ask for your support for projects here at Bere Hospital, please don’t think that the church or Adventist Health International is hanging us out to dry. They have been great support entities for us. When I have problems, I can go directly to the president of AHI; he has a lot of responsibilities, but he always gets right back to me. We are well-supported in all aspects. Financially, our dreams run beyond our budget, but never beyond God’s budget.
So, if you want to support us, great! If you want to support another organization, great! If you don’t want to support anybody… well, that’s not so great. But don’t think that we’re unsupported. We have plenty of non-financial support. We lean on you for financial support sometimes, because if we can raise funds for our hopes for Bere Hospital and the people in this little corner of the world, then the church’s other donations can fund other projects.
But always remember, YOUR MOST IMPORTANT GIFTS TO US ARE YOUR PRAYERS! If you’re a parent, tell your kids that there are still missionaries in Africa to pray for every night. If you’re not a parent, remind yourself that those stories you read about as a little kid... well, those missionaries are still over there. But keep on praying.
You will notice on our blog, missionarydoctors.blogspot.com, that we have a link for donations. This is through Adventist Health International’s website, mark it Bere Hospital. Please keep in mind that AHI takes 10% of the donation for administrative costs. However, AHI also provides us with invaluable support, and we believe strongly in the mission of AHI. We feel that AHI is an organization worth supporting. And remember that your gift is 100% tax-deductible.
Olen Tigo: +235 98 07 46 2
Olen Zain: +235 62 16 04 93
Danae Tigo: +235 98 07 46 27
Danae Zain: +235 62 17 04 80
Olen et Danae Netteburg
Hopital Adventiste de Bere
52 Boite Postale
Kelo, Tchad
Volunteers Welcome!!!
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