For prayer

Finances at the hospital remain a huge struggle, both in terms of finding ways of covering expenses and in terms of my lack of trust that God will provide. Pray about that.

The district owes us over $60,000 for a service level agreement where the hospital does not charge treatment for children under five and maternity cases which we treat, but bills the district according to agreed upon charges. Despite repeated meetings with officials we have not made progress and each month the debt builds as the district pays less of the monthly invoice. We are scheduling a meeting with the District Commissioner this week to see if we can get action from higher up. As it stands we do not have enough funds to make it through this month unless we get some payment from the district before the end of the month, and we have no funds for our regular monthly purchase of medications due the first week of September, usually requiring about $17,000.

Rebecca has been guiding the computerized recording of all admissions, discharges and billings of inpatients which has given a much needed organization to those processes and has been a huge help in justifying our claims to the district for the treatments we have provided. But that can be frustrating as well with our constant power problems due to both ESCOM [national Malawi electric company] and some of our local installation/generator issues, as well as new staff making many mistakes.

Please pray that we will know the strength and comfort of our God who knows all our needs and all the needs of Nkhoma, so that we will joyfully serve in His strength with love and compassion.

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news from our Prayer Letter

We are making some progress in Chichewa. Sindifunanso lero (I don’t want any today) and Ndilibe ndalama (I do not have money), to the multiple sellers of various things at the door and to the children who greet us with ‘Give me money’. Or, to one of my patients, Mufuna kupita lero (Do you want to go home today?). We have a good teacher, Emily Mwale, who is a graduate of African Bible College in Lilongwe, and actually had my uncle, Chuck Anderson, as a teacher there ten years ago. We both (David in particular) have to keep a strong commitment to make time for language as the immediate demands of the hospital can eat up every waking moment.

David is getting more established in his role on the management committee of the hospital particularly in finance and some of the medical areas (pharmacy and lab).  There is good progress with better financial planning of the limited resources and now we are able to budget for some weeks in advance rather than figuring out how to pay the expenses from the past. God has been a great provider, especially since this is the busiest time of the year for patients, especially critically ill children with malaria and all of the associated complications (severe anemia, coma, etc). We have received some very timely gifts from churches and individuals to allow us to purchase needed drugs and supplies to meet this increasing demand

Please pray for strength, wisdom, and compassion for us to be God’s healing presence here. Pray that the management team will show faithfulness, humility and loving service by their example and that this will have a spreading influence on all of the staff. Pray that God will continue to supply all we need and give thanks for his provision so far.

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