A look back at the month of January

Dear friends,

Caleb is at ease on his little bike, Gabriel lost his first tooth, Simeon confirms his passion for maths and Theotime likes to chat on the porch of our neighbors with his friends... There is no doubt, time passes and our children remind us daily.

Hospital

In the second week of January, the hospital's first and new steering committee met face-to-face (see photo) to begin establishing and defining its strategy, priorities and goals. Eleven people including 6 Liberians and 5 expats make up this committee. Respect, listening, good efficiency, wisdom, all given in prayer. It was a very encouraging week with people ready to invest themselves and to concretely help the hospital to come out of a period of crisis (financial and operational). Thank you again to all of them!

Spiritual Retreat

The following week, we had our spiritual retreat with our entire team. Our friend Christian (with whom we regularly debrief) came to Liberia with a friend to lead these few days. It was a grace to have them by our side. Retracing the last two years of our team life was a key step in our retreat. Inevitably, many emotions came out of the various challenges most of us had to face. Talking together about forgiveness, good versus bad listening, respect, our different ways of dealing with stress, and God in all of this...

Living together as a team for these few days has strengthened the cement that binds us and allows us to know each other better and therefore respect each other. Thanks to Christian and Daniel for their good listening, their heart for each of us and their good teaching.

Evaluation Team

The week after this retreat, we hosted a group of 11 people including our International Director and Regional Director. The purpose of their visit? To help us develop a plan to get the hospital out of its crisis. A plan that was then shared with the new ELWA Hospital board.

This team started by interviewing over 100 people, which allowed them to highlight dysfunctions. Then, little by little, with the help of these professionals (doctors, hospital directors, nurses, Liberians and expats) we put together, discuss, categorize and together look for a way out of this crisis.

Let's be honest, this week has been for some of us very emotionally charged. Many difficult discussions had to take place, many questions are still unanswered,... But as they say "tears are a balm that help the heart to heal". And by His Grace, on the last day, we were able to share with the missionaries and the hospital staff the path that lies ahead. A crucial step in the plan to get our hospital back on track!

We could go on for pages and pages about this month of January. If you have any questions, we'll be happy to answer them!

Thank you for your support and for reading us faithfully.

Melvina, Nicolas, Théotime, Siméon, Gabriel and Caleb

Urgent need!

We are looking for a third English-speaking teacher for our school for missionary children. We currently have 24 students in the school and will only be able to accommodate 16 if we do not find someone to help us. Here is the link to the ad for the position: Dakar Liberia Co-op Teacher Advertisement 202303 Don't hesitate to share widely!