Thursday 22 December 2016

Joyeux Noël from Guinebor II Hospital

This afternoon, after much planning and preparing, we held our Christmas celebration for the patients, relatives, staff and local religious and community leaders.  A lot of Churches in the UK have supported the work of Pastor Djibrine here at G2 hospital, thank you.  

I thought it would be good to take pictures throughout the day, so here they are, with some descriptions as to what’s happening!  The event itself went well, even though to the untrained eye it may at times have seemed a teeny-weeny bit like mini-chaos!  So without further ado, here are the pictures taken today.  Merry Christmas from the desert of Chad J

A group of ladies who live in the village of Guinebor II did the bulk of the food preparation yesterday.  It took all day.  Not surprising when you’re catering for 200 people:


This lady is taking a completed bowl of cooked meat (I forgot to ask what the meat was, it was likely goat) to the food storage area at the hospital (aka my veranda):


The food that was prepared was meat, gateaux (small plain doughnuts) and prawn crackers.  Here it all is, ingeniously stored in plastic containers that you may *think* are rubbish bins but aren’t actually used for that purpose in this case, you’ll be pleased to know!


A pick-up arrives with the first lot of chairs.  We hired in a canopy, chairs and a sound system (which worked fairly well with only semi-frequent cuts):


The canopy was put up in what seemed like the blink of an eye:




Pastor Djibrine went to the wards to tell the patients and their relatives that the celebration would be happening this afternoon and that they were all invited:


People started assembling just after the time we were meant to start, meaning that we actually started an hour late (not bad!):



A choir from a local Church sang some songs, accompanied by some swaying:


A few of the hospital staff did some readings and sang some songs:


There were also three Bible readings, two in Chadian Arabic and one in French, about the birth of Jesus.  A pastor from a local Church gave a short talk in Chadian Arabic about the prophecies of Jesus’ birth.

A local lady who we know well at the hospital (she has a food stand outside where a lot of the staff eat their lunch) joined us for the event:


As the event was finishing, it was all hands to the deck to plate up the food and hand it out along with water and a fizzy drink:



The food was appreciated, as evidenced by the choir pictured here:


The food-preparation ladies were around until the very end helping to clear up, here’s a photo of them heading home: