Jessica Morgan’s Blog

6 weeks to go!

Again, I must apologise for being behind on my blogging! Although I am loving my job at Alder Hey, it does have me run off my feet at times! However, I think the following sentence will allow you to forgive me for the delay in writing. The equipment is on its way!!! Yes, finally, the equipment is in Heathrow airport and will be air freighted to Brussels at some point today. It is then on to Douala, such that it should arrive in the next few days. We will then have to wait for it to pass through customs before we can move everything to Banso.

Also on the good news front, building work is underway to get the ICU ready in Banso. A new dividing wall is being built to separate the area from CW and all the plumbing/electrics should be done before the team arrive. I am very excited to see the changes! In preparation for the team’s travel, visas are well and truly underway and I hope to have positive news on this front in the next 7-10 days.

 I cannot believe that we really are approaching the final hurdle! It seems a long time since we started planning, and there have been many many ups and downs but we are so nearly there. God really has had the whole project under control right from the start! I am just so aware of how much He cares for these children! So, talk to Him about it….!

Prayers: Praise God for the great steps of improvement in the last few weeks. Please pray for the safe delivery of equipment and speedy travel through customs. Pray that the officials who deal with our equipment would be fair and hoenst in their work. Pray for safety during the building work in Cameroon, and that work on the ward would not be too distrupted by what is being done. Pray for quick, easy work on the visas - that there will be no problems with our papers.

8 weeks to go!

I am very excited today, as I have realised that in exactly 8 weeks time, the team will be sat on an aeroplane flying to Cameroon! I can’t believe how quickly this year has flown by! I have to admit to also having some mild angst about how much work still needs to be done. However, this has been greatly reduced since I last wrote for a number of reasons. Firstly, the customs paperwork is finished!! What a weight off my mind as I had to create a list of all the equipment that we are shipping, along with how much it cost - no small feat when you have around £10,000 worth! We were also blessed to discover that the actual shipping will be £1500 less than we were originally quoted! We hope that the equipment will be flying out sometime in the next week, but keep watching the blog for the day it arrives in Cam!

On other news, there are still a few parts of the project that are needing to be completed. The last of the Visa paperwork arrived with me today, so I am planning to go down to London some time soon and ensure the team can actually get into Cameroon! Elinor is working away at the final designs for the walls, as well as organising the donation plaque to put up at the opening ceremony. Kayleigh is organising team hoodies and some of the admin work. Colin is organising a team fellowship weekend in the Lake District, which will take place in early June, and Kerr is busy doing all the little jobs thrown his way (which adds up to a surprising amount of work)!!

So that concludes a slightly more upbeat blog! I’m off now to sit surrounded by huge piles of paperwork and try to sort it into some kind of sense!

Prayers: Praise God for His constant provision and guidance. Praise Him that He has had the timings in hand from the start. Pray for the equipment as it makes its way to the hospital, that there will be no problems with customs or safety. Pray for the visa process, that the team will quickly and easily obtain visas for the trip. Pray for final arrangements in the coming months.

Or perhaps not…

After last week’s very up-beat blog, unfortunately I have bad news this week. There has been yet another delay with the equipment. I have been assured that this will be with the shipping company by the end of next week, however, it is really now too late to ship everything to Cameroon and get it through customs before the team arrive. Therefore, through no fault of our own, we have been resolved to flying the equipment to Douala so that we actually have the equipment we need to do the mission. To be honest, it is leading to me having a tough time trying to rearrange everything as well as trying to find the funds to cope with this. The team, as always, are being brilliant and helping out with various things so that I can concentrate on this shipping issue. Never-the-less it is a lot to cope with on top of a full-time job!

On other notes, I am fighting with the never-ending pile of paperwork. This week, I have the fun of preparing all the shipping/air freight documents, as well as preparing the files of important information that are to be left in Dundee whilst we are in Africa (emergency contacts etc). It is a good job that my cupboards are stacked with goodies to keep me going through all of this!

As for updating you on the team training weekend - it was perhaps the best so far. Unfortunately, poor Kayleigh has been struck down with scarlet fever, but the rest of the team soldiered on and accomplished a lot during Saturday’s training (including drinking near enough our own weight in tea!) Everyone is getting very excited as our departure date draws nearer and we make final preparations, such as booking trains to the airport. I have to admit to looking forward to the 3rd July more and more each time I write!

So there we are, I managed to finish on a more positive note that I started but am hoping you will join us on our knees this week:

Prayers: Praise God for continuing to bless the team. Praise Him for the way He is the foundation of good relationships and provides support when necessary. Pray for the ongoing trouble with equipment and shipping. Pray for the finances to pay for the new costs to the mission. Pray for speed and accuracy in preparing all the paperwork.

PROGRESS!!

Please forgive the shouting in the title! However, I’m very excited today. Despite being ill all week, we have made major progress on the shipping issue!! Thanks to some help from Dr Peter, I have been told by our equipment suppliers that we will have the order by the end of this coming week. When liaising with the shipping company, there is a ship to Cameroon that leaves just a few days later! Isn’t it awesome how God manages to bring everything together when we need it! So please keep watching the blog for the events over the next couple of weeks as everything starts to move! I will endeavour to update as and when things happen.
On other notes, we’re still praying for the finances to pay for the shipping and for the team’s in-country costs. If you’ve any ideas about this - let me know! Also, there’s another team training weekend in one week’s time in Dundee - when we are hoping to finish all the cultural preparation and just enjoy the excitement of it being only 10 weeks til we fly!
So that’s about it for now, I think! If you can think of anything else you’d like to know about the project, please leave a wee message and I’ll try to answer in the next blog. Here comes the good stuff:
Prayer: Praise God that He has all the timings of this project in hand! Praise Him for how He is bringing everything together. Pray for smoothness in the next couple of weeks as everything is prepared for the journey to Cameroon. Pray for the team as they meet again. Pray, as always, for finances and provision.

A very successful weekend

Hey everyone,

Sorry it has taken me so long to blog about our team training weekend - I was on nights at the beginning of the week and have just started my new job at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. However, I am getting up to speed on Cameroon tonight and hence am writing this to you.

The team weekend was a roaring success! For the first time all five members of the team were able to get together and spend time in planning, preparation and general chit-chat!! Personally it was a chance to get to know everyone a bit better both one-to-one and in the team setting. We were able to re-write the to-do list - which seems to have shrunk considerably - and were able to share out the left over things to do. There was time to share testimonies and just rest in the Lord. There were many highlights of the weekend but two in particular stand out for me - the first was a team meal out on Saturday which was a time of relaxation and team bonding and the second was the opportunity to attend church at St Helen’s CLC on Sunday morning and worship together. Also the team were prayed for by the whole church which was a true blessing, as I’m sure they’ll agree!

 Otherwise, we still have £5,000 to raise - so get your thinking hats on for how you might be able to help out. Also, there is still no progress on the delivery of equipment - you all know what to do!! So here come the prayers….

Prayers: Thank God for the team, their strengths and weakness, their individuality and their commitment to his work. Pray for continued team building in the months ahead. Continue to pray for the equipment to arrive sooner than predicted and for the shipping to be speedy and not delayed.

Some good, some bad

Unusually this week, it is not all good news on the missions front. I will start with explaining some of the problems and then cheer us up with the good stuff! So there are two main pieces of bad news - firstly, the ceilidh in Dundee did not go as well as we had hoped. Despite a huge amount of time and effort from the team, we still only managed to cover costs, due to poor attendance at the event. Obviously we are disappointed by this, but are believing that God will provide some other way. The second major issue at present is that the equipment suppliers have let us know that there will be at least another 4 weeks until the consignment is ready. This is significantly later than we had originally thought and will have an impact on when we can ship everything. I am attempting to get this speeded up but we are really relying on prayer and miracles to bring us back on schedule. It would be a huge disappointment if the equipment was not in Cameroon when we arrived.

Now that is the bad news, however I do have some good! The fund-raising ceilidh on Hayling Island last night raised over £1,000! We all had a superb night and enjoyed ourselves immensely, with minimal stress for the organisers and a lot of hilarity from all. I am hoping that photos will be up here (and on Facebook) some time soon. The other good news is that I have had the opportunity to catch up on paperwork - the never-ending pile of which sits on my desk! I am now much more in order ready for a busy training weekend! So, that’s it this week except to let you know that I am off to the shipping company with some more supplies tomorrow. This will include the resuscitation training equipment, the X-ray lightbox, OHP, the whiteboards, arts and crafts supplies, and a huge amount of knitted teddies and blankets!! My flatmate and I will finally have space to move around in!

Prayer: Praise God that even when we’re finding it tough He lets us see His hand over our work! Praise Him for the fun had on Hayling! Pray for the team to continue to feel encouraged despite a difficult week. Pray for the equipment order to be timely in its arrival and for safe and swift on-ward transfers, such that it would arrive before the team. Pray again for the team training next weekend.

A sensational week!

Ok, so it has perhaps been slightly more than a week! I have been on leave (a well-deserved holiday from work and Cameroon) for a week and so things have been quite quiet on the Cameroon front. However, I do have some news. Have been liasing with the shipping company who will be moving all the equipment for us. They have agreed to hold all the other equipment until the main order arrives, so if you have anything that could go in the ship - it would be great if you could send it to me as soon as possible - I will be travelling there with the equipment I already have in the next week or so.

There is also news from a finances point of view - I have received another £1200 in donations since I last wrote. It is difficult to keep an exact total of what we have raised so far (as money flows in and out of the account as it is needed), however, I can be confident in saying over £15,000 has been donated! God is so good! We do need another £5-10,000 (dependent on exact shipping costs, exchange rates, hidden costs etc) but we are trusting in Him to provide. In particular, we are looking forward to the ceilidhs in Dundee and on Hayling Island, on 21st March.

The final peices of major news are surrounding the team, as we all plan for the upcoming training weekend. We are all very excited about the work to be done, in particular getting on top of paperwork and training requirements. Personally, I am excited to be starting INMED’s HIV leadership course in preparation for returning to Africa (and also as a bit of a boost to my knowledge ready for MRCPCH).

Prayers: Praise God for His continued protection and guidance over this project. Pray for smooth links for the equipment, from supplier to shipping to BBH. Pray that the timing will work out with finances and all the various aspects of the project as we work to various deadlines. Pray again for team preparation for training at the end of March.

Yet more progress

Wow! Isn’t it awesome how God moves even when we’re being lazy?!? I’ve been a bit slow on the Cameroon front of late - mainly thanks to having a very busy job in the NHS. However, there has been an aweful lot happening. On the finances front, we have had a lot of donations in the last few weeks, including the Allan and Nesta Ferguson Trust grant and the money from Monifeith High’s non-uniform day! Yet again I have been astounded by the number of people who are really behind us in this mission and am overwhelmed by God’s blessing over us.

These donations mean that last week I was able to place the order with Durbin for our equipment! I am so excited that we are finally making major purchases for the unit! I am also excited that the company we are working with are being so helpful with all the decisions and the process of things getting organised. My only worry at this moment is that the order will not be ready for 4-6 weeks so we will be cutting it fine to ship everything in time. However, we are placing this in God’s hands and trusting in His power to see this work done.

Otherwise, I have been spending a lot of time preparing for the team training weekend in 3 weeks time. The team are really coming together and working well. They are all very keen and enthusiastic about this work. We hope that this weekend we will be able to get more of the paperwork sorted, as well as tackling a few jobs, including preparing some educational and evangelistic sessions.

So that is the news for this time - very positive at the moment! Our God is an awesome God!

Prayers: Thank God for His financial provision and the way in which He moves each part of the project forward in turn. Pray for speedy delivery of our equipment order. Pray for the team as they prepare for the next training weekend. Pray for Colin, who is currently recovering from a nasty bout of chicken pox.

Praise the Lord!!

What a time it has been since I last wrote! We have been blessed with over £4250 of donations since then! This means that we can start ordering our equipment and should meet our shipping deadline! I am so happy! Understandably the team are all very bouyed up at the moment with this exciting news! The feeling of progress since our last training day has been incredible and I am excited about the way God has been moving in various aspects of the project. In particular this week, we have been in contact with a charity that provides medicines for the developing world, who may be able to meet some of our needs in that area. Also, we have been provided with money for some resuscitation mannekins for teach CPR, which will enable our educational aims to be more fully met. Other fundraising events are progressing nicely - keep an eye on the facebook group and the website for The Gate, Dundee so as to keep up to date on these things. And finally, our team are getting vaccinated for every possible disease they could encounter! Although they complain about being sore - I know this is bringing the reality of this mission home to them! That’s it for this week - I hope to have more news for you next time!

Prayers: Praise God for His awesome providence, for His blessings and His reassurance. Pray for the various events going on for the team. Pray for time for spiritual and emotional preparation for the trip. As always - pray for finances!

Planning and preparation

Yet again I have managed to let my blog slip a little bit! However, I am sure you will all understand when I explain what we have been up to!First of all I have to (finally) introduce the team! We have a very strong committed team of five Godly people who will be working out in Cameroon.  So they are: 1) me! 2) Elinor Butler - an arts graduate who is in charge of all the arty and creative parts of the mission including painting the unit so it is very child friendly, 3) Kayleigh Thomson  - nursery school teacher at the Gate’s school, Kayleigh is a woman of God who gets things done! She will be organising us completely! 4) Colin Jamieson - a finance trainee who has a real passion for the work we are doing and will take on anything he’s asked, and 5) Kerr Brady!! You’ve already heard of him in this blog, but Kerr is now taking on a new role as a team member! All the more reason to give him a ring at the Gate office.The next big news is regarding events that we are holding. These include ceilidhs, bake sales, beetle drives, meals and raffles. You can find out more about them by looking on the facebook Cameroon 2009 supporters group or by giving Kerr a ring! If you find there’s nothing going on in your area or you want to help arrange something, please get in touch and we’ll be more than happy to sort something out! Equipment is starting to pile up (in fact we’re now using our spare room as a store room). I picked up some weighing scales and a light box from Sheffield Children’s Hospital last week and have also acquired a large amount of equipment for the children’s arts sessions.That is the majority of the news at the moment - however, watch this space and there will be lots more information coming up in the next few weeks. Til then, keep praying….Prayers: Thank God for team building opportunities and His blessing over this group. Pray for the individual events and the teams involved in each one. Pray for finances such that we would not miss our ship. Pray for each of the team members by name and for the projects they are involved in.