Chad: Age expectancy at 50 but BMS hopes are high

Faith Hope and Love

Andrew Phillips spoke LIVE by phone to BMS World Mission worker Gareth Shrubsole, who works in a hospital in the Chadian desert.

Gareth paints a picture of hospital life, telling us about his Chadian colleagues, the challenges of life in Chad (operating in temperatures close to 50 degrees!), and the desert landscape (Gareth regularly sees camels on his way to and from work!). But he also speaks of the huge need – Chad is one of the least developed countries in the world and has a life expectancy of 50 years old, in part due to the high rate of infant mortality. Some of the added challenges are the fear of Boko Haram operating in the Sahel and also of Covid-19 in a country with vanishingly few ventilators.

But there’s also much cause for hope in the gospel opportunities of the hospital and the fact that Gareth sees patients come to faith in Jesus.

From the BMS World Mission website: (https://www.bmsworldmission.org/people/bethan-and-gareth-shrubsole/) “Gareth and Bethan Shrubsole joined the Guinebor II hospital team in Chad in January 2020. Gareth has a non-medical senior role in the management of the hospital, working to oversee some of the operations of Guinebor II. Bethan works as a music therapist, with a project run by BMS partner TEAM, helping vulnerable women affected by abusive relationships or the sex-trade.”

Resources: https://www.bmsworldmission.org