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Prayer request from Dr John Gilbert
Sierra Leone
I would value prayer for a visit I am making to Sierra Leone with a Christian Medical Charity called PRIME which stands for Partnerships in International Medical Education. I shall be travelling with two doctors , Huw Morgan and Tom Garrett who are both experienced teachers of trainers of doctors. We are doing a 5 day course of tutoring for the Medical School Tutors to help them up- date their skills in medical teaching. This should have quite a bearing on the future training of medical students and post-graduate training for doctors. Some of the Sierra Leonean doctors are Christians and we trust we shall forge friendships and be an encouragement to them.
Sierra Leone is in recovery from 10 years of terrible civil war which ended four years ago. The infrastructure of health and education needs much support. We shall be networking with all kinds of people and may even be meeting up with a British MP who will be out there at the same time . We shall be exploring the possibility of providing a large health centre in Kossoh Town / Hastings at the Medical School Campus. This would provide care for about 100,000 patients and be a centre of clinical excellence and a model for the training of medical students, nurses, doctors and community health officers. It will need funding so pray we can find agencies and funding streams for this task. We are already working to this end with UK Government Departments.
We shall be travelling in land to Bo which is in the diamond mining area to visit Njala University which is where Community Health Officers are trained. We hope to offer them support in the same way we are doing with the Medical School and would hope we can encourage more integrated working between the doctors and health officers.
Medical services and facilities are very basic and poorly equipped for the 5 million population of Sierra Leone. There are serious health problems and much help is needed. HIV, malaria and infectious diseases are significant problems as are maternity and child health issues. This is enough background. Huw , Tom and I travel out on Friday 19th May and return early Saturday 3rd June.
Please pray for safe travelling , health, energy and wisdom. Pray the training course will go well and any reserves and barriers will quickly be broken down . We want our Sierra Leonean doctor colleagues and in particular the Vice Chancellor to be really encouraged and blessed. Pray that the Love of Christ and His peace and joy will be felt by them and that they will be inspired as teachers of the next generation of doctors. Pray for openings and opportunities during the two weeks as meet with the British Council , the British High Commission and hopefully Dr Claire Curtis –Thomas ,MP who will be visiting in the second week. Pray for the meeting with the tutors of Bo University. Pray we will meet all the people we need to meet and do all the things the Lord wants us to do !
PRIME works in the UK and developing countries and has some of the UK’s leading doctors ( all Christians ! ) supporting it. PRIME offers high quality medical education and teaches whole person care giving a Christian perspective to it. You may be interested in visiting the website : www.prime-international.org.uk
Thanks Church for your love and prayers. It is great to be in a church that has a heart for the world and the Lord’s work in it.
Helen will update you on our prayer needs
John
Dr John Gilbert
63 Pear Tree Drive, Great Barr, Birmingham, B43 6HT
Phone: 0121 357 4327
E-Mail: johngilbert@doctors.org.uk