A note of gratitude to end 2024 and begin 2025.

I was asked recently why we do what we do and my motive is pretty simple.  Gratitude.  I continue to be so grateful for the crazy privilege it is to serve One who so delights in me and to seek ways to introduce my glorious Father to anyone and everyone.  Jesus modeled/demonstrated that we can introduce our Father to another by caring for them, in what we proclaim about Him and in how we serve them.

As I write the above, I realize that acknowledging the delight of another is always a matter of faith.  Always.  Whether that person is standing in front of us or unseen. Whether we believe such a statement of delight is based on a relationship where care has or has not been modeled and/or evidence that such care/delight is, or is not, real/genuine.  The outcome of such a belief, or lack of the same, would be reflected in any or all of our emotions, self-talk, perspectives and/or actions.

I believe Cavango is able to annually serve more than 10,000 people in the African bush, so excellently, because you who support this work care about those hurting.  I believe that many of you so passionately care because you have been cared for when hurting, from a caring Father who met you at a place of pain and it is exactly the same gratitude that motivates you as motivates me.  The work of Cavango is, more than anything else, an expression of gratitude.

Below is a summary of a very practical expression of gratitude… by so many…

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The Cavango Mission

Activities of 2024 and plans for 2025                                    Updated – February, 2025

Hospital Statistics (2024):

• Consultations – 10,770
• Lab exams – 1,765
• Patients receiving X-Ray – 42
• Maternity – 252
• Hospital deaths – 80
• Casos de cirurgia – 35
• Casos de Lepra – 9
• Casos de Malaria – 5304, admitted – 1524
• Acute inpatients/day – 40-100
• TB inpatients/day – 30-50 
• TB patients completed treatment of 6-8 months 161
• Patients transported by air (via MAF) for life-saving surgery – 93
• People transported from Cavango by MAF – 406
• Daily morning gatherings/messages, with 50-200 people, discussing how to improve our spiritual health and physical (public health instruction) – 160+
• Adults attended daily morning gatherings and heard of His Kingdom and a clear invitation to relationship with Jesus – 15,000+  

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Activities of 2024 (cont):

• Full-time hospital workers – 73

• Autonomous full-time clinicians:
  • Tim, Eduardo, Florindo
• Part time clinicians
  • Jocelyn, Jordan Yarbrough, Huambo

• Post-graduate full-time intern: Dr Vianne

• Welcome MAF pilot family, the Goud’s, to Cavango while they construct a house, to be completed in 2025

• Welcome of four additional full-time Angolan nurses from outside of Cavango

• Ministry team visits
  • CEML
  • AGA
  • MAF
  • VCDC (Kubacki’s sending church)
  • Vineyard Columbus
  • YWAM Angola
  • SIM Angola
  • UIEA leadership
  • UIEA Team Evangelism

• Delegate leadership and management of various areas and functions of the hospital work.
  • Designation of leadership roles and supervisors under each
    • Hospital Director – Arão with Eduardo’s support
  • • Nursing Director – Arão with Jocelyn’s support
  • • Clinical Director – Simāo with Tim’s support
    • Administrator – Rodé with Betsy’s support

• Laboratory in full operation

• Youth discipleship and evangelism weekly through storytelling and drama 

• Children’s and youth ministry, including weekly Sunday school with children and weekly youth group including fun activities and teaching with teens.

• Husband/wife chaplain program so that every patient receives personal care and daily prayer. 

• Near completion of construction of future main hospital building. 

• New borehole and double tank for potable hospital water.

• Renovated water intake system at aldeia

• Operation of the “Transition Hospital” on foundation of former hospital

• Electricity and water in each room
  • 5kW solar power system x 2, 15kW generator backupICU,
• • Emergency Dept,
• • Operating Room
• • Consultation rooms x 3
• • Laboratory – basic machines purchased and operating well
• • Radiology with digital, portable X-ray
  • WiFi in all rooms

• New Day/Night shift payment schedule

• Full function of roofed outdoor market at entrance of campus.  It’s thriving

• Full function of jango (grass roof, no walls) for motor taxis, which transport most of our patients to the hospital

• Installation of solar energy for Kubacki and DeSouza houses

• Completed security fencing around hospital campus with locked, guarded entrance

• Airstrip fully functional

• Function of Cashier System for patient payments for service

• Maintenance/repair of the raft to cross the Cubango River;
• addition of two guards for raft and airstrip

• Full function of construction of Patient Family Housing (Vila) roofed, wall-less structure, outside of campus walls with latrine and jango x 2

• Full function of simple housing for diabetic patients x 2

• Transition of original clinic building to apartments for staff. 

• Foundation ready for new inpatient building

• Sidewalks w pavers connecting all hospital buildings

• Landscaping continues to beautify campus

• Completion of jango kitchen (grass roof, no walls) for daily meals for workers

• Continuation of sponsored training of four teachers, who will return to teach the children of the Cavango region in 2026

• Continuation of a “microfinance” Loan Program for workers (average of $300 each x 20 workers x 2-3x/yr)

• Continued “employment” of four cats (daily food) has completely resolved our perpetual rat problem

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Plans for 2025:

• Development of leadership and management of various areas and functions of the hospital work.
  • Development of leadership roles and each with supervisors
    • Hospital Director – Arão with Tim’s support
  • • Nursing Director – Arão with Tim’s support
  • • Clinical Director – Simāo with Tim’s support
    • Administrator – Rodé with Betsy’s support

• Departure of DeSouza family for sabbatical of 6-12 months

• Clinicians working autonomously: Tim, Florindo, Dr Vianne, Jordan

• Simāo and Arão to perform consultations autonomously

• Possible addition of new physician graduate, Adelaide

• Recruitment of 1-2 additional clinicians

• Completion of solar system electricity of the main hospital building

• Completion of water access to all inpatient buildings and outdoor private shower/bathing facilities for patients and vila

• Opening of new main hospital building

• Construction of new office in current transitional hospital

• Re-purpose current transitional hospital

• Fully cover the interior walls of Radiology with lead protection

• Completion of MAF housing

• Initiation of MAF hangar

• Continuation of a “microfinance” Loan Program for workers (average of $300 each x 20 workers x 2-3x/yr)

• Continuation of sponsored training of four teachers, who will return to teach the children of the Cavango region in 2026

• Begin plans for school and church construction 2026

• Drilling of boreholes and installation of manual pumps in 5-10 selected villages within a day’s walk of Cavango

• Continuation of discipleship and evangelism through storytelling and drama weekly with church leaders

• Continuation of Children’s and Youth ministry

• Continuation of Agriculture Project and cultivating/planting of vitamin-rich fruit trees in former orchard area on campus. 

• Consider augmenting agricultural program to include housing bees, protein supplementation via protein packets, fish farming, other means…

• Construction of the second (of three) dedicated inpatient building with AGA, local workers

• Construction of simple additional supplemental housing for visitors and staff from outside of Cavango

• Installation of more lab equipment to increase diagnostic accuracy

• Improve ventilation in three TB inpatient buildings

• Construction of simple bridge over Cubango River to improve access to our clinic for this large region

• Consider model of reproducible fish farm for protein supplementation that can be reproduced in other villages

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For various reasons, our return to Angola has been delayed for a month, but Betsy and I plan on returning to Cavango next week.

We are so grateful to Eduardo and Jocelyn, Jordan Yarbrough, Dr Vianne and our wonderful Cavango staff for their extreme effort in serving so many, with such excellence, in our absence.