I was told Sabbath that some government employees had not been paid for a few months.. Also that all government employees salary would be cut to 45% of previous salary. Most employed people seem to be on government payroll. Not sure how that will affect us. There are riots going on today. Some have been killed in NDJ we hear. One 12 yr girl was shot by police here in Bere today and she finally died after we spent a few hours in surgery trying to save her. The bullet traversed her pelvis hitting (making holes) her artery, veins, bladder, small intestine, rectum and out the other side through the bones. The government teachers went on strike so school was let out. But our church school was having school. Students from the other schools came to ours and began to throw rocks and bricks at our students and buildings. They also were throwing rocks at our compound gates and onto a roof or two inside the compound making some dents. It was pretty noisy around here for awhile. Police finally came to quiet it down but instead of running the others away and protecting our students and buildings they shut down our school as well. No ones seems to know how long this will last. All hospitals will basically shut down except ours. Don't know how long we will have phone and internet I think they are private so hopefullly will continue. Don't know how that will affect our planned trip to Zakouma National Park game park next week. The government says they have no money. They have announced that income tax will double from 10% to 20% and they are sending troops around to check to see if people have receipts to show they have paid their taxes. Our hospital has kept their paper work so all working for the hospital should be ok on that point. They found someone in a neighboring town that had not paid many millions of francs in a few years. I would expect there will be more trouble in a few weeks after people begin to feel the full impact of all this. So far I understand that the airport is not closed down hopefully. The hospital business is less than usual for this time of year. Also the rice crop was not as good as it should have been. It is all a recipe for more problems ahead. BUT they have been on strike before and it did not affect us very much other than increased business for the hospital esp OB. Things always seem to work out.
Please keep us in your prayers!
Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique
