March 13, 2002

Dear All,

It has been a very long time since I’ve written. Really sorry. A very busy and intense time. As some of you may know, my older brother Stuart was very ill with a brain tumor. He died on February 11. It was a very difficult time for all of us, but as a family it was in a peculiar way a wonderful time of pulling together in a time of adversity. At least one of us, a brother or sister, a son or a daughter—and often more than one—was with him, helping his wife Karen from the time of surgery in December when I was able to be there, until he died. And now we are going through the healing process.

Most of our field activities have stopped, except in the major towns. This has affected our funding. The hospitals are still going as are the Kathmandu-based projects, but not otherwise. Needless to say, as a planner I am very challenged! Change management and crisis management take on new meaning. But truly knowing that God does have a hand in all of this is reassuring.

I have just come back from a visit to Tansen Hospital, an eight-hour bus trip away. It is very wise to take our own bus, which goes twice a week. The bus driver is excellent. Others aren’t so excellent, and we saw two results of that: buses ending up in the river hundreds of feet below. The road is windy, going down to the plains, beautiful, but dangerous. I was so impressed by our driver who if he would see the truck or bus ahead about to pass on a curve, would hold back so if there was a head on collision, he could stop in time. There is something about karma—they just assume that there will be no one occupying the road when they come round the corner. I notice that all the time in Kathmandu when I’m riding my motorcycle and other vehicles come out from a side road without looking for oncoming traffic. A different concept of right of way and one must be aware!

Tansen Hospital is a very busy hospital, so full that patients are lying in the hallway. It is providing training at so many levels: midwifery, nursing, and medical interns and residents. And it is of extremely high quality, literally the best in Nepal. In the coming months to years, we will have to turn the hospital over to a Nepali organization to run and we hope to be able to maintain its high quality. Nepal is just beginning to produce its own doctors, and so training institutions will be very important. I was there to begin the process of planning how best to make the transition from UMN (United Mission to Nepal) governance to governance by a Nepali organization. It will be a challenge. There are many complicating issues. The Christian community is quite small and there are relatively few Christians on the staff. But being a Christian hospital will make it more likely to continue the current ethos of caring, transparency, and integrity, and make it easier to continue to get overseas funding and expatriate doctors. On the other hand, there may be opposition to a Nepali Christian board and the Nepali Christians are generally not educated and prepared to be board members. (Until 1990, being Christian was illegal, so there were no "Christian" schools, hospitals, etc, and therefore no "Christian" service other than evangelism. So, for example, there are very few Christian health workers.) In addition, we do not want to force our vision onto our Nepali Christians if health ministries isn’t their vision, especially if it involves trying to finance a mission hospital that currently requires some external funding. Very complex situation. The reason we are moving down this path now is that the government is likely to pass an act that will prevent international organizations such as ours from directly implementing activities. This is an attempt to encourage capacity building of Nepalis, and is a good concept. The problem is that it is a good concept when you are starting an activity and can move at the pace necessary but when you are already running something as technically complex as a hospital, it is difficult to suddenly (the act will have immediate effect) hand over management. It will be a challenge!

Anyway, I have enough on my platter to keep me out of mischief! Please keep the leaders of this small kingdom in your prayers—the King, the Prime Minister, and heads of political parties, that they may truly put the needs of their people first. Please pray for the people Nepal. They are suffering and have so little recourse. And also please pray for our organization (United Mission to Nepal) as we go through a strategic planning process, that we may know God’s plan for us. We need to be a changed organization, responsive to the changing needs and changing circumstances. It is a very challenging situation.

Beverley

The 2001 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 153