Roy and Jane have been serving in Chad since January 2004

Background

Roy was born in Plymouth in 1948.  As a boy scout he even obtained his Queen’s scout badge, but at the march-past at Windsor Castle missed the order for eyes right so didn’t get to see the Queen, but looked up just in time to see the Duke of Edinburgh laughing!  After A levels he spent 9 months in Ghana with VSO teaching English in a boys’ secondary school.  This instilled a life-long love for Africa.

Roy became a Christian as a teenager.  Instrumental in this was a visit to the doctor when he had shingles.  The GP locum was a retired Qua Iboe Missionary, Dr John Kearney, who invited him to attend a Billy Graham film at a local Baptist Church.

He had a place at Sheffield University to study English, but rather suddenly had the idea of studying medicine and persuaded the university to let him do that instead.  During student days he was a member and a deacon of a Baptist church and increasingly thought that God wanted him to do medical missionary work.  Following qualification he had various hospital jobs in England, seeking a specialty which would be suited to a missionary career, switching in turn from paediatrics to general surgery and finally ophthalmology. 

Jane was born in 1946 in Connah’s Quay, North Wales.  She was brought up in The Salvation Army and became a Christian when she was 15 years of age.  She was asked the question "Are you saved?" and immediately knew she was not.  She surrendered her life to Christ that evening.  She completed her formal education in 1961 and was employed as a clerk/secretary/shop-keeper by an estate agents until entering The Salvation Army training college from 1967 until 1969.  Jane then served as an officer in the southwest of England before being posted to Kenya in 1971 where she worked as a secretary at the SA Headquarters.  On her return to the UK in 1975 her renewed friendship with Roy turned into a whirlwind romance and they were married in March 1976.

By this time Roy had recently qualified as a doctor and wanted to gain experience in different medical fields before serving oversees.  This entailed moving around the UK so Roy and Jane lived in Stoke-on-Trent, Manchester and Plymouth.  During these years the Lord blessed them with 2 daughters and a son.  After Roy secured his FRCS in ophthalmology they both sought the Lord as to where he wanted them to serve Him.  It was at this time that Dr Kearney again made contact and told them of the urgent need for a doctor at Ochadamu (Nigeria).  So in 1984, Roy and Jane went to work in what is now known as The Holly Memorial Hospital, Kogi State, Nigeria.  Because of circumstances they worked in 3 different places during their two tours in Nigeria.

In 1989 Roy and Jane returned to UK and Roy decided to retrain and become a general practitioner.  After his 3 years of training in Cornwall the Lord led him to a Christian practice in Gillingham Kent where he worked for 10 years.  By this time the children were older and Jane felt it was right to work part-time as a receptionist in the practice.  As the children completed their university education they increasingly considered the possibility of returning to Africa.  They had maintained contact with Mission Africa (then Qua Iboe Fellowship) and knew that the mission was seeking personnel to open up the work in Chad.

At first Jane was not keen on going to a French speaking country but Roy persuaded her to go on a 3 weeks language holiday at Massy, France.  During that time a missionary gave her testimony of how she had fought against moving from Nigeria to Cameroon because of having to learn French.  Whilst she was speaking Jane felt that if God had enabled the other person He would enable her to do likewise.  Roy and Jane then applied to Mission Africa to serve in Chad.

Current Work

Roy is a general practitioner to the expatriate missionary community in Chad.  Most of his patients have had common illnesses, whilst others have had the occasional injuries from accidents to deal with, such as the boy who put his arm through a glass window.  Roy has also helped in medical evacuations to Europe, once was with a lady in premature labour, and once with a boy who had chronic diarrhoea and vomiting.  He also helped evacuate a family from their station in the bush back to the capital because the father and one of the children were ill with malaria.  The child was later evacuated to Paris being seriously ill, but eventually made a full recovery.

During a time of political instability when lots of people fled the country Roy and Jane felt it right to stay.  A week or so later a missionary arrived with her daughter hoping she would find them at home.  The girl had just fallen and cut the back of her head.  Roy was able to put in 4/5 stitches.  Roy and Jane thanked God that they were there to meet the needs of this child.

Roy and Jane also teach English in a cultural centre.  They mainly teach young men although there are some women as well.  Often the men have completed their education up to A level standard, are unemployed, and wanting to learn English to increase their chances of finding employment.  They enjoy teaching and having an English Club in Roy and Jane's home so that the students can have an opportunity to practice speaking English and they can also get to know one another.

Roy and Jane have made periodic short term visits to a nomadic community near the Sahara Desert in order to run medical clinics for about 10 days at a time.  Their work has been very much appreciated by the people of the town.  One day a boy arrived on the back of a camel.  He had a terrible infection in his groin and his leg was permanently bent.  Roy treated him every day he was there and encouraged him to exercise and straighten his leg.  He had often wondered how the boy had got on especially when he didn’t come to the clinic 6 months later.  However, the next time Roy and Jane went back to the town - a year after the first visit - the boy arrived and was walking quite well with the aid of a home-made crutch.  He still had some infection so was advised to travel to the capital.

Roy and Jane are currently planning to help set up a new hospital in Chad and help with the training of the staff.